Rural Areas Of Ghana Research Articles

Multielemental Analysis of Gold Ore Samples from Underground Artisanal Gold Mines in Tongo, Upper East Region of Ghana: Implications of Occupational Exposure

Background: The presence of gold deposits discovered in rural areas in Ghana has attracted a lot of unemployed youth and smallscale mining ventures to the rural communities. The activities of illegal small-scale gold mining (locally referred to as “galamsey”) in the community is causing serious environmental havoc and destruction. The results of heavy element profiling of gold ores associated with the underground artisanal gold mining activities of the Tongo mines in the Upper East Region of Ghana have been reported in this paper. The analysis was made to assess the occupational exposure of the miners as well as to investigate the environmental impact of toxic heavy metals. Results: Gold ores from seven artisanal gold mines were sampled and analysed for heavy elemental content using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy technique. The ranges of major elements detected were: Pb (14.16-37.00 mg/kg); Co (6.40-31.52 mg/kg); As (25.08-27.36 mg/kg); Hg (5.04-6.16 mg/kg); Ni (69.44-332.40 mg/kg); Mn (259.04-528.64 mg/kg) and Cd were Below Detectable Limits (BDL). The potential health risk assessment calculated for a lifetime of exposure for ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact were determined as the cumulative carcinogenic risk for children and adults. Risk assessment indicated that the carcinogenic risk is completely insignificant but the cumulative non-carcinogenic Hazard Index recorded alarming values of 4.55E+00 to 4.15E+01 and 8.53E-01 to 3.43E+01 for children and adults respectively. Conclusions: The investigations show that the concentrations of Pb, As and Ni which are known carcinogens presents no significant carcinogenic lifetime risk due to ingestion, inhalation and/or dermal contact but the non-carcinogenic risk, expressed as the Hazardous Index (HI), is not so benevolent; the cumulative index for all elements exceeding 1 and should be of concern, particularly in cases of the exposure of children. Capsule abstract: The concentrations of elements ranged from 5.04 mg/kg for Hg to 528.64 for Mn with highest Hazard Index being 4.55E+00 to 4.15E+01 and 8.53E-01 to 3.43E+01 for children.

Youth Empowerment: A strategy to Mitigate Vulnerability to Human Trafficking in Ghana

Accepted: 12.12.2014 Due to paucity of industries work opportunities in the rural areas in Ghana are very limited. Many youths complete high school and cannot get employed because they are not skilled and on the account of limited job opportunities. As a native and a frequent visitor to the area of study (Bono Ahafo) the researcher became aware of the situation where unemployed youth have virtually fall prey to overseas work scam. The so-called connection men/women take advantage of the unemployed youth who dream of better life in the cities and overseas destinations. They charge them huge sums of money with promise of work and manage to smuggle the unsuspected youth overseas. The plight of some victims of human trafficking informed the choice of this exploratory participatory study. This participatory study which took place in four rural municipalities involved some victims of the scam, their parents and relatives in face to face interviews.

Drinking water from dug wells in rural ghana--salmonella contamination, environmental factors, and genotypes.

Salmonellosis is an important but neglected disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Food or fecal-oral associated transmissions are the primary cause of infections, while the role of waterborne transmission is unclear. Samples were collected from different dug wells in a rural area of Ghana and analyzed for contamination with bacteria, and with Salmonella in particular. In addition, temporal dynamics and riks factors for contamination were investigated in 16 wells. For all Salmonella isolates antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed, serovars were determined and strains from the same well with the same serovar were genotyped. The frequency of well water contamination with Gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria was 99.2% (n = 395). Out of 398 samples, 26 (6.5%) tested positive for Salmonella spp. The serovar distribution was diverse including strains not commonly isolated from clinical samples. Resistance to locally applied antibiotics or resistance to fluoroquinolones was not seen in the Salmonella isolates. The risk of Salmonella contamination was lower in wells surrounded by a frame and higher during the rainy season. The study confirms the overall poor microbiological quality of well water in a resource-poor area of Ghana. Well contamination with Salmonella poses a potential threat of infection, thus highlighting the important role of drinking water safety in infectious disease control.

Human coronaviruses associated with upper respiratory tract infections in three rural areas of Ghana.

