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More than 61,000 persons below the age of 18 are living on the streets in the Greater Accra region in Ghana. Street children is a hidden vulnerable population and a global public health issue in the world, but little is known about their mental health and health needs, and mechanisms that contribute to their poor health. With a lack of mental health research to guide intervention or psychoeducation programme and policy planning, this study aimed to address these research gaps by examining prevalence of mental health problems and a set of associated risk factors (i.e. Perceived quality of life, and social connection). In addition, we examined whether the associations between risk factors and mental health problems were moderated by demographic and contextual factors (i.e., gender, age, work status, reason for living on street, number of years in street). Two hundred and seven children between age 12 and 18 who lived on the street in three cities (Accra, Sekondi Takoradi, and Kumasi) were recruited. Data were gathered through adolescent survey/interviews. Multiple regression was utilized to examine risk factors and moderation effects. Results support high mental health needs among street children. Approximately 73% street children experienced moderate to severe mental health problems, and 90% experienced poor quality of life. Perceived quality/happiness of life was the strongest predictor for street children’s mental health. Social connection was associated with children’s mental health only in certain subgroups and contexts. This study adds new epidemiological evidence for street children, an extremely vulnerable population, in Ghana and global child and adolescent mental health.

The vision of every country or sub-regions is to achieve sustainable economic growth. The inability of individual countries to have a sole sustainable initiative has resulted in the establishment of economic cooperation such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which renders interaction among 138 relevant countries to increase economic development. This study delves into the determinants of economic growth along the BRI economic corridors, taking into consideration regional classification of the relevant countries. The analytical procedure applied indicated the presence of heterogeneity in the slope coefficient and cross-sectional dependencies across the various panels. Applying the Westerlund bootstrap co-integration test, it was deducted that the employed variables have a long-run equilibrium association. The results from the pooled mean group (PMG) revealed that the contribution weight (order of importance) of the explanatory variables to economic growth varies across the regional panel clusters. Finally, the causality results unveil that a bidirectional causation affiliation exists between energy consumption and economic growth in all panels except Southeast and South Asia which experience one-way directional effects from energy usage to economic growth. Trade and economic growth unveiled a bidirectional causal affiliation in all panel groups with exception of the Middle East and North Africa, where a one-way directional affiliation from trade to economic growth was felt. These results obtained indicate that energy consumption, urbanization, trade, and CO2 emissions are determinants of economic growth along the BRI route. Based on the outcome, the suggested policy implications include the following: (a) The government across each region could incorporate tax and other incentives to encourage entrepreneurs and citizens to produce equipment that reduces carbon intensity and is ecologically friendly. (b) The necessity for a paradigm shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources should be advocated among the countries involved.

The Belt and Road Initiative offers interaction among beneficiary countries that fosters economic cooperation spanning education, energy consumption, economic development, environmental change, and quality of life. Of these benefits, carbon dioxide emissions generated by economic growth and related environmental changes have garnered great attention. This paper empirically studies the causal relationships among urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, economic structure, trade, and carbon dioxide emissions according to an income classification of the Belt and Road Initiative countries. The results from the Westerlund bootstrap cointegration test indicate long-run associations among the variables under study. Estimation from the common correlated effect mean group indicates that a percentage increase in urbanization increases emissions of CO2 by 1.1533% and 1.0454% in lower middle-income and low-income countries, respectively. The elasticity of energy consumption with emissions is higher in low-income countries than in countries in the other three classifications. The Dumitrescu–Hurlin causality test shows a bidirectional causal effect between gross domestic product and emissions in lower middle-, upper middle-, and low-income countries. A bidirectional association was found between urbanization and carbon emissions in low- and lower middle-income countries. These methods take cross-sectional correlations into account in their estimation; hence, some important policy implications can be drawn from the empirical results.

This study explored stigma experiences of mothers of children with ASD and forgiveness as their coping response. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 mothers of children with ASD. Results of this study found several noteworthy themes including, feelings of mother, family/societal reactions, forgiveness factors, and impact of forgiveness. Mothers reported significant stigmatization from families and society. Some expressed their feelings towards themselves, others and God, and finally recounted the use of forgiveness as a coping resource which contributed significantly to their well-being. Findings from this study contribute to the emerging literature on forgiveness as a coping resource for persons who are offended. Implications for clinical practice, intervention and policy are discussed.

Supplementation with iron and folic acid (IFA) is recommended to prevent anaemia in pregnancy. However, the effectiveness of the supplementation in improving haemoglobin level depends on the degree of compliance. It is therefore necessary to periodically assess level of compliance with IFA supplementation. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and factors associated with compliance to IFA supplementation in pregnancy in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. A health facility–based cross-sectional study was conducted among 403 pregnant women who accessed antenatal clinic (ANC) services in three health facilities in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. Simple random sampling was used to select study health facilities and participants. Compliance to IFA was defined as use of IFA supplement in 4 of the last 7 days. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the determinants of IFA supplementation compliance. The mean age of the study population was 26.7 (± 4.18) years. The prevalence of compliance to IFA supplementation was 58.8% (215/403) and the main reason the women gave for non-compliance was forgetting to take the supplements (40.9%). Following multivariate analysis, factors that were significantly associated with compliance were pregnancy trimester at interview, educational level, IFA knowledge, sex of household head and household wealth index. About 3 out of 5 women seeking ANC services in Tamale Metropolis are compliant with IFA supplementation with some of their socio-demographic and household characteristics predicting compliance. Efforts to increase compliance to IFA supplementation must focus on education on its benefits and improvement of socio-economic status of women.

