Background: Key barriers to healthcare use in rural Ghana include those of economic, social, cultural and institutional. Amid this, though rarely recognised in Ghanaian healthcare settings, mHealth technology has emerged as a viable tool for lessening most healthcare barriers in rural areas due to the high mobile phone penetration and possession rate. This qualitative study provides an exploratory assessment of the role of mHealth in reducing healthcare barriers in rural areas from the perspective of healthcare users and providers. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 conveniently selected healthcare users and 15 purposively selected healthcare providers within the Birim South District in the Eastern Region of Ghana between June 2017 and April 2018. Data were thematically analysed and normative standpoints of participants were presented as quotations. Results: The main findings were that all the healthcare users had functioning mobile phones, however, their knowledge and awareness about mHealth was low. Meanwhile, rural health care users and providers were willing to use mHealth services involving phone call in the future as they perceived the technology to play an important role in lessening healthcare barriers. Nevertheless, factors such as illiteracy, language barrier, trust, quality of care, and mobile network connectivity were perceived as barriers associated with using mHealth in rural Ghana. Conclusion: The support for mHealth service is an opportunity for the development of synergistic relationship between health policy planners and mobile network companies in Ghana to design efficient communication and connectivity networks, accessible, localised, user-friendly and cost-effective mobile phone-based health programmes to assist in reducing healthcare barriers in rural Ghana.

Background: The misuse of tramadol has become a major aspect of the wider substance use challenge in recent years and is evolving into a health crisis at an alarming rate. However, literature on motivations for non-medical purpose tramadol use among commercial vehicle operators remains inadequate. The aim of this study was to document the motivations for non-medical purposes tramadol use in Kumasi. Such an understanding could inform policy direction to regulate non-medical purposes tramadol use in Ghana. Methods: We conducted this exploratory qualitative study with 23 purposively selected commercial vehicle drivers (15) and assistants (8) in Kumasi, Ghana. Data for the study were collected through in-depth face-to-face interviews between June 2018 and March 2019. Using a thematic analytical approach, the interviews were coded and analysed. Results: Multiple motivations for non-medical purposes tramadol use were found including those related to: (1) sexual; (2) psychological; (3) physical; and (4) economic factors. Participants also reported three main inter-linking categories of perceived tramadol adverse effects: (1) physical; (2) psychological; and (3) social effects. Although participants indicated no plans for stopping their non-medical use of tramadol any time soon, strong willingness was voiced for supporting officials in finding and dealing with non-medical purpose tramadol sellers. Conclusion: Non-medical purposes tramadol use was associated with a confluence of factors, ranging from enhanced sexual performance to economic reasons. Based on the findings of the study and the dependence and addictive potentials of tramadol, there is the need for psychoeducational programmes for persons who misuse tramadol and enhancement of operational capacities of regulatory agencies.

The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the world, and its impact has permeated virtually all facets of society. The next wave of the COVID-19 shock will trigger another or more protracted recession in many countries, with annual growth projected to fall below recessionary thresholds. The resulting hit to global income as compared with forecasts for 2020 and 2021 will be enormous. The situation will be more precarious for developing countries across different income categories that are struggling with unsustainable debt burdens. Firms should implement business-continuity plans and ensure readiness for business constraints by prioritizing critical business activities and creating contingency plans for disruption. Governments should implement support programs to avert these difficulties. The shock to labor supply in each country should be managed in a manner that does not leave a post-COVID-19 world more disastrous. Close cooperation among all relevant actors is key to containing COVID-19 and mitigating its economic repercussions on countries around the globe. In addition, better waste management and commitment to climate change must take center stage to reduce the environmental impacts of COVID-19 on countries and the world.

Evidence suggests that teenage motherhood undermines human capital development such as the education of young girls in developing economies. Teenage motherhood is associated with school dropout due to stigmatization and inadequacy of finance to support their studies and the need to care for their child. While teenage pregnancy is topical among research areas in Ghana, there is a dearth of literature on the issue in the Kpando Municipality of Ghana’s Volta region. This study examined the predisposing factors to teenage motherhood as well as the consequences of teenage motherhood on the education of adolescent mothers in the Kpando Municipality. The descriptive case study design, with a mixed-method approach, was adopted. Data were obtained with the aid of structured interview guides from 85 teenage mothers through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The study revealed that poverty is the principal predisposing factor to teenage pregnancy and teenage motherhood in the municipality. The study further revealed that 79% of the teen mothers have dropped out of school, thereby placing them in a dreadful position as far as their education and human capital development are concerned. In cognizance of the life-changing impact of education on the lives of teenage mothers, the authors recommend that barriers to school re-entry such as stigmatization should be addressed through public sensitization. Moreover, livelihoods should be improved through agricultural and informal sector development policies to revamp the economic activities of the people, since poverty was found as a major predisposing factor to teenage pregnancy in the municipality.

As the world awaits a cure or a vaccine for the deadly Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), prevention etiquette of social distancing is being championed as a mechanism of reducing the rate of infections. This prevention etiquette (social distancing), however, has become an unattainable goal for the majority of slum dwellers and the homeless in Ghana, owing to the absence of standardized housing conditions and basic services that support such a practice. This article sheds light on some strategic actions that must be adopted by government and other groups (Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society Organizations inclusive) towards making COVID-19 prevention etiquette of social distancing a reality for the homeless and slum dwellers in Ghana. Among other things, the paper recommends that instant moratorium should be placed on evictions of slum dwellers during the span of the pandemic since their displacement would predispose the evicted to the vulnerability of COVID-19 infection. Additionally, basic human needs such as water and sanitation should be provided for the slum dwellers while dilapidated classrooms and community centres are used to house the homeless and decongest the slums and provide for social distancing.