Prevalence of smoking in secondary schools in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.

Tobacco smoking is fast becoming a public health problem in Ghana and the youth are at a greater risk of becoming victims of it. A survey of nine secondary (high) schools in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana showed that 31.1% of students have smoked before and that 10.3% smoke cigarettes regularly. A significant number of those who had ever smoked (32.6%) came from high socio-economic homes as exemplified by the level of education of the father. Advertising appears to be a factor as to why students start to smoke. Most students (59.4%) appear to know smoking is injurious to health. There is need to motivate secondary school students about not smoking. There is also need to legislate in Ghana to prevent the sale of tobacco products to young people and prohibit smoking in schools and in public places.

Community Health Education in Rural Ghana: The Danfa Project-an Assessment of Accomplishments.

The Danfa Comprehensive Rural Health and Family Planning Project was a joint effort of the Ghana Medical School, the Ministry of Health, UCLA, and USAID. A health education component was developed as an integral part of program inputs during the initial conceptual phase of the project. As a result non-equivalent experimental and control areas were designated permitting an assessment of program impact during a five-year period (1972-1977) for which baseline and follow-up study data were available. A new cadre of community-based workers (Health Education Assistants) was developed from existing health personnel in the country, and trained in health education and multipurpose health work. Although the HEAs were found to have difficulty in bringing about changes in health practices when other support services were not available, they did have measurable impact on villagers' adoption of family planning methods and a number of specific health practices.

Perception and management of guinea worm disease among Ghanaian villagers. A framework for differential health education planning.

A survey, resulted from the immediate need to understand the health behaviour of Southern Ghanaian villagers during an epidemic of guinea worm disease. While such problems are usually studied at a time when the epidemic has abated, this study emphasized getting into the field quickly to obtain data before the epidemic passed. If behaviour models are to have value for programme planning in the developing world, they should be amenable to such quick sample approaches. The study involved a survey on attitudes, beliefs and practices related to gent. Results showed distinctive and somewhat differing perceptions of susceptibility, seriousness, curability and preventability for the two ethnic groups within a single geographic area. The analysis of the survey results permitted suggestion of various educational strategies for both of the groups. This quick survey approach must be more refined before it has wide applicability. There appears to be a significant potential for developing a simplified checklist to be used by health workers in carrying a rapid educational diagnosis of a specific health problem for a given population.

Impact of family planning information on acceptance at a Ghanaian rural health post.

PIP: Evaluation of the effect of a clinic-based educational program on utilization of family planning services at a rural health post in Ghana had two major objectives: 1) to measure to what extent immediate change in family planning knowledge, attitudes and behavior could be brought about by the provision of family planning information; and 2) to demonstrate that by means of on-going evaluation of the educational presentation on family planning, by providing adequate feedback to the educator, and through continual revision of the educational content, increased understanding of family planning information would result at successive information sessions. The study was limited to female clinic attendees aged 15-44. The family planning presentation was followed by a question and answer period and shortly thereafter, individual interviews. The 2 major study objectives lend themselves to quantitative testing of specific programme hypotheses as follows: 1) the number of women who accept a family planning method at the clinic will be significantly greater on days when family planning information is provided than on days when it is not; and 2) as a result of the informational input, ongoing evaluation and feedback, family planning knowledge levels for selected topics will be significantly higher among health clinic attendees. Results showed that the first hypothesis was substantiated by data which revealed that there were significantly more acceptors on days when family planning information was offered. The second hypothesis, however, was not supported. In general, it would appear that family planning education provided in a health facility adjacent to a family planning clinic can have a significant impact on initial adoption of family planning mthods. Follow-up of acceptors was not carried out, and thus data on continuation of use were not available for this study.^ieng