Utilization of the national cluster of district health information system for health service decision-making at the district, sub-district and community levels in selected districts of the Brong Ahafo region in Ghana.

Background: There is growing interest in the use of reliable evidence for health decision-making among low-and middle-income countries. Ghana has deployed DHIMS2 to replace the previously existing manual data harmonization processes.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 12 districts comprising 12 district directorates, 10 district hospitals, 29 sub-district health centers, and 38 community health facilities in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

Intermittent preventive treatment of pregnant women in Kintampo area of Ghana with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP): trends spanning 2011 and 2015.

Objective: In Ghana, intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP) is recommended for the prevention of malaria-related adverse outcomes. This study demonstrates the coverage of IPTp-SP use among pregnant women over a period (2011-2015) and the impact of various sociodemographic groups on the uptake of IPTp-SP.

Design: Retrospective analysis using data from all pregnant women in the Kintampo Health and Demographic Surveillance System area on the uptake of IPTp-SP.

Volunteering for Health Services in the Middle Part of Ghana: In Whose Interest?

Background: In many developing countries like Ghana, community volunteers assist in the provision of certain health services to rural and hard-to-reach communities. This study examined factors that influence the motivation and retention of community-based volunteers supporting with work on health-related activities at the community level in Ghana.

Methods: Using a sequential mixed-method design, a cross-sectional survey was carried out among 205 selected community-based volunteers in Kintampo North Municipality (KNM) and Kintampo South District (KSD) of Ghana between December, 2014 and February, 2015.