Exposure to environmental toxins is a major contributing factor to the expected increase in chronic disease within developing countries in the next 20 years. Due to its ubiquitous distribution and persistent nature, mercury (Hg) is an example of a toxic substance that has garnered global concern because of its known detrimental effects on human and ecosystem health. Although fish consumption is the predominant source of Hg exposure to humans in developed nations, studies in developing countries have shown that high Hg concentrations in humans cannot be explained by fish consumption alone. The estimated daily intake (EDI) and the relative contribution of various sources of Hg to humans differ significantly between individuals, ethnic groups, and across continents. Health Canada is currently attempting to regulate the anthropogenic release and exposure dose of Hg to its citizens based on known EDIs, however the greatest sources of Hg exposure across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are still unknown, thus impeding the regulatory process. This thesis focuses on four major sources of Hg exposure in SSA: skin-lightening cosmetics, soil geophagy, small-scale gold mining, and fish consumption. An exposure assessment model has been developed to identify the sources of greatest concern for various age groups in Ghana and Uganda and is presented using published and unpublished data, as well as experimental Hg bioaccessibility data. The results indicate that occupational exposure and lifestyle choices (mining and use of skin-lightening cosmetics) have the greatest contribution to overall increases in Hg toxicity in adults. The health of infants, however, is most likely to be compromised before birth and in the first few days of life due to maternal consumption of fish with elevated Hg concentrations and the use of Hg-containing cosmetics. It is imperative that further research of these sources be carried out to prevent the possible long-term negative social and economic consequences of chronic illness in SSA. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-25 20:05:32.606

The topic of this study was Female Genital Mutilation, a crime against human rights and a severe problem in parts of Africa. Laws against FGM have had limited effect and nurses are faced with many opportunities to inspire behavioral changes in individuals, making the aim of this study to explore Ghana’s nursing students’ knowledge of and attitudes towards female genital mutilation. Data was collected at the Atibie Midwifery and Nursing Training School located in central Ghana. It was a descriptive non-experimental empirical study carried out by collecting quantitative data with questionnaires. Data was registered and analyzed manually. The outcome of this study indicated that nursing students at Atibie Midwifery and Nursing Training School in Ghana have a fairly high knowledge of FGM and FGM-related complications. Further, the students seem to have very mixed attitudes towards FGM, the majority being a negative attitude towards the practice. Although, a small part of the study population does have a more traditional point of view.

Candida species are ubiquitous, ranging from pure saprobes through endo-symbionts of animals, to pathogens in many animals including humans. Some of the pathogenic species are of medical importance, especially Candida albicans. However, the prevalence of other non-albicans Candida species as human pathogens has been increasing worldwide. The aim of this study was to use conventional phenotypic tests and molecular methods to isolate, identify and characterise 600 Candida isolates from three teaching hospitals in Ghana, namely Korle Bu, Komfo Anokye and Tamale from mid-January to April, 2012. The prevalence of these species in cases of genitourinary candidiasis and pelvic inflammatory disease was investigated. Preliminary identification and characterisation of Candida isolates using four conventional phenotypic tests showed that C. albicans was the most common species, which constituted 41% of the isolates whereas non-albicans Candida species constituted 59% of the total number of Candida isolates. In patients presenting with vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) for at least two or more times, chi-square analysis indicates that the frequency of Candida species isolated were not statistically different from patients presenting for the first time with VVC. Candida albicans was the most common species in vaginal swabs from patients presenting with vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) for the first time in each of the three locations, present in 53.4% of the total swabs. The other species that were present were C. glabrata (21.6%), C. parapsilosis (15.5%), C. tropicalis (4.7%) and C. krusei (4.7%). Similar Candida species distributions were found in swabs taken from patients presenting with suspected pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Across the three locations, however, there was a significant difference in the frequency of C. albicans, which was present in 68 and 69.6% of patients from Komfo Anokye and Tamale, but only 26.7% of patients from Korle Bu. Urine samples were taken in two of the locations, Korle Bu and Tamale, from female patients presenting with candiduria. Statistical analysis indicated a significant difference in the frequency of Candida isolates in cases of candiduria between the two locations. In Korle Bu, C. glabrata was the most prominent species (37.8%) followed by C. albicans (22.4%), C. parapsilosis (21.7%), C. tropicalis (10.5%), C. krusei (7%) and C. lusitaniae (0.7%). In Tamale, the species distribution was C. albicans (60.9%), C. glabrata (21.7%), C. parapsilosis (13%) and C. krusei (4.3%). The data highlight the prevalence of species other than C. albicans in case of candidiasis in Ghana. Delineation of C. albicans strains using the 25S rDNA to investigate the genotypic variation among C. albicans isolates showed that genotype A constituted about 95% of the Ghanaian C. albicans isolates, genotypes B and C constituted 2.5% each respectively. The general-purpose genotype (GPG) which corresponds to clade 1 among C. albicans was also investigated to know the prevalence of clade 1 among the C. albicans isolates investigated. The presence or absence of general-purpose genotype (GPG) gene was used to categorise the 240 C. albicans to clade 1 or other clade. The test revealed that 64.2% had the GPG genotype which corresponds to clade 1 and the remaining 35.8% were of non-GPG genotype; thus belongs to other clades. The population structure of C. albicans from the three teaching hospitals indicates a mainly clonal and homogeneous population across the three sampling locations from Ghana. Molecular analyses of the transposable group 1 intron in the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region using universal primer pair ITS1 and ITS4 revealed the presence of two rare Candida species; Candida rugosa and Candida mesorugosa. To the best of my knowledge this is the first report of either of these in Africa. Antifungal susceptibility tests among Candida isolates recovered from patients presenting with clinically suspected or symptomatic candidal vaginitis for the first time and patients presenting with candidal vaginitis on two or more occasions revealed a high percentage of Fluconazole-resistant C. albicans. This study highlights the prevalence of species other than C. albicans in cases of candidiasis in Ghana. Furthermore, this study has also demonstrated that no single conventional phenotypic test has been highly efficient to delineate Candida species into their respective species type. Thus, development of an identification scheme, which can discriminate between Candida isolates both at species and strain levels, will have prognostic and therapeutic significance for effective patient management.