BackgroundAcute respiratory tract infections (ARI) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries, especially in Africa. This study sought to determine whether human coronaviruses (HCoVs) are associated with upper respiratory tract infections among older children and adults in Ghana.MethodsWe conducted a case control study among older children and adults in three rural areas of Ghana using asymptomatic subjects as controls. Nasal/Nasopharyngeal swabs were tested for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), HCoV-22E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1 using Reverse Transcriptase Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction.ResultsOut of 1,213 subjects recruited, 150 (12.4%) were positive for one or more viruses. Of these, single virus detections occurred in 146 subjects (12.0%) and multiple detections occurred in 4 (0.3%). Compared with control subjects, infections with HCoV-229E (OR = 5.15, 95%CI = 2.24–11.78), HCoV-OC43 (OR = 6.16, 95%CI = 1.77–21.65) and combine HCoVs (OR = 2.36, 95%CI = 1.5 = 3.72) were associated with upper respiratory tract infections. HCoVs were found to be seasonally dependent with significant detections in the harmattan season (mainly HCoV-229E) and wet season (mainly HCoV-NL63). A comparison of the obtained sequences resulted in no differences to sequences already published in GenBank.ConclusionHCoVs could play significant role in causing upper respiratory tract infections among adults and older children in rural areas of Ghana.

Pediatric anemia in rural Ghana: a cross-sectional study of prevalence and risk factors.

To assess anemia prevalence and identify associated parameters in children <3 years of age in a rural area of Ghana. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression of cross-sectional survey results from 861 children aged <3 years attending routine immunization services in Berekum district. Anemia prevalence was 73.1%; most were either mildly (31.2%) or moderately (38.7%) affected. Risk factors for anemia (hemoglobin < 11.0 g/dl) in multivariate analysis were malaria parasitemia and male sex; these factors and younger age were associated with anemia severity. A partial defect in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase was associated with decreased severity. Height-for-age, but not weight-for-age, was associated with anemia and its severity. Malaria parasitemia was strongly associated with anemia and its severity, suggesting that malaria control may be the most effective way to reduce the burden of anemia in rural Ghanaian children.

Push Out or Drop Out? Taking a Critical Look at the Poor Performance and Drop-Out of Students of the JSS/JHS Programme in Ghana

In 1974, new educational reforms aimed at laying a solid educational foundation for children were launched in Ghana. Amongst other things, the reforms recommended the establishment of a three-year Junior Secondary School (JSS) system later renamed the Junior High School system which sought to provide more practical educational skills to students. It aimed to be proactive to the needs of Ghanaians by introducing pre-technical and pre-vocational skills to empower pupils with skills to work with after completion of the JHS program if they are not academically inclined to go further through the Senior Secondary/Senior High School system. After several years of implementation, the success rates of students from the JSS/JHS system have been abysmally poor. The situation is even more abysmal in the rural areas of Ghana where most schools lack basic teaching and learning tools. This paper, from a study of some JSS/JHS schools in some rural and urban settings in Ghana, takes a critical look at some of the factors in this educational system that has pushed many pupils to drop out of the school system hence making the system ineffective and incapable of meeting its intended purpose.

Seasonal variation in child and old-age mortality in rural Ghana

Mortality in tropical countries varies considerably from season to season. As many of these countries have seen mortality moving from child to old-age mortality, we have studied seasonal variation in child and old-age mortality in a rural area in Ghana that currently undergoes an epidemiologic transition. In an annual survey from 2002 through to 2011, we followed 29 642 individuals and obtained the cause and month of death from 1406 deceased individuals by making use of verbal autopsies. When comparing the seasons, we observed a trend for higher mortality during the wet season. When comparing separate months, we observed 34% more deaths than expected in September (95% CI 1.04-1.69; p = 0.024) at the end of the wet season and 43% more deaths in April (95% CI 1.13-1.80; p = 0.004) at the end of the dry season, while there were 42% less deaths than expected in December (95% CI 0.52-0.70; p = 0.003), shortly after the wet season. Cause-specific analysis indicated that the peak at the end of the wet season was due to excess mortality from infectious diseases in children and older people alike, whereas the peak in old-age mortality at the end of the dry season was due to non-infectious causes in older people only. Taken together, our data suggest that during the epidemiologic transition, mortality not only shifts from child to old-age and from infectious to non-infectious, but also from the wet to the dry season.

