Stress and Work Performance Among Public Servants in Ghana

The health literature has often emphasized the negative impact of stress on work performance among health workers. However, the impact of stress and its key predictors on work performance among public sector staff in developing countries remains unknown. This study has examined the influence of stress and its main predictors on work performance among public servants in an African country. Using Ghana’s public sector as a case, 157 staff of the Office of the Head of Civil Service (OHCS) and its aligned institutions responded to a self-administered survey. Results indicate that matching income to expenses was the most significant predictor of stress. Also, while stress generally negatively impacted work performance, a minimum level of stress was found to have a positive impact on work performance. The findings reinforce the importance of improved remuneration for reducing work stress towards improved work performance among public sector departments in developing countries

Determinants of autogas demand among Taxi Drivers in rural Ghana

In Ghana, road transport is the major form of transporting goods and passengers from one part of the country to the other making up 95% of the form of transport we have (Baffour-Awuah 2015). Liquefied Petroleum Gas which is mainly produced for household consumption and industrial activities is now being used by vehicles as fuel called autogas assumed to be main cause of shortages of LPG in the country. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods in gathering the information through the use of questionnaire and interviews. Since it is a non-parametric study, tables and percentages were used for the analysis. From the studies, 71% of the drivers use LPG and the main reason accounting for their choice was the affordability of the fuel. The brand of car engines used by these commercial drivers were the converted ones with about 98% of those cars consuming only one type of fuel (LPG). The conversion to use LPG started about seven years ago. There is the need to develop appropriate safety, health and market regulations to manage the use of autogas in Ghana

High prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis among patients with rifampicin resistance using GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin in Ghana

AbstractObjective/BackgroundDrug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) represent a major threat to global TB control. In low- and middle-income countries, resource constraints make it difficult to identify and monitor cases of resistance using drug susceptibility testing and culture. Molecular assays such as the GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin may prove to be a cost-effective solution to this problem in these settings. The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of GeneXpert in the diagnosis of pulmonary TB since it was introduced into two tertiary hospitals in Ghana in 2013.MethodsA 2-year retrospective audit of clinical cases involving patients who presented with clinically suspected TB or documented TB not improving on standard therapy and had samples sent for GeneXpert testing.ResultsGeneXpert identified 169 cases of TB, including 17 cases of rifampicin-resistant TB. Of the seven cases with final culture and drug susceptibility testing results, six demonstrated further drug resistance and five of these were multidrug-resistant TB.ConclusionThese findings call for a scale-up of TB control in Ghana and provide evidence that the expansion of GeneXpert may be an optimal means to improve case finding and guide treatment of drug-resistant TB in this setting

Clinical Efficacy of Combination of Rifampin and Streptomycin for Treatment of Mycobacterium ulcerans Disease▿

We have evaluated the clinical efficacy of the combination of oral rifampin at 10 mg/kg of body weight and intramuscular streptomycin at 15 mg/kg for 8 weeks (RS8), as recommended by the WHO, in 160 PCR-confirmed cases of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease. In 152 patients (95%) with all forms of disease from early nodules to large ulcers, with or without edema, the lesions healed without recourse to surgery. Eight patients whose ulcers were healing poorly had skin grafting after completion of antibiotics. There were no recurrences among 158 patients reviewed at the 1-year follow-up. The times to complete healing ranged from 2 to 48 weeks, according to the type and size of the lesion, but the average rate of healing (rate of reduction in ulcer diameter) varied widely. Thirteen subjects had positive cultures for M. ulcerans during or after treatment, but all the lesions healed without further antibiotic treatment. Adverse events were rare. These results confirm the efficacy of RS8 delivered in a community setting