Globally, hypertension is one of the leading causes of death. It can potentially lead to heart disease and stroke, among others, that could result to premature death. In Ghana, hypertension is considered as a disease ...Globally, hypertension is one of the leading causes of death. It can potentially lead to heart disease and stroke, among others, that could result to premature death. In Ghana, hypertension is considered as a disease that contributes to an increase in outpatients’ attendance. To assess the trend differentials of hypertension-induced deaths in Ghana, Chi-square test for equal proportions and Marascuilo procedure for pairwise comparison were performed using surveillance data on reported number of deaths from 2012 to 2016 across the then ten regions. The results show that incidence of hypertension-induced mortality was significantly different for almost all the regions and over the years. The incidence of hypertension-induced mortality has significantly reduced from 2012 to 2016. However, Volta Region recorded the highest incidence of mortality cases (<em>p</em>-value less of 0.0001) than the other regions during the period under review, while the Upper East Region recorded continuous increase in incidence of mortality cases with the highest in 2016. The Eastern Region, Central Region, and Greater Accra Region recorded significantly (<em>p</em>-value less of 0.0001) higher incidence of hypertension-induced mortality than the Ashanti Region, Brong Ahafo Region, Northern Region, Western Region and Upper West Region. The Upper West Region and Western Region had the lowest incidence of mortality. The decline in trend of hypertension-induced mortality could be attributed to some healthcare interventions put in place during the period. One of these interventions was the introduction of health insurance in 2003, a development which has been shown to affect the health seeking behaviors of the people. It is, therefore, important to investigate factors affecting these spatial and temporal dynamics in order to determine appropriate ways to actively control the hypertension-induced deaths in the country. Public education on health should be intensified so as to totally curb hypertension and its attendant risks.展开更多
Background: High data quality provides correct and up-to-date information which is critical to ensure, not only for the maintenance of health care at an optimal level, but also for the provision of high-quality clinic...Background: High data quality provides correct and up-to-date information which is critical to ensure, not only for the maintenance of health care at an optimal level, but also for the provision of high-quality clinical care, continuing health care, clinical and health service research, and planning and management of health systems. For the attainment of achievable improvements in the health sector, good data is core. Aim/Objective: To assess the level of knowledge and practices of Community Health Nurses on data quality in the Ho municipality, Ghana. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was employed for the study, using a standard Likert scale questionnaire. A census was used to collect 77 Community Health Nurses’ information. The statistical software, Epi-Data 3.1 was used to enter the data and exported to STATA 12.0 for the analyses. Chi-square and logistic analyses were performed to establish associations between categorical variables and a p-value of less than 0.05 at 95% significance interval was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of the 77 Community Health Nurses studied, 49 (63.64%) had good knowledge on data accuracy, 51 (66.23%) out of the 77 Community Health Nurses studied had poor knowledge on data completeness, and 64 (83.12%) had poor knowledge on data timeliness out of the 77 studied. Also, 16 (20.78%) and 33 (42.86%) of the 77 Community Health Nurses responded there was no designated staff for data quality review and no feedback from the health directorate respectively. Out of the 16 health facilities studied for data quality practices, half (8, 50.00%) had missing values on copies of their previous months’ report forms. More so, 10 (62.50%) had no reminders (monthly data submission itineraries) at the facility level. Conclusion: Overall, the general level of knowledge of Community Health Nurses on data quality was poor and their practices for improving data quality at the facility level were woefully inadequate. Therefore, Community Health Nurses need to be given on-job training and proper education on data quality and its dimensions. Also, the health directorate should intensify its continuous supportive supervisory visits at all facilities and feedback should be given to the Community Health Nurses on the data submitted.展开更多
Background: Malaria is a disease of public health concern, which causes significant mortality and morbidity in the tropics, particularly in Africa. Ghana as a country has been implementing a combination of preventive ...Background: Malaria is a disease of public health concern, which causes significant mortality and morbidity in the tropics, particularly in Africa. Ghana as a country has been implementing a combination of preventive and curative interventions as outlined in the Strategic Plan for Malaria Control in Ghana, 2014-2020. Additionally, Ghana subscribes to sub-regional and global initiatives such as the test, treat and track (T3) initiative which seeks to ensure that every suspected malaria case is tested, every case tested positive is treated with the recommended quality-assured antimalarial medicine, and every case treated with antimalarial is followed up to ensure complete parasite clearance. However, the implementation of this policy is a challenge, hence the need to study provider adherence to the testing, treating, and tracking. Materials and method: The study is cross-sectional in nature and data for this research was collected from consulting room registers, patients’ folders, the District Health Information Management System and a structured questionnaire designed to interview healthcare providers. The data was exported into Stata for cleaning and analysis. The results of the study were presented in the form of statistical charts and tables. Results: The study revealed that generally, provider adherence to the T3 policy was encouraging in the Binduri district, and a high level of testing (100%) of suspected malaria cases eliminated the practice of presumptive treatment. However, tracking of patients (68.2%) was not as high as testing and treatment which was revealed by the number asked to return for a review during the folder review. Conclusion: Significant progress in clinicians’ adherence to policy on malaria case management (T3) in the Binduri District. Continued training and facilitative supervision are essential to sustain gains and close existing gaps in clinicians’ adherence to malaria case management policy.展开更多