Why Ghanaian Clinical Psychologists also be Trained to Prescribe Selected Psychoactive Medication

This paper examines the mental health situation in Ghana and proposes a way to solve the problem of insufficient care to mental health patients, by recommending qualified Clinical Psychologists to be considered for further training in the area of Clinical Psychopharmacology at Kintampo. The ‘KINTAMPO’ training involves training of Assistant Psychiatrists/Clinical Psychiatric Officer (CPO) to prescribe limited medications. The rationale for Clinical Psychology training is to supplement the shortage of Psychiatrists in the rural areas in Ghana. The mental health practice in Ghana is a combination of psychotropic medication and psychotherapy. However, the shortage of Psychiatrists in the rural areas makes it difficult for patients to have access to medication. Even when Clinical Psychologists need some psychotropic medications to intervene a problem, they have to send patients to travel hundreds of miles far away from their place of residence to get medication from a psychiatrist. To solve this problem that is why the training of psychiatric Assistants or [CPO] is being implemented at Kintampo to supplement the few psychiatrists in the country. It is also being recommended that qualified clinical psychologists be included in this training. The clinical psychologist in future will be able combine the psychotherapy and psychotropic medication, if necessary, in the rural practice.

Assets for well-being for women living in deep poverty: through a salutogenic looking-glass

This paper explores assets for health and well-being for women in extremely poor rural areas in Ghana, Haiti, India, the Philippines, and Tanzania. Data were collected through individual interviews and focus group interviews with local women. The paper asks (i) which assets women draw on for well-being in resource-poor settings, and (ii) whether an assets approach, as understood in the Salutogenic Model, is appropriate and meaningful in the most deprived areas. Low levels of natural, material and infrastructural resources were reported by the respondents to cause stress, and assets of a human, social and cultural character were identified as being important in coping with this stress. By mobilizing the capacity and assets of people and places, local development initiatives will make sense logically (comprehensibility), they will be perceived to be practically realistic (manageability), and they will be motivating because they are meaningful, based on involvement in decision-making (meaningfulness). The assets focus must co-exist with initiatives to improve distributional justice. We conclude that an asset approach to well-being is not only appropriate, but also necessary, in even the poorest contexts.

Technical Report on Reclamation of Small Scale Surface Mined Lands in Ghana: A Landscape Perspective

Small scale mining activities which involve surface mining is an acceptable means of mineral exploitation in Ghana but has serious environmental consequences. Although a number of laws and research papers have been written on restoration after a piece of land has been mined, not much detail is provided on the actual processes involved. This review paper attempts a look at the process of restoration with projections on cost of restoration. Although it is based on activities at a predominantly farming community like Akyem Hemang in the Fanteakwa district of the Eastern region of Ghana, the principles involved will be applicable to other mining communities in the tropics. The paper looks at aspects of surface mining popular in rural areas of Ghana and attempt to explain the process of restoration with suggestions on how to measure success and how to involve affected communities to safe guard and ensure the success of the programme. A licensed concession can be as small as 3acres or as large as 25acres and can be mined for 3-5 years after which the land should be reclaimed to a productive state. The reclamation process, after field establishment should last for at least 5years to determine success. Small scale mining is defined as the use of rudimentary implements as well as the more sophisticated mining operating at a relatively low level of production with limited capital investment. It is carried out in rural farming communities and is popular with itinerant poorly educated people and usually results in severe deterioration to the environment, especially, crop land; posing serious health risks to communities in which it is carried out. The deterioration results from the destruction of vegetal cover and excavation of the overburden to assess the mineral bearing soil. Where farm lands or forested lands have been affected, a combination of natural and artificial reclamation is recommended. The process of reclamation should be planned and begins when topsoil at the mined site is removed to store separately from the subsoil and over-burden at the pre-mining stage. Topsoil however cannot be stored for too long as the quality deteriorates with time. Depending on the depth of excavation, restoration should involve importation and replacement of subsoil to a depth of 600mm - 900mm spread in 150mm layers, and left to settle naturally for a period of 3 -6months. When the land is sufficiently settled, topsoil mixed with manure should be laid over the subsoil to a depth of 150mm minimum after settling. This is followed by sowing of nitrogen fixing leguminous green manure by broadcasting to provide the first blanket of vegetative cover to protect the soil from the direct effect of the elements. Although Crotalaria juncea (Sunnhemp) is highly recommended nitrogen fixing leguminous annual with high biomass production for highly degraded land, other area-specific nitrogen fixing plants can be recommended by the area agricultural extension officer. About 60days after sowing of the green manure cover crop, when it is in bloom, it is smothered and worked into the soil. Seedlings of both local and exotic tree plants can then be established on the land after pegging and holing to 563seedlings per acre. The reclaimed land should be maintained and managed by maintaining a balance between introduced exotic tree seedlings and native sprouted tree seedlings by weeding, staking, and occasional pruning for at least 5years before any assessment for the success of the reclamation can be done. The estimated cost for reclamation of 1acre of mined land excavated to a depth of 900mm is about US$ 52,419.33 (Gh¢101,000), inclusive of 2-3% for maintenance.

