Hypertension knowledge, attitudes and perceptions among adults in the Navrongo Health and Demographic Surveillance Site: a mixed methods analysis.

Background: This study assessed knowledge, behaviors, and perceptions towards hypertension following community dissemination on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk within the Navrongo Health and Demographic Surveillance Site in Northern Ghana.

Methods: A cross-sectional mixed methods study was conducted among middle aged men and women following education on CVD and their risk factors. Knowledge and attitudes of participants regarding hypertension were measured in 310 participants using a survey tool and the resultant data was analyzed with descriptive statistics.

Making districts functional for universal health coverage attainment: lessons from Ghana.

Ensuring the sub national level in the health system can function effectively is central to attainment of health results in countries. However, the current health agenda has not prioritized how districts can deploy their existing resources effectively, to maximize the efficiency equity and effectiveness in their use. Ghana initiated a self-assessment process to understand the functionality of districts to deliver on health results.

Impact of community health interventions on maternal and child health indicators in the upper east region of Ghana.

Background: This paper reports on results of a health system strengthening implementation research initiative conducted the Upper East Region of northern Ghana. Transformative interventions to accelerate and strengthen the health delivery were implemented that included empowering community leaders and members to actively participate in health delivery, strengthening the referral systems through the provision of community transport systems, providing basic medical equipment to community clinics, and improving the skills of critical health staff through training.

Methods: A mixed method design was used to evaluate the impact of the interventions.

Engaging community members in setting priorities for nutrition interventions in rural northern Ghana.

This study used "Choosing All Together" (CHAT), a deliberative engagement tool to prioritise nutrition interventions and to understand reasons for intervention choices of a rural community in northern Ghana. The study took an exploratory cross-sectional design and used a mixed method approach to collect data between December 2020 and February 2021. Eleven nutrition interventions were identified through policy reviews, interaction with different stakeholders and focus group discussions with community members.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on essential health and nutrition service utilisations in Ghana: interrupted time-series analyses from 2016 to 2020.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the national-level and subnational-level effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on essential health and nutrition service utilisation in Ghana.

Design: Interrupted time-series.

Setting And Participants: This study used facility-level data of 7950 governmental and non-governmental health facilities in Ghana between January 2016 and November 2020.

Non-HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C are associated with self-reported cardiovascular disease in a rural West African population: Analysis of an array of lipid metrics in an AWI-Gen sub-study.

Few studies have compared the utility of serum levels of lipid fractions in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The current study interrogated this question among men and women aged 40-60 years in rural northern Ghana. This was a cross-sectional study in which data was collected on socio-demography, behaviour, health history, anthropometry and lipid levels.

Culture and community perceptions on diet for maternal and child health: a qualitative study in rural northern Ghana.

Background: This study explored cultural and community perceptions of optimal diet for maternal and child health in northern Ghana.

Methods: This was an exploratory cross-sectional study using qualitative methods for data collection. Data were collected between March and April 2019 consisting of 10 focus group discussions with men and women community members between 18 and 50 years in the Kassena-Nankana districts of Ghana.

Community engagement and feedback of results in the H3Africa AWI-Gen project: Experiences from the Navrongo Demographic and Health Surveillance site in Northern Ghana.

Community and Public engagement (CE) have gained traction as an ethical best practice for the conduct of genomics research, particularly in the context of Africa. In the past 10 years, there has been growing scholarship on the value and practice of engaging key stakeholders including communities involved in genomics research. However, not much has been documented on how research teams, particularly in international collaborative research projects, are navigating the complex process of engagement including the return of key research findings.

Assessing selection procedures and roles of Community Health Volunteers and Community Health Management Committees in Ghana's Community-based Health Planning and Services program.

Background: Community participation in health care delivery will ensure service availability and accessibility and guarantee community ownership of the program. Community-based strategies such as the involvement of Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) and Community Health Management Committees (CHMCs) are likely to advance primary healthcare in general, but the criteria for selecting CHVs, CHMCs and efforts to sustain these roles are not clear 20 years after implementing the Community-based Health Planning Services program. We examined the process of selecting these cadres of community health workers and their current role within Ghana's flagship program for primary care-the Community-based Health Planning and Services program.

Candidate Gene Analysis Reveals Strong Association of Variants With High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Variants With Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Ghanaian Adults: An AWI-Gen Sub-Study.

Variations in lipid levels are attributed partly to genetic factors. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) mainly performed in European, African American and Asian cohorts have identified variants associated with LDL-C, HDL-C, total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG), but few studies have been performed in sub-Saharan Africans. This study evaluated the effect of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in eight candidate loci (, , , , , , , and ) on lipid levels among 1855 Ghanaian adults.

Supporting maternal and child nutrition: views from community members in rural Northern Ghana.

Objective: Despite efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition, undernutrition remains a major public health challenge in Ghana. The current study explored community perceptions of undernutrition and context-specific interventions that could improve maternal and child nutrition in rural Northern Ghana.

Design: This exploratory qualitative study used ten focus group discussions to gather primary data.

Community perspectives on maternal and child health during nutrition and economic transition in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objective: To explore community perceptions on maternal and child nutrition issues in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Design: Thirty focus groups with men and women from three communities facilitated by local researchers.

Setting: One urban (Soweto, South Africa) and two rural settings (Navrongo, Ghana and Nanoro, Burkina Faso) at different stages of economic transition.