Background Although Pressure ulcer is common in high and middle income countries it is rarely researched in low income countries. Evidence based interventions of pressure ulcer prevention are developed but the gap between the evidence and the clinical practice is wide. Aim Describe the nurses‟ knowledge about pressure ulcer prevention at a provincial hospital in Ghana. Design An empirical qualitative approached was used and semi-structured interviews were made with nurses at the Kwahu Governmental Hospital in Atibie, Ghana. A content analysis and a deductive content analysis were used to analyze the material. The evidence based interventions suggested by the North American Nurses Association (NANDA) was used as a theoretical framework. Result / Conclusion The themes Pressure ulcer prevention and Nurses‟ knowledge were found. Most of the evidence based interventions were mentioned by the participants. However, the participants explained massage as a preventive intervention although the evidence advice against massage. The participants did not mention any interventions considering documentation and nutrition. Further the nurses explained that they achieved their knowledge in school by practical demonstrations and examinations. The nurses‟ opinion was that their knowledge is enough to prevent pressure ulcers. / <p>Röda Korsets sjuksköterskeförening stipendium 2011</p>

This is a Participatory Approach (PA) study done in Ghana, West Africa. We focus on two Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) in Ghana which uses a PA in their development work. Historically the development work in most African countries has been influenced by western countries, where development often was imposed from the top down, but nowadays, with PA, development seek to engage the local population in a community during the development process. Ghana has been struggling with poverty for several years, and the NGOs are of importance for the development in the country. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of development workers’ perception of Participatory Approach and to increase the knowledge about how development workers’ at NGOs in Ghana are working with Participatory Approach. This is a qualitative research and we have used three methods in this Bachelor’s thesis. We have done six semi - structured interviews, one focus group and one field research. We had the interviews and the focus group with development workers at two NGOs. At the field research we had the opportunity to observe the development workers in action. The research questions in this Bachelor’s thesis are: - At two NGOs in Ghana, in what ways can the development workers’ perception of Participatory Approach be understood? - At two NGOs in Ghana, in what ways can the practise of Participatory Approach be understood? The development workers perception of PA, is that PA is important to get sustainable projects and to ensure ownership for all stakeholders in the development process. PA is an empowering process with focus on capacity building. The acceptance of oneself being in need is as important as the participation. Their perception about PA also include some challenges. PA is time- and money consuming , the flexibility that PA need is limited by deadlines and budgets. There are challenges related to social- and cultural values, your own as a development worker and the community’s. The contextual knowledge must be highlighted and the limitations of the organizations must be considered. Another concern is when peoples opinions are influenced by their expectaitions from what the NGOs can provide. The practise of PA is understood as a process where all stakeholders are involved from the beginning, a process to engage the community and make them active participants in every step in a development project. The development workers main role is to build capacity of the people on the field. They uses different tools to ensure participation; Stakeholder analyses, Community conversations and Key informants interviews. The practise can be understood in terms of different levels of participation and different intensity within different cycles in a development project. Depending of the role of the actor and the stage the process are going through, some actors are more active than others.