Spatial Analysis of Land Cover Determinants of Malaria Incidence in the Ashanti Region, Ghana

Malaria belongs to the infectious diseases with the highest morbidity and mortality worldwide. As a vector-borne disease malaria distribution is strongly influenced by environmental factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between malaria risk and different land cover classes by using high-resolution multispectral Ikonos images and Poisson regression analyses. The association of malaria incidence with land cover around 12 villages in the Ashanti Region, Ghana, was assessed in 1,988 children <15 years of age. The median malaria incidence was 85.7 per 1,000 inhabitants and year (range 28.4–272.7). Swampy areas and banana/plantain production in the proximity of villages were strong predictors of a high malaria incidence. An increase of 10% of swampy area coverage in the 2 km radius around a village led to a 43% higher incidence (relative risk [RR] = 1.43, p<0.001). Each 10% increase of area with banana/plantain production around a village tripled the risk for malaria (RR = 3.25, p<0.001). An increase in forested area of 10% was associated with a 47% decrease of malaria incidence (RR = 0.53, p = 0.029).Distinct cultivation in the proximity of homesteads was associated with childhood malaria in a rural area in Ghana. The analyses demonstrate the usefulness of satellite images for the prediction of malaria endemicity. Thus, planning and monitoring of malaria control measures should be assisted by models based on geographic information systems.

Hydrokinetic power for energy access in rural Ghana

Approximately half of Ghana’s overall population has access to electricity and, of this, much of it is in urban areas. Often in regions where modern energy is not available, kerosene lamps, for example, are used for indoor lighting. This produces harmful emissions, leading to poor respiratory effects. Implementation of hydrokinetic power (HKP) within nearby streams can provide low impact, robust energy to rural communities. Such a system lends itself to a simple design with ease of maintenance, which can be used as a stand alone power system (SAPS). With Ghana’s renewable energy policies coming to fruition, it is sought to establish the economic viability and sustainability of this technology. This paper discusses site selection and the HKP technology in rural areas of Ghana.

Efficacy of pentavalent rotavirus vaccine against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Rotavirus gastroenteritis causes many deaths in infants in sub-Saharan Africa. Because rotavirus vaccines have proven effective in developed countries but had not been tested in developing countries, we assessed efficacy of a pentavalent rotavirus vaccine against severe disease in Ghana, Kenya, and Mali between April, 2007, and March, 2009. In our multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, undertaken in rural areas of Ghana and Kenya and an urban area of Mali, we randomly assigned infants aged 4-12 weeks without symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders in a 1:1 ratio to receive three oral doses of pentavalent rotavirus vaccine 2 mL or placebo at around 6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14 weeks of age. Infants with HIV infection were not excluded. Randomisation was done by computer-generated randomisation sequence in blocks of six. We obtained data for gastrointestinal symptoms from parents on presentation to health-care facilities and clinical data were obtained prospectively by clinicians. The primary endpoint was severe rotavirus gastroenteritis (Vesikari score >or=11), detected by enzyme immunoassay, arising 14 days or more after the third dose of placebo or vaccine to end of study (March 31, 2009; around 21 months of age). Analysis was per protocol; infants who received scheduled doses of vaccine or placebo without intervening laboratory-confirmed naturally occurring rotavirus disease earlier than 14 days after the third dose and had complete clinical and laboratory results were included in the analysis. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00362648. 5468 infants were randomly assigned to receive pentavalent rotavirus vaccine (n=2733) or placebo (n=2735). 2357 infants assigned to vaccine and 2348 assigned to placebo were included in the per-protocol analysis. 79 cases of severe rotavirus gastroenteritis were reported in 2610.6 person-years in the vaccine group, compared with 129 cases in 2585.9 person-years in the placebo group, resulting in a vaccine efficacy against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis of 39.3% (95% CI 19.1-54.7, p=0.0003 for efficacy >0%). Median follow-up in both groups was 527 days starting 14 days after the third dose of vaccine or placebo was given. 42 (1.5%) of 2723 infants assigned to receive vaccine and 45 (1.7%) of 2724 infants assigned to receive placebo had a serious adverse event within 14 days of any dose. The most frequent serious adverse event was gastroenteritis (vaccine 17 [0.6%]; placebo 17 [0.6%]). Pentavalent rotavirus vaccine is effective against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in the first 2 years of life in African countries with high mortality in infants younger than 5 years. We support WHO's recommendation for adoption of rotavirus vaccine into national expanded programmes on immunisation in Africa. PATH (GAVI Alliance grant) and Merck.

