Client-reported challenges and opportunities for improved antiretroviral therapy services uptake at a secondary health facility in Ghana.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens in African countries, including Ghana, are often faced with the challenge of treatment default. To maximize ART utilization and efficiency among people living with HIV (PLHIV), it is pertinent to ensure that ART-related challenges that clients encounter are identified and addressed holistically. A phenomenological qualitative study of thirty participants recruited through the purposive sampling technique was conducted using in-depth interviews from June to July 2021.

Betting high, feeling low: a cross-sectional examination of gambling severity and psychological distress among Ghanaian youth.

Background: Little is known about the nexus between online gambling and psychological distress among youth, especially in Ghana. This study aimed to investigate the effects of online sports betting on psychological distress, focusing on depression, anxiety, and stress among young individuals in the Volta region of Ghana.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at various betting centers in the Volta region of Ghana.

Lay beliefs of COVID-19 vaccine refusal among intercity commercial drivers in the Volta region of Ghana: recommendations for improved vaccine uptake.

Background: The COVID-19 vaccine has faced increased hesitancy in Ghana and the Volta region in particular since its rollout. Acceptance of the vaccine among intercity commercial drivers is crucial, especially in the Volta region, as they transport people within and outside the country and could fuel the transmission of the virus if not vaccinated.

Objective: We therefore established lay beliefs surrounding COVID-19 vaccine refusal among intercity commercial drivers in the Volta region of Ghana, as well as their recommendations for improved vaccine uptake.

Challenges associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related self-quarantine in Ghana: lessons for future self-quarantine interventions.

Introduction: self-quarantine was one of the key public health interventions in halting the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ghana. Despite its success, self-quarantine was bridled with challenges across the country, including in the Eastern Region. Consequently, it was pertinent to ascertain these challenges to inform future self-quarantine interventions in the region and the country.

Challenges and opportunities for improved contact tracing in Ghana: experiences from Coronavirus disease-2019-related contact tracing in the Bono region.

Background: In Ghana, contact tracing received heightened attention in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic during its peak period. Despite the successes achieved, numerous challenges continue to limit the efforts of contact tracing in completely curtailing the effect of the pandemic. Despite these challenges, there are still opportunities that could be harnessed from the COVID-19 contact tracing experience for future eventualities.

Protective Behavioural Mechanisms Against Cannabis Use Among Adolescents in Cannabis-Growing Settings of South Africa: Insights Into Adolescent Cannabis Use Prevention.

We aimed to explore the behavioural protective mechanisms against cannabis use among adolescents living in South African illicit cannabis-growing communities, based on the Self Determination Theory (SDT). Exploratory qualitative design techniques were followed in conducting the study. The snowball sampling technique was used to recruit thirty (30) non-cannabis smoking adolescents from 2 purposively selected communities and grouped into 4 focus groups and interviewed.

Facilitators and barriers in prevention of cardiovascular disease in Limpopo, South Africa: a qualitative study conducted with primary health care managers.

Background: In the Southern African countries, cardiovascular disease burden is increasing and the second most prevalent cause of death after infectious diseases. The sustainable primary prevention of cardiovascular disease is associated with the engagement of facilitators that support it and hindered by barriers that undermine the support of a healthy lifestyle at the community level. The purpose of the study was to investigate facilitators and barriers at the level of primary health care facilities, on prevention of cardiovascular disease in Limpopo Province of South Africa.

Theoretical understanding of contextual motivations for sustained adolescent marijuana use in South Africa.

Background: Although various reasons for adolescent marijuana use have extensively been explored, contextual factors that sustain the practice in settings where the plant is illegally cultivated, especially in South Africa, remain a grey area.

Aim: We aimed to explore the contextual factors of sustained adolescent marijuana use in two illicit marijuana-growing settings of the Ingquza Hill Local Municipality of South Africa, based on the differential opportunity theory (DOT) and subcultural theory (SCT).

Setting: The study was conducted in two illicit marijuana-growing communities in the Ingquza Hill Local Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Perspectives of illicit marijuana growers and traders on commercial legalisation of marijuana in South Africa: considerations for policy formulation.

Background: Over the years, there has been a clarion call for legalising marijuana cultivation and trading for commercial purposes in South Africa. Proponents of the call argue that the criminalisation of commercial marijuana cultivation and trading has failed to halt illicit marijuana cultivation and trading. However, the views of those who economically benefit from the illicit marijuana trade on its legalisation remain empirically unsolicited.

