Browsing by Author "Ayim-Appiah, Makkedah"

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    Oral Health Literacy and Behaviors among students of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
    (NOVEMBER, 2019) Ayim-Appiah, Makkedah;
    Introduction: Oral health is a major determinant in the overall quality of life of all individuals. Oral health literacy, which is the ability of an individual to obtain, understand and use oral health information needed to make informed choices concerning oral health, has been put forth as one of the main influencers of oral health outcomes. This study is to relate oral health literacy (OHL) to certain selected variables. Method: A cross-sectional design was used for this survey. A sample size of 381 was determined by EpiInfo. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data among KNUST students. REALD-30 toolkit was used to assess OHL and OHL levels. Multiple linear and multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the predictive associations between OHL and other variables such as college, gender, age, dental visit status and frequency of tooth brushing. Results: Social media was the most preferred medium of oral health education among students (67.65%) while the most preferred medium for the general population was television and radio (49.47%). 33.96% of the population had no prior exposure to any form of oral health knowledge, while 33.18% had never visited a dentist. The mean OHL score was 12.10, with 88.50% having low OHL levels, 8.82% having moderate OHL levels and 2.67% having high OHL levels. Gender (C=-0.116, p=0.005), age (C=- 0.025, p=0.003), college (C=-0.071, p=0.000) and exposure to education (C=0.132, p=0.002) significantly predicted OHL levels. Dental visit status (C=-0.15, p=0.013), frequency of visit (-0.29, p=0.008) and tooth brushing frequency (C=-0.199, p=0.006) were also significantly predicted by OHL levels. Conclusion: About a third of the population had neither been exposed to oral health education nor visited a dentist. There is the need for further studies and further education of students and the general population to be carried out through their preferred media.
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    Performance of the CMAM Program In Kumasi Metropolis (2015-2018).
    (NOVEMBER, 2019) Ayim-Appiah, Makkedah;
    Children of ages 6-59 months form a large percentage of the world population, and one of the major causes of death in this age group is malnutrition. In Ghana, different interventions are put in place to manage childhood malnutrition. Amongst the interventions is Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM). In Kumasi, the CMAM program was instituted in most hospitals in the Metropolis, but unfortunately the program collapsed in most of the hospitals that undertook it. There has not been much data on the performance of the CMAM program in the Kumasi Metropolis, this study used a cross sectional study to assess the secondary data of malnourished children who had been on the CMAM program in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. A total of 134 records (for each year) of malnourished children were randomly sampled, demographic characteristics, anthropometric characteristics both during and after admission were assessed for the outcome treatment (cured, defaulted and death). Out of the 134 records selected for each year, children aged 6-12 moths were majority (82, 77, 73, and 81 respectively for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018) on the program. Majority recovered (64.5%, 75.4%, 65.2% and 88.4% for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively), whilst quite a number defaulted (35.5%, 24.6%, 34.8% and 11.6% for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively) none died while on the program. The default rate calls for an attention since the percentages cannot easily be over- looked. In addition, the feeding materials like the Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) for the program should be made constantly available for smooth running of the program.