文摘Globally, hypertension is one of the leading causes of death. It can potentially lead to heart disease and stroke, among others, that could result to premature death. In Ghana, hypertension is considered as a disease that contributes to an increase in outpatients’ attendance. To assess the trend differentials of hypertension-induced deaths in Ghana, Chi-square test for equal proportions and Marascuilo procedure for pairwise comparison were performed using surveillance data on reported number of deaths from 2012 to 2016 across the then ten regions. The results show that incidence of hypertension-induced mortality was significantly different for almost all the regions and over the years. The incidence of hypertension-induced mortality has significantly reduced from 2012 to 2016. However, Volta Region recorded the highest incidence of mortality cases (<em>p</em>-value less of 0.0001) than the other regions during the period under review, while the Upper East Region recorded continuous increase in incidence of mortality cases with the highest in 2016. The Eastern Region, Central Region, and Greater Accra Region recorded significantly (<em>p</em>-value less of 0.0001) higher incidence of hypertension-induced mortality than the Ashanti Region, Brong Ahafo Region, Northern Region, Western Region and Upper West Region. The Upper West Region and Western Region had the lowest incidence of mortality. The decline in trend of hypertension-induced mortality could be attributed to some healthcare interventions put in place during the period. One of these interventions was the introduction of health insurance in 2003, a development which has been shown to affect the health seeking behaviors of the people. It is, therefore, important to investigate factors affecting these spatial and temporal dynamics in order to determine appropriate ways to actively control the hypertension-induced deaths in the country. Public education on health should be intensified so as to totally curb hypertension and its attendant risks.
文摘Background: High data quality provides correct and up-to-date information which is critical to ensure, not only for the maintenance of health care at an optimal level, but also for the provision of high-quality clinical care, continuing health care, clinical and health service research, and planning and management of health systems. For the attainment of achievable improvements in the health sector, good data is core. Aim/Objective: To assess the level of knowledge and practices of Community Health Nurses on data quality in the Ho municipality, Ghana. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was employed for the study, using a standard Likert scale questionnaire. A census was used to collect 77 Community Health Nurses’ information. The statistical software, Epi-Data 3.1 was used to enter the data and exported to STATA 12.0 for the analyses. Chi-square and logistic analyses were performed to establish associations between categorical variables and a p-value of less than 0.05 at 95% significance interval was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of the 77 Community Health Nurses studied, 49 (63.64%) had good knowledge on data accuracy, 51 (66.23%) out of the 77 Community Health Nurses studied had poor knowledge on data completeness, and 64 (83.12%) had poor knowledge on data timeliness out of the 77 studied. Also, 16 (20.78%) and 33 (42.86%) of the 77 Community Health Nurses responded there was no designated staff for data quality review and no feedback from the health directorate respectively. Out of the 16 health facilities studied for data quality practices, half (8, 50.00%) had missing values on copies of their previous months’ report forms. More so, 10 (62.50%) had no reminders (monthly data submission itineraries) at the facility level. Conclusion: Overall, the general level of knowledge of Community Health Nurses on data quality was poor and their practices for improving data quality at the facility level were woefully inadequate. Therefore, Community Health Nurses need to be given on-job training and proper education on data quality and its dimensions. Also, the health directorate should intensify its continuous supportive supervisory visits at all facilities and feedback should be given to the Community Health Nurses on the data submitted.
文摘Background: Malaria is a disease of public health concern, which causes significant mortality and morbidity in the tropics, particularly in Africa. Ghana as a country has been implementing a combination of preventive and curative interventions as outlined in the Strategic Plan for Malaria Control in Ghana, 2014-2020. Additionally, Ghana subscribes to sub-regional and global initiatives such as the test, treat and track (T3) initiative which seeks to ensure that every suspected malaria case is tested, every case tested positive is treated with the recommended quality-assured antimalarial medicine, and every case treated with antimalarial is followed up to ensure complete parasite clearance. However, the implementation of this policy is a challenge, hence the need to study provider adherence to the testing, treating, and tracking. Materials and method: The study is cross-sectional in nature and data for this research was collected from consulting room registers, patients’ folders, the District Health Information Management System and a structured questionnaire designed to interview healthcare providers. The data was exported into Stata for cleaning and analysis. The results of the study were presented in the form of statistical charts and tables. Results: The study revealed that generally, provider adherence to the T3 policy was encouraging in the Binduri district, and a high level of testing (100%) of suspected malaria cases eliminated the practice of presumptive treatment. However, tracking of patients (68.2%) was not as high as testing and treatment which was revealed by the number asked to return for a review during the folder review. Conclusion: Significant progress in clinicians’ adherence to policy on malaria case management (T3) in the Binduri District. Continued training and facilitative supervision are essential to sustain gains and close existing gaps in clinicians’ adherence to malaria case management policy.
