Transforming adolescent menstrual health through policy: the role of value added tax exemptions in improving access to sanitary products.

In Namibia, the Value Added Tax (VAT) Amendment Act 2022, which reclassified the supply of sanitary pads as zero-rated, has significant implications for adolescent girls' menstrual health and education. The policy change responds to the need to address period poverty by making essential menstrual products more accessible and affordable. Menstruation is a normal biological process, and access to sanitary products is a human right.

Demographic factors associated with myopia knowledge, attitude and preventive practices among adults in Ghana: a population-based cross-sectional survey.

Purpose: Knowledge, positive attitude and good preventive practices are keys to successful myopia control, but information on these is lacking in Africa. This study determined the KAP on myopia in Ghana.

Methods: This was a population-based cross-sectional survey conducted among adults (aged 18 years and older) living across 16 regions of Ghana between May and October 2021.

Cervical cancer screening services targeting adult women in Cross River State, Nigeria.

This study employed a randomized controlled trial to investigate the rate of cervical cancer screening among adult women in Cross River State, Nigeria. For the collection of data, a semi-structured questionnaire was used. The women underwent a health education intervention; they were divided into an experimental group with incentives and one without, as well as a control group.

Profiling and factors associated with glaucoma diagnostic practice in sub-Saharan Africa-a cross sectional study of Nigerian and Ghanaian optometrists.

Background: Ghana and Nigeria are the two countries in Africa that currently run the Doctor of Optometry (OD) program in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Optometrists in these countries are licensed to provide glaucoma care. Despite the clinically relevant practice guidelines for glaucoma, there is no data on the practice patterns for glaucoma eye care in SSA, a region with the highest prevalence of glaucoma.

Missing school during period: perspectives of adolescent schoolgirls in Cross River State, Nigeria.

Introduction: adolescent in-schoolgirls often experience stigmatization, physical and psychological stress during their menstrual period that causes them to miss school. Menstruation-induced school absenteeism is preventable. The purpose of the study was to assess the factors associated with school absenteeism by both urban and rural school-going adolescent girls during their period.