Property, Authority and Citizenship: Land Claims, Politics and the Dynamics of Social Division in West Africa

ABSTRACTIn the contemporary African context of rising competition and anxiety over access to land, neoliberal policy interventions designed to clarify property rights, broaden political participation and increase official accountability have frequently provoked rather than alleviated social and political conflict. Comparing case histories of local struggles over land and authority in selected rural areas in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Bénin, this paper argues that in situations where access to land has been linked historically to claims on authority and social belonging, pressures to privatize or clarify ownership have intensified debates over citizenship and governance as well as over land claimsper se. Ensuing struggles over land and entitlement have intersected with national as well as local economic and political dynamics, reinforcing ‘traditional’ hierarchies, contributing to the proliferation of formal and informal governing agents and institutions, and frequently disrupting or subverting open governance and sustainable resource use, rather than helping to create conditions for sustainable development and democratization.

Lower Expression of TLR2 and SOCS-3 Is Associated with Schistosoma haematobium Infection and with Lower Risk for Allergic Reactivity in Children Living in a Rural Area in Ghana

BackgroundHelminth infections are prevalent in rural areas of developing countries and have in some studies been negatively associated with allergic disorders and atopy. In this context little is known of the molecular mechanisms of modulation involved. We have characterized the innate immune responses, at the molecular level, in children according to their helminth infection status and their atopic reactivity to allergens.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe mRNA expression of several genes of the innate immune system that have been associated with microbial exposure and allergy was examined in 120 school children in a rural area in Ghana. Helminth infections were common and atopy rare in the study area. The analysis of gene expression in ex vivo whole blood samples reflected the levels of corresponding proteins. Using this approach in a population of school children in whom the presence of Schistosoma haematobium infection was associated with protection from atopic reactivity, we found that the level of TLR2 and SOCS-3, genes associated with atopy in the children, were significantly downregulated by presence of S. haematobium infection.Conclusions S. haematobium infections modulate the expression of genes of the innate immune system (TLR2 and SOCS-3); these are genes that are associated with increased allergic inflammatory processes, providing a molecular link between the negative association of this infection and atopy in rural children in Ghana.

Beyond symptom recognition: care‐seeking for ill newborns in rural Ghana

To assess newborn care-seeking practices in a rural area of Ghana where most births take place at home in order to inform potential strategies for reducing newborn mortality. Qualitative, ethnographic study with quantitative data from a birth cohort collected as part of the surveillance system of an ongoing randomized controlled trial. Data collected comprised 84 h of participant observation (including following an ill newborn through a hospital visit), 14 in-depth interviews with key informants (older mothers and grandmothers), 45 semistructured interviews with mothers, 28 case histories from women who had recently given birth and 32 expert interviews with local health providers. Thirteen focus groups were held with men and women, and narrative histories of newborn deaths were taken from eight women. Birth cohort data came from 2878 singletons born alive in the study district within the year July 2003-June 2004. Significant delays in care seeking for ill newborns occur in Kintampo District, Ghana. 2.1% of 2878 newborns in the birth cohort had a serious illness during the first 4 weeks of life, but care was only sought outside the home for 61% of those and from a doctor or hospital for 39%. Barriers to prompt allopathic care seeking include sequential care-seeking practices, with often exclusive use of traditional medicine as first-line treatment for 7 days, previous negative experiences with health service facilities, financial constraints and remoteness from health facilities. Improvements in care seeking are urgently needed. Families should be urged to seek medical care for any symptom of illness in a newborn; financial and socio-cultural barriers to care seeking for newborns must be addressed in order to improve neonatal survival.

