http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/64 2026-04-05T18:53:01Z http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/4859 Anaemia awareness, beliefs and practices among pregnant women: A baseline assessment at Brosankro community in Ghana. Dwumfour-Asare, B. Anaemia in pregnancy is among the top health threats in developing countries. Ghana has adopted several strategies over the years against anaemia but it remains a major cause of infant and maternal deaths. This paper assesses anaemia awareness levels, beliefs and practices among pregnant women of an endemic community. A baseline survey was conducted on 28 pregnant women randomly selected from first 100 consistent antenatal attendees from August to October 2011 at Brosankro Health Centre. The results show high anaemia consciousness with few respondents claiming no knowledge of the causes (3%) and effects (14%). The easily known cause of anaemia is poor diet (63%) followed by malaria (26%), worms (5%) and others (6%). Meanwhile, food sources that can fight anaemia are poorly known (18%). Cultural and religious beliefs in food restrictions exist and fairly a significant number of women (38%) are denied potential dietary nutrients. There are potential health risks (including anaemia) associated with existing practices since barriers to parasitic infections like malaria and worms via use of insecticide treated bed nets, intermittent preventive treatment, improved drinking water sources and effective handwashing are compromised. Respondents’ understanding on effective barriers against anaemia in pregnancy needs to be deepened. 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/4858 Determination of selected heavy metals and iron concentration in two common fish species in Densu River at Weija District in Grater Accra Region Makimilua, T.B. The concentrations of heavy metals namely; Manganese, Cadmium, Lead, Mercury and Arsenic (Mn, Cd, Pb, Hg and As) including Iron (Fe), were determined in catfish and tilapia samples from Densu River at Weija in 2012. The fish Muscles were carefully dissected for digestion and the levels of heavy metals were determined using Microwave Milestones Ethos 900 double beam Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Concentrations of heavy metals in the fish samples analyzed in descending order of Fe > Mn > Cd were detected, but, the rest (Pb, Hg and As) were not detected. The highest concentration of Cadmium (0.808mg/kg) was detected in the muscles of Catfish while the lowest value (0.129mg/kg) in Tilapia. The lowest concentration of Mn (0.78mg/L) and Iron (44mg/L) were detected in catfish whereas the highest Mn = 1.74mg/L, Fe = 53mg/L were in the Tilapia samples. Cadmium and Iron accumulated by the two fish species exceeded the maximum permissible limits prescribed by the World Health Organization guideline well as the Food and Agriculture Organization standard. Higher levels of heavy metals accumulated by the fishes might be due to increase in the agricultural influx waters, domestic wastes and some anthropogenic activities which merit further investigation 2013-07-01T00:00:00Z http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/529 Incentives for water supply to the urban poor and the role of the regulator in Ghana Nyarko K.B.; Oduro-Kwarteng S.; Dwumfour-Asare B.; Boakye K.O. Urban water coverage in Ghana has been increasing but urban water supply to the poor is a challenge. This paper examines the incentive mechanisms in use in the urban water sector to serve the poor. The paper is based on reviews of incentive mechanisms (policy, strategies and practices), assessment of the level of implementation of pro-poor strategies and water supply situation in selected poor communities in the second largest city, Kumasi. The paper discusses the incentive mechanisms and the level of effectiveness and emphasises the role of the regulator. The study revealed that the policy framework for water service delivery to the urban poor exists but not all the intentions have been implemented. The urban utility is setting up a pro-poor unit and piloting innovative technical and management approaches for delivering services to the urban poor. The sector lacks sufficient incentive mechanisms to accelerate water service delivery to the urban poor. Copyright � 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Nyarko, K.B., Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), PMB UP KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana; Oduro-Kwarteng, S., Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), PMB UP KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana; Dwumfour-Asare, B., Department of Environmental Health and Sanitation, College of Agriculture Education, University of Education Winneba (UEW), Box 40, Asante-Mampong, Ghana; Boakye, K.O., Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), PMB UP KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/503 Towards sustainable utilisation of water resources: A comprehensive analysis of Ghana's National Water Policy Monney I.; Ocloo K. In the years ahead, meeting the challenges of food security in a water scarce world will require drastic changes in the way water resources are managed. Accordingly, Ghana's water sector has seen tremendous changes over the years culminating in the 2007 National Water Policy. This paper evaluates the policy to highlight its strengths and weaknesses, to inform possible future review and guide new policy development in developing countries or troubleshoot existing policies. It draws on a framework based on three thematic areas distilled from global water policy development guidelines. Using a 3-point Likert scale, sub-thematic components are ranked and used to quantitatively compute the theme-specific scores (TSS) and the overall performance (OP) of the policy. Per the study findings, cross-cutting water policy issues including integrated water resources management, climate change adaptation and gender mainstreaming are more highlighted (TSS = 67%) than country-specific water management issues (TSS = 50%). Specifically, the policy neglects key national issues including protection of coastal regions from the onslaught of sea waves, and water resource protection against oil spills, and its institutional framework for implementation excludes key sector institutions. Generally, the policy addresses most pertinent issues in the water sector (OP = 64%) and areas for improvement are further discussed in the paper. � 2017 The Authors. Monney, I., Department of Environmental Health and Sanitation Education, University of Education Winneba, P.O. Box M40, Mampong-Ashanti, Ghana; Ocloo, K., Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, PMB, Kumasi, Ghana 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z