Blood Pressure Indices and Associated Risk Factors in a Rural West African Adult Population: Insights from an AWI-Gen Substudy in Ghana.

Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) are commonly used for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk prediction, and pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) can provide additional information. It is therefore important to understand the factors associated with these cardiovascular risk markers. This cross-sectional study involved 1839 men and women aged 40-60 years.

Classical Cardiovascular Risk Factors and HIV are Associated With Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Adults From Sub-Saharan Africa: Findings From H3Africa AWI-Gen Study.

Background Studies on the determinants of carotid intima-media thickness ( CIMT ), a marker of sub-clinical atherosclerosis, mostly come from white, Asian, and diasporan black populations. We present CIMT data from sub-Saharan Africa, which is experiencing a rising burden of cardiovascular diseases and infectious diseases. Methods and Results The H3 (Human Hereditary and Health) in Africa's AWI-Gen (African-Wits-INDEPTH partnership for Genomic) study is a cross-sectional study conducted in adults aged 40 to 60 years from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa.

Persistent female genital mutilation despite its illegality: Narratives from women and men in northern Ghana.

Background: Globally, an estimated two million women have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and approximately four percent of women who have been circumcised live in Ghana. In the Bawku Municipality and Pusiga District, sixty one percent of women have undergone the procedure. This study therefore aimed at identifying the factors that sustain the practice of FGM despite its illegality, in the Bawku Municipality and the Pusiga District.

Correction: The burden of dyslipidaemia and factors associated with lipid levels among adults in rural northern Ghana: An AWI-Gen sub-study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Is the decline in neonatal mortality in northern Ghana, 1996-2012, associated with the decline in the age of BCG vaccination? An ecological study.

Objective: To examine the association between early Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination and neonatal mortality in northern Ghana.

Methods: This ecological study used vaccination and mortality data from the Navrongo Health and Demographic Surveillance System. First, we assessed and compared changes in neonatal mortality rates (NMRs) and median BCG vaccination age from 1996 to 2012.

The burden of dyslipidaemia and factors associated with lipid levels among adults in rural northern Ghana: An AWI-Gen sub-study.

Dyslipidaemia is a primary risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, causing over 17 million deaths globally in 2015. However, the burden of dyslipidaemia and factors associated with lipid levels remain unknown in many rural African populations. Therefore, this study evaluated the association of socio-demographic, anthropometric and behavioural factors with lipid levels in rural Ghana.

Prevalence and factors associated with female genital mutilation among women of reproductive age in the Bawku municipality and Pusiga District of northern Ghana.

Background: Globally, three million girls are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) and an estimated 200 million girls and women in the world have undergone FGM. While the overall prevalence of FGM in Ghana is 4%, studies have shown that the overall prevalence in the Upper East Region is 38%, with Bawku municipality recording the highest at 82%.

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design with a quantitative approach: a survey with women of reproductive age (15-49).

Socio-demographic and behavioural determinants of body mass index among an adult population in rural Northern Ghana: the AWI-Gen study.

Background: Obesity and associated cardiometabolic diseases are increasing in urban sub-Saharan Africa due to a complex epidemiological and nutritional transition. Related data on rural communities is scarce.

Objectives: The study characterized the socio-demographic and behavioural factors influencing body mass index (BMI) among adults in rural Northern Ghana Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study involving adults aged 40-60 years residing in the Kassena-Nankana districts was undertaken.

Measles Vaccination Supports Millennium Development Goal 4: Increasing Coverage and Increasing Child Survival in Northern Ghana, 1996-2012.

Background: Measles vaccine (MV) administered as the last vaccine after the third dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) may be associated with better child survival unrelated to prevention of measles infection. Other studies have shown that MV administered after DTP was more beneficial and was associated with lower mortality compared with DTP administered after MV or DTP administered simultaneously with MV. We compared the difference in mortality between measles vaccinated after DTP3 and measles-unvaccinated children in Navrongo, Ghana.

Variations in disability and quality of life with age and sex between eight lower income and middle-income countries: data from the INDEPTH WHO-SAGE collaboration.

Background: Disability and quality of life are key outcomes for older people. Little is known about how these measures vary with age and gender across lower income and middle-income countries; such information is necessary to tailor health and social care policy to promote healthy ageing and minimise disability.

Methods: We analysed data from participants aged 50 years and over from health and demographic surveillance system sites of the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health Network in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh, using an abbreviated version of the WHO Study on global AGEing survey instrument.

Determinants of attending antenatal care at least four times in rural Ghana: analysis of a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Improving maternal health is a global challenge. In Ghana, maternal morbidity and mortality rates remain high, particularly in rural areas. Antenatal care (ANC) attendance is known to improve maternal health.

Fewer out-of-sequence vaccinations and reduction of child mortality in Northern Ghana.

Background: Studies suggest that diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine administered simultaneously with measles vaccine (MV) or DTP administered after MV are associated with higher child mortality than having MV-after-DTP3 as most recent vaccination. We tested this in Northern Ghana where the prevalence of such out-of-sequence vaccinations has declined.

Methods: Using annual cohort data of children aged 12-23months from 1996 to 2012 and Cox proportional hazards models, we assessed survival in relation to the most recent vaccination status within the next 12months and until five years of age.