Contextual influences of illicit adolescent marijuana cultivation and trading in the Inqguza Hill local municipality of South Africa: implications for public health policy.

Background: Although commercial cultivation and trading of marijuana, commonly known as cannabis or dagga in the South African context, remains an illicit practice, adolescents actively engage in it. However, contextual influences that sustain adolescent involvement in illicit marijuana-related activties remain empirically unascertained.

Objective: This study sought to ascertain the various contextual influences of adolescent illicit marijuana cultivation and trading in two communities in the Ingquza Hill Local Municipality (IHLM) of South Africa, using the tenets of the Socio-Ecological Model (SEM).

Developing Adolescent Boys Toward Adaptation of Male Sexual and Reproductive Health in Communities With Embedded Cultural Manhood Values.

Manhood values are highly prioritized among most culturally orientated South African Black communities with an ideology that revolves around the concept of masculinity. The notion of manhood values is deeply rooted in male dominance, sexual drive, and traditional male circumcision. The goals of this study were to (a) explore the experiences of school health nurses in the provision of sexual and reproductive health among adolescent boys; and (b) recommend suggested action to develop adolescent boys to adapt a healthy behavioral lifestyle through a health-promoting school program.

Socio-ecological influences of adolescence marijuana use initiation: Qualitative evidence from two illicit marijuana-growing communities in South Africa.

Background: Adolescence has been identified as a critical risk period for substance use initiation, such as marijuana. Although several factors have been cited for adolescent marijuana use, those that influence initiation, especially in an African setting where illicit marijuana activities are rife, have not been contextually explored.

Aim: We ascertained the factors that influence adolescent marijuana use initiation in two marijuana-growing communities in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, based on the constructs of the socio-ecological model.

The Notion of Manhood Embedment in the Practice of Traditional Male Circumcision in Ngove Village, Limpopo, South Africa.

Traditional male circumcision (TMC) is a cultural ritual that involves the removal of the penile foreskin of a male person undertaken as part of a rite of passage from childhood into adulthood. The aim of the study was to determine the notions of manhood in TMC by African adolescent boys in Ngove Village, Limpopo Province. This was a qualitative study that sampled a total of 20 adolescent boys through purposive sampling.

Analysis of selected policies towards universal health coverage in Uganda: the policy implementation barometer protocol.

Background: Policy implementation remains an under researched area in most low and middle income countries and it is not surprising that several policies are implemented without a systematic follow up of why and how they are working or failing. This study is part of a larger project called Supporting Policy Engagement for Evidence-based Decisions (SPEED) for Universal Health Coverage in Uganda. It seeks to support policymakers monitor the implementation of vital programmes for the realisation of policy goals for Universal Health Coverage.

Opinions and Perceptions Regarding Traditional Male Circumcision With Related Deaths and Complications.

The notion of manhood values is highly treasured and respected by various cultural groups practicing traditional male circumcision (TMC) in South Africa. This study was conducted at Libode, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The goals of this study were to (a) explore opinions and perceptions related to TMC among boys from 12 to 18 years of age, and (b) determine the actions to be taken to prevent high mortality and morbidity rates related to TMC.

The Consideration of Socioeconomic Determinants in Prevention of Traditional Male Circumcision Deaths and Complications.

The responsiveness to socioeconomic determinants is perceived as highly crucial in preventing the high mortality and morbidity rates of traditional male circumcision initiates in the Eastern Cape, a province in South Africa. The study sought to describe social determinants and explore economic determinants related to traditional circumcision of boys from 12 to 18 years of age in Libode rural communities in Eastern Cape Province. From the results of a descriptive cross-sectional survey ( n = 1,036), 956 (92.

Traditional Male Circumcision: Ways to Prevent Deaths Due to Dehydration.

Deaths of initiates occurring in the circumcision initiation schools are preventable. Current studies list dehydration as one of the underlying causes of deaths among traditional male circumcision initiates in the Eastern Cape, a province in South Africa, but ways to prevent dehydration in the initiation schools have not been adequately explored. The goals of this study were to (a) explore the underlying determinants of dehydration among initiates aged from 12 to 18 years in the traditional male circumcision initiation schools and (b) determine knowledge of participants on the actions to be taken to prevent dehydration.