Prevalence of alcohol use and associated factors since COVID-19 among school-going adolescents within the Southern African Development Community: a systematic review protocol.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly shaped the global landscape and impacted various aspects of individuals' lives, especially the behaviour of school-going adolescents regarding substance use. Among these substances, alcohol is the most predominant substance, particularly among school-going adolescents, who also are highly susceptible to harmful alcohol use, such as poor academic performance, psychiatric disorders and disrupted social lives. This review will synthesise the known prevalence estimates and associated factors of alcohol use among school-going adolescents in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mental health literacy of school-going adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: a regional systematic review protocol.

Introduction: Assessing mental health literacy has implications for the identification and treatment of mental health problems. Adolescents have been identified as a particularly important target group for initiating and improving mental health literacy. However, much of what we know about adolescent mental health literacy comes from high-income countries.

Prevalence and associations of depression, anxiety, and stress among people living with HIV: A hospital-based analytical cross-sectional study.

Background And Aims: An important but much less researched burden of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Sub-Saharan Africa includes the associated mental health outcomes of living with the virus. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress, and describe some of the socio-demographic associations among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Ghana.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Ghana.

Self-reported injuries and correlates among school-going adolescents in three countries in Western sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Unintentional injuries among adolescents constitute a significant public health problem globally. Injured adolescents may face negative outcomes ranging from poor academic performance to short- and long-term physical and psychosocial health struggles, and even death. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and describe the correlates and most frequent causes of injuries among school-going adolescents in three West African countries - Benin, Ghana, and Liberia.

Clergy-Perpetrated Sexual Abuse in Ghana: A Media Content Analysis of Survivors, Offenders, and Offence Characteristics.

While there are no official data and published studies on clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse (CPSA) from Ghana, local media reports continue to show worrying trends of the phenomenon. We drew on 73 media reports from January 2000 to March 2019, to describe the offence characteristics and profiles of the perpetrators and survivors of CPSA in Ghana. The findings showed females aged 10-19 as predominant survivors.

Boys should not be overlooked: Sexual violence victimization and associated factors among school-going adolescents in urban Ghana.

Background: Adolescent sexual violence victimization is still less researched in countries within sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana.

Objectives: To estimate the 12-month prevalence of sexual violence victimization and describe the differences and commonalities in the associated factors between school-going boys and girls in urban Ghana.

Participants And Setting: Students (n = 1692) aged 13-19 years attending Second Cycle Schools in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana participated in this study.

Mental health policy and system preparedness to respond to COVID-19 and other health emergencies: a case study of four African countries.

As a result of a long colonial history and subsequent developmental and economic challenges, many African countries have struggled to put in place adequate policies, systems, and associated infrastructures to address the health and social needs of their citizens. With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening human lives and livelihoods, concerns are raised about the preparedness and readiness of health policies and systems in African countries to deal with these kinds of health calamities. More particularly, questions can be asked about the preparedness or even existence of mental health policies and associated systems to help individuals and communities in Africa to deal with the consequences of COVID-19 and other health emergencies.

Self-harm among in-school and street-connected adolescents in Ghana: a cross-sectional survey in the Greater Accra region.

Objectives: To identify the prevalence, methods, associations and reported reasons for self-harm among in-school and street-connected adolescents in Ghana.

Design: A cross-sectional survey. We applied multi-level regression models and model-based cluster analysis to the data.

Adolescent Problem Gambling in Rural Ghana: Prevalence and Gender Differentiation.

Problem gambling among young people is now a public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the behaviour remains understudied, particularly, among rural-dwelling young people in countries within the subregion. We aimed to estimate the 12 months prevalence of problem gambling and to describe the overall and gender differences and commonalities in personal factors and social adversities associated with problem gambling among adolescents in rural Ghana.