Women's autonomy, neonatal, infant and under-five mortality in the Upper East Region of Ghana.

Child mortality remains a major health challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. Child survival is greatly influenced by household circumstances and mother's healthcare choices. Notwithstanding tremendous investment in women empowerment in Ghana, there is limited empirical evidence on whether women's autonomy translates into better child mortality outcomes.

'The national health insurance policy provides little to no benefit to young persons living with type 1 diabetes (T1D)': a qualitative study of T1D management cost-burden in Southern Ghana.

Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) management exerts a considerable financial burden on patients, caregivers, and developing nations at large. In Ghana, a key governments effort to attenuate the financial burden of T1D on patients was to fashion safety-net mechanisms through financial risk pooling/sharing known as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). However, there is limited research on patients and caregivers' experiences with the cost of managing T1D within the NHIS in Ghana.

Living with type 1 diabetes and schooling among young people in Ghana: a truism of health selection, inadequate support, or artefactual explanation of educational inequalities?

Introduction: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is mostly diagnosed among young people. Despite the evidence that T1DM is disruptive, and affects individuals' health and cognitive ability, there is dearth of knowledge on the impact of T1DM on schooling in LMICs including Ghana. In this research, we explored the impact of T1DM on the schooling of young people living with the disease, and discussed the results within health selection, social support, and artefactual perspectives of inequality.

Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake: evidence from a vulnerable global South setting.

Objective: Studies are paying increasing attention to complex social determinants in explaining the variation in the rates COVID-19 vaccine uptake. This study examines the influence of various individual, contextual, and vaccine-related factors on COVID-19 vaccine uptake behaviour in a resource-scarce and vulnerable setting using a quantitative research approach. Using a multi-staged cluster sampling approach, 408 individuals from 204 households in Cape Coast, Ghana's tourism hub, were surveyed.

Towards an integrated type 1 diabetes management in low-resource settings: barriers faced by patients and their caregivers in healthcare facilities in Ghana.

Background: In Low-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), young people living with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) face structural barriers which undermine adequate T1DM management and lead to poor health outcomes. However, research on the barriers faced by young people living with T1DM have mostly focused on patient factors, neglecting concerns regarding plausible barriers that may exist at the point of healthcare service delivery.

Objective: This study sought to explore barriers faced by young people living with T1DM and their caregivers at the point of healthcare service delivery.

Coping and adaptation strategies among young persons living with type 1 diabetes and their caregivers: textual and photovoice analyses.

Background: Management of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is complex and demanding. It requires patients and their caregivers, particularly those in low-resource settings to adopt productive coping strategies to achieve ideal glycaemic control. Coping and adaptation strategies have far-reaching implications on their behavioural and health outcomes.

Culture and pandemic control at cross-roads: navigating the burial guidelines for COVID-19-related deaths in a Ghanaian setting.

Background: Despite the large volume of scientific evidence on the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated high morbidity and mortality, little is known about the sociocultural disruptions which ensued. The current study explored the nuanced navigation of the COVID-19-related death and burial protocols and its impact on traditional burial and funeral rites in Ghana.

Methods: This qualitative study was based on the 'focused' ethnographic design.

The Influence of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Health Seeking Behaviors of Adults Living With Chronic Conditions: A View Through the Health Belief Model.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in disruption in every facet of life including health service delivery. This has threatened the attainment of global targets to improve health and wellbeing of all persons. In particular, for persons living with chronic diseases, who require consistent monitoring by health professionals and medication to enhance their health, understanding how the pandemic has disruption their access to health care delivery is critical for interventions aimed at improving health service delivery for all as well as preparedness for future pandemic.

Knowledge of young people living with type 1 diabetes and their caregivers about its management.

Aims And Objective: We sought to investigate knowledge and skills of type 1 diabetes (T1D) management among young people living with the disease and their caregivers. Our aim is to provide baseline evidence to inform T1D self-management education for young people living with the disease and their caregivers.

Background: Both local and international guidelines recommend ongoing T1D self-management education for people living with the disease.

Association of maternal characteristics with child feeding indicators and nutritional status of children under-two years in Rural Ghana.

Background: Optimal nutrition during the first two years of a child's life is critical for the reduction of morbidity and mortality. In Ghana, majority of children miss out on optimal nutrition and only few (13%) of children receive a Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD). Several studies have investigated the influence of community-level factors on infants and young children feeding (IYCF) practices.

Parenting practices and family relationships during the COVID-19 lockdown in Ghana.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been far reaching across almost every sphere of life. Families, which are the basic units of society, have not been spared the ravages of the pandemic. Changes in family daily routines as a result of COVID-19 can affect spousal relationships, parenting and childcare practices.

Transition to motherhood following the use of assisted reproductive technologies: Experiences of women in Ghana.

