Maternal Dietary Diversity and Infant Outcome of Pregnant Women in Northern Ghana

Objective: Little is known regarding the role of maternal dietary diversity score (DDS) in predicting poor outcomes of pregnancy including preterm delivery, and low birth weight (LBW). The main aim of this study was to explore the relationship between dietary diversity scores of urban Ghanaian women and infant weight at birth. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study comprised 524 pregnant women who delivered singleton babies. A Structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic variables (e.g. educational status, age, maternal occupation, household wealth index), obstetric history (for example, gravidity, gestational weight gain), dietary intake, malarial infection and Sulphadoxine pyrimethamine (SP) uptake, blood pressure (BP), haemoglobin concentration (Hb), anthropometric measurements (e.g. weight of mother and new born baby). Results: This study showed that maternal dietary diversity as measured by individual dietary diversity score scores (IDDS) was a significant independent predictor for mean birth weight and LBW. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed there was a significant difference in adjusted mean birth weight between women on low and high diversified diets , F (1, 415) = 8.935, p = 0.003. The results further showed that maternal IDDS was negatively associated with the incidence of LBW (Adjusted OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.22–0.85, p = 0.014). Conclusion: In nutritional deprived populations, maternal diet in the third trimester appears to be an important determinant of LBW and that DDS can serve as useful predictive indicator of maternal nutrition during pregnancy and the likelihood of delivering LBW babies

Promoting the production and consumption of locally available micronutrient-rich foods: Situation analysis and operational feasibility in northern Ghana

United States Agency for International Developmen

Addressing Mining Sector Conflicts in Ghana

During the World Bank and IMF-led Structural Adjustments Program implementation in the 1980s, the extractive industry was also targeted in many developing countries, including Ghana. Although liberalization was envisioned to bring the needed development to the country and mining communities, the evidence on the ground proves otherwise. The outcome has been the prevalence of conflicts between mining communities and mining companies, mainly over issues of environmental pollution, competition over land use, unfulfilled promises, resettlement, and compensation. Using online sources/data and adopting the ‘developmental state’ approach, which advocates for state-induced development as a conceptual model, this research investigates the Ghanaian government's role in addressing conflict in the mining sector and the challenges therein. The results show that the state has implemented several initiatives consistent with the developmental state approach. However, emanating from competitive clientelism, various challenges impeded the government’s initiatives from producing the desired outcomes, hence the sector's persistent conflicts

Promoting household food and nutrition security in northern Ghana

United States Agency for International Developmen

Relationship Between Uptake of Antenatal Care Services and Low Birth Weight in the Gushegu District of Northern Ghana

Objective: Little is known about the relative contribution of prenatal care utilization on pregnancy outcome in developing country setting where other equally important predictors of low birth weight (LBW) including malarial infection and poor diet predominate. This study investigated whether the utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services is an independent predictor of LBW in Northern Ghana. Methods: In this community based cross sectional study, we compared pregnancy outcome (birth weight) across groups of 407 women who received different amounts of ANC. Results: The incidence of low birth weight (LBW) of newborn babies was 18.2 % (74/407). The main finding was that women who made at least four ANC visits had 63.0 % protection against delivering a LBW (AOR = 0.37, 95 % CI: 0.19, 0.69). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that adequate antenatal care is effective in preventing LBW in a rural setting but its effect was more discernible among women who were not in gainful employment (suggestive of low socio-economic status)

Factors Contributing to Positive Deviance in the Growth of Children in Rural Northern Ghana

Objective: The main aim of the study was to identify factors contributing to positive deviance in growth of children in rural communities of Northern Ghana. Methods: Weassessed factors contributing to nutritional positive deviance among rural poor households by comparing household feeding care practices and health seeking behaviour in families with normal children (that is, neither stunted nor wasted) with children having at least one form of under nutrition. Results:The prevalence of stunting and wasting was 28.0 % (CI: 25.3 - 30.9), and 10.5 % (CI: 9.0 - 12.3) respectively. Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for cluster sampling showed that positive deviant children (that is, neither wasted nor stunted) were 2.4 times more likely to have taller (≥160 cm) mothers [AOR 2.38; 95% CI (1.83 - 3.10)]. Female children were significantly more likely to be positive deviant [AOR 1.44; 95% CI (1.17 - 1.77)]. Households using salt of adequate iodine content were more likely to have positive deviant children [AOR 1.36; 95% CI (1.03 - 1.80)]. Conclusion and Recommendation:Positive deviance in child growth was characterized by taller mothers, being a female child, high maternal nutrition knowledge and being resident in the Upper West Region. The persistent high levels of child under nutrition in Northern Ghana can be mediated through a sustainable focused intervention strategy to improve maternal nutrition

Relationships between Wasting and Stunting and Their Concurrent Occurrence in Ghanaian Preschool Children

Objective. The main aim of the study was to assess the magnitude of concurrent wasting and stunting among Ghanaian preschool children. Secondly, we investigated the relationship between wasting and stunting as well as factors associated with these conditions. Methods. This paper is based on reanalysis of anthropometric and other relevant data which was collected in the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The data set consisted of 2,720 preschool children aged 0–59 months. We conducted three-step moderated hierarchical multiple regression analyses to determine independent predictors and moderators of height-for-age Z-score. Results. Nationally, the prevalence of concurrent wasting and stunting among children aged 0–59 months was low at 1.4% but it varied geographically with the Upper East Region having the highest prevalence of 3.2% (95% CI: 1.7–5.8). Children who had low weight-for-height Z-scores were at a higher risk of linear growth retardation (stunting) especially among children aged less than three years. A 1-unit increase in weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ) was associated with 0.07 standard units’ increase in height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) [β = 0.071 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.15)]. Conclusions. The study results suggest that weight-for-height relates to linear growth but this relationship is moderated by age of child. Stunting and wasting share some common risk factors. Therefore, measures to prevent wasting may positively influence linear growth

Effect of Prenatal Zinc Supplementation on Birthweight

Although iron and zinc deficiencies are known to occur together and also appear to be high in Ghana, a few supplementation studies addressed this concurrently in pregnancy. In a double-blind, randomized controlled trial, 600 pregnant women in Ghana were randomly assigned to receive either a combined supplement of 40 mg of zinc as zinc gluconate and 40 mg of iron as ferrous sulphate or 40 mg of elemental iron as ferrous sulphate. Overall, there was no detectable difference in the mean birthweight between the study groups, although the effect of iron-zinc supplementation on the mean birthweight was masked by a strong interaction between the type of supplement and the iron status of participants [F (1,179)=5.614, p=0.019]. Prenatal iron-zinc supplementation was effective in increasing the mean birthweight among anaemic and iron-deficient women but not among women with elevated iron stores in early pregnancy