Approximately one third of early childhood pupils in Ghana are struggling with meeting basic behavioral and developmental milestones, but little is known about mechanisms or factors that contribute to poor early childhood development. With a lack of developmental research to guide intervention or education program and policy planning, this study aimed to address these research gaps by examining a developmental mechanism for early childhood development. We tested a mediational mechanism model that examined the influence of parental wellbeing on parenting and children’s development. Two hundred and sixty-two Ghanaian parents whose children attended early childhood classes (nursery to 3(rd) grade) were recruited. Data were gathered through parent interviews and Structural Equation Modeling was utilized to examine pathways of the model. Results support the mediational model that Ghanaian parents’ depression was associated with less optimal parenting, and in turn greater child externalizing behavioral problems. This study adds new evidence of cross cultural consistency in early childhood development.

Background Accurate identification of crop cultivars is crucial in assessing the impact of crop improvement research outputs. Two commonly used identification approaches, elicitation of variety names from farmer interviews and morphological plant descriptors, have inherent uncertainty levels. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) was used in a case study as an alternative method to track released varieties in farmers’ fields, using cassava, a clonally propagated root crop widely grown in the tropics, and often disseminated through extension services and informal seed systems. A total of 917 accessions collected from 495 farming households across Ghana were genotyped at 56,489 SNP loci along with a “reference library” of 64 accessions of released varieties and popular landraces. Results Accurate cultivar identification and ancestry estimation was accomplished through two complementary clustering methods: (i) distance-based hierarchical clustering; and (ii) model-based maximum likelihood admixture analysis. Subsequently, 30 % of the identified accessions from farmers’ fields were matched to specific released varieties represented in the reference library. ADMIXTURE analysis revealed that the optimum number of major varieties was 11 and matched the hierarchical clustering results. The majority of the accessions (69 %) belonged purely to one of the 11 groups, while the remaining accessions showed two or more ancestries. Further analysis using subsets of SNP markers reproduced results obtained from the full-set of markers, suggesting that GBS can be done at higher DNA multiplexing, thereby reducing the costs of variety fingerprinting. A large proportion of discrepancy between genetically unique cultivars as identified by markers and variety names as elicited from farmers were observed. Clustering results from ADMIXTURE analysis was validated using the assumption-free Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components (DAPC) method. Conclusion We show that genome-wide SNP markers from increasingly affordable GBS methods coupled with complementary cluster analysis is a powerful tool for fine-scale population structure analysis and variety identification. Moreover, the ancestry estimation provides a framework for quantifying the contribution of exotic germplasm or older improved varieties to the genetic background of contemporary improved cultivars. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12863-015-0273-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A participatory breeding programme involving farmers in two Ghanaian communities and scientists from CRI (Ghana) and NRI (UK) to develop superior cassava cultivars is described. Initial situation analyses of the communities indicated that cassava is increasing in importance both as a food and a cash crop. Most farmers utilised landraces of cassava; modern varieties were scarcely mentioned. Seeds of 16 half-sib families obtained from a crossing block in Nigeria at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture were planted in a field in each community. During seedling and subsequent clonal generations, accessions selected either by farmers or scientists were retained to the next generation. This selection process has identified 29 superior accessions from amongst 1350 original seedlings. Farmers were relatively consistent in their selection from year to year and their selections corresponded with their stated criteria. Official variety release requires additional multilocational and inspection trials and postharvest assays but otherwise seems harmonious with a participatory breeding approach; our early involvement of farmers may facilitate early release, an important factor in cost-effectiveness. A stakeholder workshop confirmed the need for improved markets for cassava; surveys of current and potential markets have led to field trials with cassava processors. Adoption of a participatory approach, with farmers and scientists taking on new roles and decentralisation of activities, implies a concomitant transfer of influence and resources.

The diversity of cassava was studied in 10 communities spanning a range of socio-economic circumstances and located in the four main agro-ecological zones in Ghana. On average, each farmer grew about two cultivars, mostly landraces, both for home consumption and sale of the storage roots. In total, 35 differently-named landraces were mentioned, 26 in only single communities. Most communities had grown cassava for > 100 years and seem to have acquired an additional landrace about every decade. Landraces were also abandoned. The attributes mentioned of newly-acquired landraces were generally the reverse of landraces abandoned and most were related to the storage roots. All the current landraces in all the communities seem to have been obtained from other communities. None of the almost 300 interviewed farmers understood the role of pollination in setting seed and providing variation amongst seedlings, none purposely planted seeds and most farmers ignored or weeded out cassava seedlings. However, some did use planting material (stem cuttings) from self-sown seedlings, often when planting material from their crops was scarce, and some purposely grew cuttings from a few such seedlings, apparently as experiments. That many seedlings were both reported and seen in newly-planted crops suggests that some may be accidentally used as planting material, especially those seedlings that are perceptually indistinct from the planted crop, resulting in polyclonal landraces.