<p>This dissertation examines the recent influx of Pentecostal-charismatic churches into the Northern Region of Ghana, a rural, underdeveloped region whose predominantly Muslim population has increasingly become the target of evangelistic efforts undertaken by Christians from the south. Based on ethnographic and archival research, my study considers the locus of this incursion as a densely layered zone of anxieties and emergences, desires and contestations, in which the elaboration of novel horizons of sensibility and experience is refracted through the vicissitudes of the region's social, economic, religious, and political history. I argue that the churches' impassioned campaign to "take back the north for the Lord" - a campaign whose exemplary medium is the evangelistic crusade in which "signs and wonders" are mobilized as particularly potent technologies of conversion - demarcates a complex field of intervention animated by a plurality of forces irreducible to those of strictly religious provenance. An ethos of progress and success fostered by the country's development apparatus; the longstanding prejudices surrounding northerners and "the north" in the Ghanaian national imaginary; the specter of a Muslim threat that surfaces in a post-9/11 world and perpetuates amidst a global war on terror - these are among the contingencies that have come together to render this encounter possible. Yet, far from simply overlaying these historical-political logics with the veneer of Christian discourse, my work charts the dissemination of a faith whereby, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, converts are anointed with a power to conceive themselves and, by extension, the world as nothing less than a totally "new creation." I contend that such practices of salvation, so characteristic of Pentecostalism's proliferation across the continent as a whole, are being recast in ways both subtle and sensational by their transposition into the allegedly pathological space of northern Ghana - as are, I suggest, the lives of the men and women who inhabit it.</p> / Dissertation

No description available.

This thesis is based on seven weeks of fieldwork in Central Region and Western Region in Ghana and discusses how UNESCO listed forts and castles in the area shall be preserved and used today. Through in-depth interviews with important stakeholders and through observations at forts and castles the intention is to unveil what conflicts are present and also how heritage is being negotiated among these actors. A key issue is whether the sites shall be regarded as commodities or as public memorials. Working with the theoretical concepts of space, place and heritage and how these can be understood in the chosen context the thesis seeks to explain how different actors are able to transform the way these edifices are being used. The thesis’ contribution and what makes it relevant is especially how it illuminates that heritage is constantly being re-produced as a response to input from stakeholders. It also stresses the challenges in how to deal with heritage property in the contemporary planning context.

[Truncated abstract] This thesis reviews the role that contract farming plays in the development process through an examination of the oil palm industry in Ghana and in the Philippines. It contributes to ongoing debates concerning agricultural liberalisation in developing economies. The general view is that while the private sector can provide access to capital, technology and markets, the transition to a market-led system will increase the financial vulnerability of farmers, particularly smallholder farmers, through unequal power relationships. Of particular concern is the capacity of the private sector to alleviate poverty and promote social equity amongst small rural landholders. At the heart of much of the debate is the issue of contract farming, which has increased rapidly in line with structural adjustment in the agricultural sector. One of the central difficulties in drawing any conclusion on whether contract farming should be encouraged or discouraged, is the lack of comparability between the large number of types of schemes, crops being contracted, the `actors' involved and the socio-economic, political and institutional environments in which contract farming schemes are nurtured. This study has focused on the role that contract farming plays in the pursuit of development through an analysis of the key socio-economic issues involved with the adaptation of contract farming in the oil palm industries in the Philippines and in Ghana. This analysis allowed for the identification of conditions under which the impacts of contract farming schemes can either be augmented or mitigated. The research found that cultivating oil palm has the propensity to reward outgrowers with increasing income and a better access to knowledge, information and technology, capital and credit, agricultural inputs, markets and other services. ... The two outgrower programs are presently successful and do not show signs of the major problems identified by researchers in other areas. However, both governments need to ensure that a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework for private sector agricultural development is put in place. A strong private sector could provide the vehicle for agricultural development and the reduction of poverty in the countryside, however, both governments and the various private sector companies engaged in oil palm production need to work in partnership with each other and the outgrower community towards the goal of a diversified and expanded agricultural production base.

Zugl.: Giessen, Univ., Diss., 2006