Can she make it? Transportation barriers to accessing maternal and child health care services in rural Ghana
Background: The Ghana Community based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) strategy targets to bring health services to the doorsteps of clients in a manner that improves maternal and child health outcomes. In this strategy, referral is an important component but it is threatened in a rural context where transportation service is a problem. Few studies […]
Demographic disparities in unimproved drinking water and sanitation in Ghana: A nationally representative cross-sectional study
Objective The government of Ghana has targeted universal access to safe drinking water by 2025 and elimination of open defecation by year 2030. This study explored the use of unimproved drinking water and unimproved sanitation and assessed their association with demographic factors. Design This was a secondary data analysis of the 2017 Ghana Maternal Health […]
Determinants of utilization of antenatal care services in developing countries: Recent evidence from Ghana
The purpose of this paper is to estimate the key socio-economic and demographic factors influencing the utilization of antenatal care services in Ghana. The paper utilizes the most recent Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS V) data. The dependent variable is the intensity of utilization (number) of antenatal care visits. Hence, the negative binomial regression […]
Exclusive breastfeeding rates and associated factors in 13 “economic community of West African states” (ECOWAS) countries
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) has important protective effects on child survival and also increases the growth and development of infants. This paper examined EBF rates and associated factors in 13 “Economic Community of West African States” (ECOWAS) countries. A weighted sample of 19,735 infants from the recent Demographic and Health Survey dataset in ECOWAS countries for […]
A qualitative study of health system barriers to accessibility and utilization of maternal and newborn healthcare services in Ghana after user-fee abolition
Background: To reduce financial barriers to access, and improve access to and use of skilled maternal and newborn healthcare services, the government of Ghana, in 2003, implemented a new maternal healthcare policy that provided free maternity care services in all public and mission healthcare facilities. Although supervised delivery in Ghana has increased from 47% in […]
Delineating natural catchment health districts with routinely collected health data from women’s travel to give birth in Ghana
Background: Health service areas are essential for planning, policy and managing public health interventions. In this study, we delineate health service areas from routinely collected health data as a robust geographic basis for presenting access to maternal care indicators. Methods: A zone design algorithm was adapted to delineate health service areas through a cross-sectional, ecological […]
Socioeconomic characteristics associated with the introduction of new vaccines and full childhood vaccination in Ghana, 2014
Background: Childhood vaccination in Ghana has historically been high, but the impact of recently introduced vaccines on coverage is unknown. We calculate vaccine coverage of Ghanaian children– contrasting newly introduced vaccines and those long available – and describe associations between sociodemographic indicators and full vaccination. Methods: Data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey […]
Ghana’s community-based primary health care: Why women and children are ‘disadvantaged’ by its implementation
Policy analysis on why women and children in low- and middle-income settings are still disadvantaged by access to appropriate care despite Primary Health Care (PHC) programmes implementation is limited. Drawing on the street-level bureaucracy theory, we explored how and why frontline providers (FLP) actions on their own and in interaction with health system factors shape […]
Maternal near-miss and mortality associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy remote from term: a multicenter observational study in Ghana
BACKGROUND: Maternal death rates remain high in many low- and middle-income countries. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy account for 18% of maternal mortality in Ghana. The maternal near-miss approach was designed to evaluate severe (acute) complications in pregnancy, which is useful to detect potential areas for clinical care improvement. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed (1) to determine […]
Improved prediction of gestational hypertension by inclusion of placental growth factor and pregnancy associated plasma protein-a in a sample of Ghanaian women
Background: We assessed whether adding the biomarkers Pregnancy Associated Plasma Protein-A (PAPP-A) and Placental Growth Factor (PlGF) to maternal clinical characteristics improved the prediction of a previously developed model for gestational hypertension in a cohort of Ghanaian pregnant women. Methods: This study was nested in a prospective cohort of 1010 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics […]