Factors Influencing Information Delivery Technology Choice in Deprived Regions in Ghana

Using a contingent valuation (CV) method to quantitatively estimate the influence of selected socio-economic factors on households’ willingness to pay for alternative information delivery technologies, the study intended to provide basic information regarding rural households’ willingness to pay for information delivery technologies.&#x0D; This study used rural household survey data collected from three administrative regions in Ghana to examine rural women’s willingness to pay for information delivered via three technologies – community radio, private radio, and extension agents. &#x0D; The primary objective of the study was to identify the critical factors to consider in planning and policy design in using ICT to provide information to empower rural women. While there were nontrivial regional variations, the overall results from this study point to household expenditures (used as proxy for income), household education, and membership in community organizations as the principal factors influencing rural women’s willingness to pay for the various technologies used in information delivery to women in rural areas in Ghana. &#x0D; The overriding conclusion that emerged from this study was the need to examine ICT use in empowering rural women within a ‘holistic’ context.&#x0D;

Lymphatic filariasis in Ghana: establishing the potential for an urban cycle of transmission

Lymphatic filariasis is a significant public health and economic problem in many tropical and sub-tropical regions. Unplanned urbanization leading to a lack of proper sanitary conditions has resulted in an increase in the urban-based transmission of a number of vector-borne diseases, including lymphatic filariasis. It has been well established that lymphatic filariasis is endemic in rural areas of Ghana. The goal of this study was to determine if there is a potential of establishing urban transmission cycles in Ghana's major cities. We clinically and immunologically assessed 625 individuals from the three major urban areas (Bawku, Bolgatanga and Secondi/Takoradi), finding that the prevalence of infection with Wuchereria bancrofti ranged from 0 to 12.5%. The results of a polymerase chain reaction based analysis of mosquitoes collected from these areas suggested that there is a low but detectable prevalence of mosquitoes infected with W. bancrofti. We conclude that there may be a potential for an established urban transmission of lymphatic filariasis in Ghana.

Growth patterns and survival rates of twins in a rural area of Ghana: a follow-up study from birth to adulthood.

This prospective and descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the growth and survival of twins during childhood and adolescence in the Agogo area of Ghana. It describes the outcome in 422 twin children born between 1969 and 1981. By 3 years of age, 40 (9.5%) of them had not reported again, fifteen of the remaining 382 had died and 367 (96%) were still alive. In 1993 and 2001, at 12-26 years of age, 33 children could not be traced; of the remaining 349 children, 17 more had died and 317 (91%) were still alive. Incremental weight gain in the 1st year of life was approximately 0.17 kg/month less than that of a reference group of USA twins. However, growth velocity was similar in the 2nd and 3rd years. From 6 to 36 months of age, Agogo twins were 0.9-1.3 kg lighter than a reference group of Agogo singletons. In both males and females, the physiological growth spurt of puberty occurred approximately 2 years later than in Agogo singletons. By adulthood, mean heights and weights, particularly of female twins, still lagged behind those of the local reference group. Twins have a good chance of surviving childhood although they can be considered to be at high risk, particularly during the 1st year of life. Up to adulthood, growth potential seems to be less than that of their singleton counterparts.

Suitability of a Rapid Immunochromatographic Test for Detection of Antibodies to Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Ghana, West Africa

In West African countries such as Ghana, efficient human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing is a priority in the fight against AIDS. A new immunochromatographic rapid test, Determine HIV-1/2 (Abbott Diagnostics, North Chicago, Ill.), that detects antibodies against HIV type 1 (HIV-1) and/or HIV-2 was evaluated using Ghanaian blood samples. Two hundred four serum and/or plasma specimens were tested. HIV screening was done by a particle agglutination test and confirmed by a Western blot (WB) test as the "gold standard." The results revealed 125 HIV-seropositive AIDS patients, 75 HIV-seronegative healthy individuals, and 4 individuals for whom the HIV-1 result was indeterminate. The results obtained by the Determine HIV-1/2 assay and Diagnostic HIV SPOT (Genelabs), which is currently widely used in many districts in Ghana, were compared with those of the WB test, excluding the four HIV-1-indeterminate samples. The sensitivity of the Determine HIV-1/2 assay was 100%, compared with 98.0% for the HIV SPOT assay. The specificity was 100% for both tests. Determine HIV-1/2 is a single-step assay and was found to be rapid and easy to perform without any special equipment. It was highly sensitive and specific. The kit can be applied without electricity and water supplies, making it suitable for the detection of HIV antibodies especially in the rural areas of Ghana, West Africa.