Unravelling factors influencing demand for modern contraception and evaluating coverage progress since 2015 in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria: insights from multilevel and geostatistical modelling.

Introduction: The United Nations established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to enhance global development. In this study, we examine an SDG indicator: the percentage of women aged 15-49 whose family planning needs are met by modern contraception (mDFPS). We evaluate both the factors influencing its coverage and its progress since 2015.

Household food sources and diarrhoea incidence in poor urban communities, Accra Ghana.

Diarrhoeal diseases remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in poor urban communities in the Global South. Studies on food access and safety have however not considered the sources of discrete food categories and their propensity to harbour and transmit diarrhoeal disease pathogens in poor urban settings. We sought to contribute to knowledge on urban food environment and enteric infections by interrogating the sources and categories of common foods and their tendency to transmit diarrhoea in low-income communities in Accra.

Community and individual sense of trust and psychological distress among the urban poor in Accra, Ghana.

Background: Mental health disorders present significant health challenges in populations in sub Saharan Africa especially in deprived urban poor contexts. Some studies have suggested that in collectivistic societies such as most African societies people can draw on social capital to attenuate the effect of community stressors on their mental health. Global studies suggest the effect of social capital on mental disorders such as psychological distress is mixed, and emerging studies on the psychosocial characteristics of collectivistic societies suggest that mistrust and suspicion sometimes deprive people of the benefit of social capital.