Browsing by Author "Adu, Kofi"

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    Decentralised approach to donor support for development in Ghana - a study of European Union micro-projects programme approach
    (2001-12-13) Adu, Kofi
    Post independence strategies have made the state the main actor in development, often at the expense of other actors. This development approach was also behind European Union cooperation policies which centred on the state. Thus cooperation activities were mainly limited to government relations while decentralised actors were largely kept out. However, since the early 1 980s, this approach to development has progressed towards a more participatory approach which goes beyond governmental relationship to the involvement of decentralised actors. The expression of this is the recent signing of the EU-ACP partnership agreement in Cotonou. The agreement emphasized the principle of participatory development, extending the partnership concept to include a wide range of actors such as civil society, the private sector and local authorities in both the formulation and implementation of policies. The objective of this study is therefore to find out, how the European Union approach to development has evolved over the years and then look at the practical implications of the partnership agreement in the light of the implementation of the micro-projects programme. The study reveals that decentralisation of aid through effective participation of decentralised actors holds the key to greater ownership and sustainability of donor support programmes. However, the involvement of the decentralised actors in the formulation and implementation of policies is not a simple matter as it appears at first sight but a complex issue due to the varying interests of these actors and also the limited capacities of some of them. Certain recommendations have been made such as the need to build the capacities of decentralised actors to enable them participates effectively in both policy formulation and implementation.
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    Infl uenza outbreak among students in Ghana: a report from three time points
    (Research Gate Publication, 2020-09-17) Sylverken, Augustina Angelina; Owusu, Michael; Yeboah, Richmond; El-Duah, Philip; Gorman, Richmond; Bonney, Joseph Kofi; Aryeetey, Sherihane; Adu, Kofi; et. al..; 0000-0002-7691-914X; 0000-0001-5066-150X; 0000-0002-2765-6179; 0000-0003-1671-0755; 0000-0002-6831-3375
    Background: Influenza viruses are known to be responsible for a number of respiratory disease outbreaks worldwide. While there exists documented information on influenza which allows for effective strategic preparedness activities in industrialized countries, the same cannot be said of developing and underdeveloped countries. It therefore behoves on developing countries to document information on circulating strains of influenza. Such information will enable prioritization of prevention and more targeted preparedness strategies. In this paper, we report on three different outbreaks of Influenza A among Ghanaian students in December 2017, May 2019 and December 2019 in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Methods: Throat or nasal samples were collected from all students who presented with signs and symptoms of fl u with flocked swabs, stored in RNAlater and transported to the laboratories of Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) at ambient temperature. Following viral RNA extraction, detection of viral nucleic acid of both influenza A and its subtypes including H1N1 and H3N2 was done by real-time reverse transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Results: A total of 112 samples were taken. An overall Influenza A prevalence of 51.8% (95% CI = 42.1-61.3) was recorded during the three outbreak time points. Of these, 11 (19.0%) were confirmed to be H1N1 (pdm09) and 47 (81.0%) were H3N2 strains. All the 11 H1N1 (pdm09) were identified during the first outbreak. The H3N2 strains were identified during the second and third outbreaks in May 2019 and December 2019 respectively. Our results show that influenza A virus activity was higher during the months of November and December compared to May. Age, contact with infected subjects, temperature, fever within the last 24 hours and headaches showed signifi cant variations (p-value <0.01) with respect to influenza A. Wald’s test revealed that subjects presenting with headaches had about 5 times odds (95%CI = 1.4-17.7) for infl enza A infection compared to subjects without headache (p = 0.014). Conclusion: Our study provides epidemiological information to better understand the incidence and burden of influenza to allow for prioritisation of prevention and control strategies. Such information would aid in controlling and preparing for future influenza epidemics.