As a result of the significance of childbearing in the Ghanaian culture, couples would go to all lengths to have biological children. One of the means that has made it possible for childless couples to have children is through the use of various assisted reproductive technologies. Using a qualitative research design, the paper explores the experiences of 40 women who have delivered following the use of assisted reproductive technology in Ghana.

Survival analysis of neonatal mortality in Ghana using three population-based surveys.

Background: Neonatal mortality in many low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains high despite global efforts at addressing this challenge. Tackling neonatal death in LMICs is further complicated by lack of reliable data from individual countries in the region to inform effective context specific interventions. This study investigates the probability of neonatal survival and socio-demographic risk factors of neonatal mortality in Ghana.

Connection in Youth Development Key to the Mental Health Continuum in Ghana: A Structural Equation Model of Thriving and Flourishing Indicators.

Practitioners from sub-Saharan Africa are working to provide evidence-based intervention programs to address the mental health of established adults in poor rural communities in Ghana. However, institutions in Ghana also pursue youth policy for training human capital that can contribute to national development as a strategy to leverage its heavy demographic makeup of adolescents and emerging adults. Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a framework for measuring indicators of thriving for such youthful populations.

Coping strategies adapted by Ghanaians during the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown: A population-based study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and control measures adopted by countries globally can lead to stress and anxiety. Investigating the coping strategies to this unprecedented crisis is essential to guide mental health intervention and public health policy. This study examined how people are coping with the COVID-19 crisis in Ghana and identify factors influencing it.

Neonatal mortality clustering in the central districts of Ghana.

Introduction: Identifying high risk geographical clusters for neonatal mortality is important for guiding policy and targeted interventions. However, limited studies have been conducted in Ghana to identify such clusters.

Objective: This study aimed to identify high-risk clusters for all-cause and cause-specific neonatal mortality in the Kintampo Districts.

Prevalence and changes in boredom, anxiety and well-being among Ghanaians during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based study.

Background: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with several adverse health outcomes. However, few studies in sub-Saharan Africa have examined its deleterious consequences on mental health. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence and changes in boredom, anxiety and psychological well-being before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana.

Neonatal mortality in the central districts of Ghana: analysis of community and composition factors.

Background: Communities and their composition have an impact on neonatal mortality. However, considering the smallest health administrative units as communities and investigating the impact of these communities and their composition on neonatal mortality in Ghana have not been studied. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of community-, household- and individual-level factors on the risk of neonatal mortality in two districts in Ghana.

Alcohol-related mortality and all-cause mortality following bereavement in two successive generations.

Background And Aim: Bereavement affects the health of the bereaved both emotionally and physically. Bereavement resulting from alcohol-related death of the previous generation (parents-first generation) may increase the risk of alcohol abuse and consequently alcohol-related mortality as well as all-cause mortality in the next generation (offspring-second generation). Furthermore, these associations can be bi-directional.

Mothers' and Grandmothers' misconceptions and socio-cultural factors as barriers to exclusive breastfeeding: A qualitative study involving Health Workers in two rural districts of Ghana.

Background: Education on exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) practices is usually given in the form of health talks by health workers (HWs). The need for HWs to be well-informed about cultural practices and misconceptions that act as barriers to EBF has been documented in literature. This information can guide HWs in developing interventions such as health talks which are culturally sensitive.

Associations of women's empowerment with neonatal, infant and under-5 mortality in low- and /middle-income countries: meta-analysis of individual participant data from 59 countries.

Background: Child survival and women's empowerment are global public health concerns and important sustainable development goals (SDGs). Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have the largest burden of both phenomena. The aim of this study is to investigate a measure of women's empowerment at individual and population levels and its potential associations with neonatal, infant and under-5 mortality at national and regional levels in 59 LMICs.

Barriers to the Uptake of Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment among Rural Women in Ghana.

Background: This study sought to explore the barriers to the uptake of cervical cancer screening and treatment in the North Tongu district of Ghana.

Methods: Twenty-five in-depth interviews were conducted, while three focus group discussions were held among respondents. The data were analysed with the R package for qualitative data analysis using a thematic analytical approach.

Male support for cervical cancer screening and treatment in rural Ghana.

Men have a critical role to play in reducing cervical cancer burden. Yet, there is little information on male involvement in the cervical cancer screening and treatment process in Ghana. In this study, we explore male knowledge and support during cervical cancer screening and treatment in a rural setting in Ghana.

Association of the quality of antenatal care with neonatal mortality: meta-analysis of individual participant data from 60 low- and middle-income countries.

Background: We investigated the quality of antenatal care (ANC) and its effect on neonatal mortality in 60 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Methods: We used pooled comparable cross-sectional surveys from 60 LMICs (n=651 681). Cox proportional hazards multivariable regression models and meta-regression analysis were used to assess the effect of the quality of ANC on the risk of neonatal mortality.