SOCIAL CAPITAL AND ADOLESCENT GIRLS' RESILIENCE TO TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN BEGORO, GHANA.

This study focuses on how older adolescent girls access and utilize social capital to develop resilience against teenage pregnancy in Begoro, Ghana. A survey of 419 non-pregnant girls aged 15-19 years, selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling technique, was conducted in 2012. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth interviews with ten girls purposively selected from the survey respondents. Parents, relatives, teachers and religious groups were found to be important sources of social capital for the non-pregnant girls in developing resilience against teenage pregnancy. In addition, resilient girls tended to rely on multiple sources of social capital. It is recommended that stakeholders and policymakers in Ghana ensure that these significant sources of social capital in adolescent girls' sexual experience are equipped with the right information to help girls decrease the risk of teenage pregnancy.

Exploratory Study of the Current Status of the Rights and Welfare of Ghanaian Women: Taking Stock and Mapping Gaps for New Actions.

This paper assesses the progress Ghanaian women have made in terms of rights and welfare in the last three decades or more when democratic politics was introduced in the country. It examines the legislative and policy environment that exist to combat all forms of discrimination against women and assesses women?s rights and welfare on a number of indicators: women?s rights to life, marriage, participation and representation in politics, access to justice, right to education, reproductive health, and sustainable development. The study revealed that there is a robust legislative and policy environment for pursuing women?s issue in Ghana. There are constitutional and legal provisions and state institutions as well as a number of NGOs acting as duty bearers to combat all forms of discrimination against women. However, the evidence from these indicators, suggests that there is a gap between the legal and policy environment on the one hand and the rights and welfare of women on the other hand. Women in Ghana are still threatened by early and forced marriages, deficit in political participation, limited access to health services, and harmful traditional norms and cultural practices. We conclude that duty bearers such as the policymakers and other stakeholders need to scale-up their activities and programmes that advance the rights and social well-being of Ghanaian women.

Community perceptions of a malaria vaccine in the Kintampo districts of Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Malaria remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa despite tools currently available for its control. Making malaria vaccine available for routine use will be a major hallmark, but its acceptance by community members and health professionals within the health system could pose considerable challenge as has been found with the introduction of polio vaccinations in parts of West Africa. Some of these challenges may not be expected since decisions people make are many a time driven by a complex myriad of perceptions. This paper reports knowledge and perceptions of community members in the Kintampo area of Ghana where malaria vaccine trials have been ongoing as part of the drive for the first-ever licensed malaria vaccine in the near future. METHODS: Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the data collection processes. Women and men whose children were or were not involved in the malaria vaccine trial were invited to participate in focus group discussions (FGDs). Respondents, made up of heads of religious groupings in the study area, health care providers, traditional healers and traditional birth attendants, were also invited to participate in in-depth interviews (IDIs). A cross-sectional survey was conducted in communities where the malaria vaccine trial (Mal 047RTS,S) was carried out. In total, 12 FGDs, 15 IDIs and 466 household head interviews were conducted. RESULTS: Knowledge about vaccines was widespread among participants. Respondents would like their children to be vaccinated against all childhood illnesses including malaria. Knowledge of the long existing routine vaccines was relatively high among respondents compared to hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type B vaccines that were introduced more recently in 2002. There was no clear religious belief or sociocultural practice that will serve as a possible barrier to the acceptance of a malaria vaccine. CONCLUSION: With the assumption that a malaria vaccine will be as efficacious as other EPI vaccines, community members in Central Ghana will accept and prefer malaria vaccine to malaria drugs as a malaria control tool. Beliefs and cultural practices as barriers to the acceptance of malaria vaccine were virtually unknown in the communities surveyed.