Socioeconomic and Demographic Predictors of Potable Water and Sanitation Access in Ghana

Lack of access to potable water and good sanitation is still one of the most challenging public health concerns of the twenty-first century despite steady progress over recent decades. Almost a billion people globally lack access to safe water; over two billion live without adequate sanitation facilities. The challenge is even more daunting for Sub-Saharan Africa where coverage levels for both potable water and sanitation remain critically low. The urgent need to address the issue calls for adequate understanding of the socio-economic dimensions. Using the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, we investigated the socio-economic and demographic factors associated with access to potable water and improved sanitation facilities. Our generalized linear models reveal that income, education, household size, and region are significant predictors of improved water and sanitation access. Our discussion and conclusion sections highlight the implications of the study results for water policy formulation and implementation in Ghana, and broadly for other developing countries.     

Diversity and structure of urban forests of Sahel cities in Niger

Urban Ecosystems - Urbanization in the Sahel is constantly competing with and greatly affecting the woody flora in urban areas. Urbanization can replace the species mix, leading to changes in plant...     

Disability and Household Welfare in Ghana: Costs and Correlates

Journal of Family and Economic Issues - Persons with disabilities face substantial barriers that impede their integration and participation in social and economic activities. Households with...     

Study Abroad Ghana: An International Experiential Learning

The global nature of social problems indicates how important it is for social workers to be involved in international issues. For example, overseas experience in social work programs is in consonance with the Council on Social Work Education's emphasis on global context of social work practice. In view of this, some schools of social work are facilitating international experience for their students and faculty. This article discusses the experiences of U.S. students who studied abroad in Ghana in summer 2010, under the University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC). It specifically examines the impact the USAC Ghana program, the people and culture of the host country, intracountry trips/tours, and the social work courses had on the student participants.     

Superior Communication of Positive Emotions Through Nonverbal Vocalisations Compared to Speech Prosody

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior - The human voice communicates emotion through two different types of vocalizations: nonverbal vocalizations (brief non-linguistic sounds like laughs) and speech...     

Understanding the concept of food sovereignty using the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP)

This article deepens the understanding of the emerging food sovereignty concept using a case study of a home-grown school feeding programme that promotes local food demand – supply linkages. A school feeding programme in four selected districts in Ghana is analysed with respect to community involvement in programme implementation and management as well as its socio-economic impacts. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches was used in data collection and analysis. Results showed a significant improvement in household food access and months of adequate household food provisioning, which were used as measurement proxies for food sovereignty, as a result of access to local market created by the Ghana School Feeding Programme. However, the study recommends more empirical evidence from research to support the claim that using locally produced food for school feeding actually reduces poverty and malnutrition in rural farming communities.     

Women’s Empowerment in the Context of Millennium Development Goal 3: A Case Study of Married Women in Ghana

This paper assesses women’s empowerment in Ghana in the light of the Millennium Development Goal 3. Data for the study were drawn from the 2008 Ghana Demographic Health Survey with an analytic sample of 1,876 married women aged 15–49. Using binary logistic regression in determining the factors that influence women empowerment, this paper examines the relationship between wealth and women’s involvement in household decision-making in the context of healthcare, large household purchases, daily house hold purchases and mobility. The findings show that wealthier married women were significantly more likely to be involved in decision-making on their own healthcare (OR = 2.14, p ≤ 0.001). Also, age, tertiary education and employment significantly shaped the involvement of married women in household decision-making in Ghana. Surprisingly, married women in the Upper East region (the second poorest) were significantly more likely to be involved in three measures of decision-making except for decisions on large household purchases relative to those in the Greater Accra region (the capital). Policies oriented towards an increase in accessibility to tertiary education, employment equity and the creation of income generating activities for women would enhance women’s empowerment in Ghana.     

Acculturation inclinations and subjective health status of internal migrants in James Town,an urban slum settlement in Accra

The impact of acculturation on health status has been a subject of debate for over three decades. In this exploratory study, we use cross-sectional data to examine the relative effects of acculturation inclinations on self-rated health statuses among migrants in a poor, urban neighborhood in Accra. Much emphasis is placed on the role of the urban environment in disease outbreaks within the city, the patterns of communicable and non-communicable diseases, spatial health inequalities, and the distribution of sexual and reproductive illness risks in Accra. However, the ways by which acculturation inclinations and dimensions may exert positive or negative influence on health outcomes in such contexts have not been examined. We developed proxies for four main acculturation elements: assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. We used results from a semi-structured survey questionnaire with 296 migrants. After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and social capital, findings from Ordinal Logistic Regression models indicate that the acculturation predictors of subjective health status are assimilation and marginalization. This study is the first step in understanding the possible trajectories by which acculturation affects health in the internal migration context in Ghana.     

Conundrum of Sexual Decision Making in Marital Relationships: Safer-Sex Knowledge,Behavior, and Attitudes of Married Women in Zambia

Recent research suggests that Zambian women face an increasing risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) within marital relationships. Married women's perceived ability to negotiate safer sex or adopt self-efficacy practices is recognized as critical in preventing new infections within marriage. Yet women's self-efficacy practices, such as requesting condom use or refusing sex within marriage, are influenced by individual and context-specific factors. Using the 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey data from 4,306 married women, this article examines the association between married women's perceived ability to negotiate safer sex and a range of attitudinal, knowledge, and sociodemographic variables. Results from complementary log-log regression models reveal that married women who have factual knowledge about HIV transmission and prevention, as well as those who have been tested for their HIV serostatus, were more likely to report they can request that their husbands use a condom. Rural married women were more likely to report they can refuse their husbands sex compared to woman in urban areas. Likewise, married women who agree that a wife is justified in refusing her husband sex if he sleeps with other women were more likely to report they can negotiate safer sex compared to women who disagree. These findings suggest that married women are able to negotiate safer sex if they have correct factual knowledge about HIV transmission and are aware of their rights within marital relations.