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Social factors influencing child health in Ghana
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Quansah, Emmanuel, Ohene, Lilian Akorfa, Norman, Linda, Mireku, Michael Osei and Karikari, Thomas K. (2016) Social factors influencing child health in Ghana. PLoS One, 11 (1). pp. 1-20. e0145401. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0145401
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145401
Abstract
Objectives:
Social factors have profound effects on health. Children are especially vulnerable to social influences, particularly in their early years. Adverse social exposures in childhood can lead to chronic disorders later in life. Here, we sought to identify and evaluate the impact of social factors on child health in Ghana. As Ghana is unlikely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals’ target of reducing child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, we deemed it necessary to identify social determinants that might have contributed to the non-realisation of this goal.
Methods:
ScienceDirect, PubMed, MEDLINE via EBSCO and Google Scholar were searched for published articles reporting on the influence of social factors on child health in Ghana. After screening the 98 articles identified, 34 of them that met our inclusion criteria were selected for qualitative review.
Results:
Major social factors influencing child health in the country include maternal education, rural-urban disparities (place of residence), family income (wealth/poverty) and high dependency (multiparousity). These factors are associated with child mortality, nutritional status of children, completion of immunisation programmes, health-seeking behaviour and hygiene practices.
Conclusions:
Several social factors influence child health outcomes in Ghana. Developing more effective responses to these social determinants would require sustainable efforts from all stakeholders including the Government, healthcare providers and families. We recommend the development of interventions that would support families through direct social support initiatives aimed at alleviating poverty and inequality, and indirect approaches targeted at eliminating the dependence of poor health outcomes on social factors. Importantly, the expansion of quality free education interventions to improve would-be-mother’s health knowledge is emphasised.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine | ||||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Ghana -- Social conditions, Children -- Health and hygiene -- Ghana | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | PLoS One | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Public Library of Science | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | 8 January 2016 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Date of first compliant deposit: | 27 January 2016 | ||||||||
| Volume: | 11 | ||||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||||
| Number of Pages: | 20 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 1-20 | ||||||||
| Article Number: | e0145401 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0145401 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access | ||||||||
| Funder: | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Great Britain) (BBSRC), Research Councils UK (RCUK) | ||||||||
| Grant number: | BB/J014532/1 (BBSRC) |
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