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BackgroundVoluntary blood donation rates are low in sub-Saharan Africa. Sociobehavioral factors such as a belief that donated blood would be used for performing rituals deter people from donating blood. There is a need for culturally appropriate communication interventions to encourage individuals to donate blood. Health care interventions that use mobile phones have increased in developing countries, although many of them focus on SMS text messaging (short message service, SMS). A unique feature of mobile phones that has so far not been used for aiding blood donation is caller tunes. Caller tunes replace the ringing sound heard by a caller to a mobile phone before the called party answers the call. In African countries such as Ghana, instead of the typical ringing sound, a caller may hear a message or song. Despite the popularity of such caller tunes, there is a lack of empirical studies on their potential use for promoting blood donation. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to use the technology acceptance model to explore the influence of the factors—perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, and free of cost—on intentions of blood or nonblood donors to download blood donation-themed caller tunes to promote blood donation, if available. MethodsA total of 478 blood donors and 477 nonblood donors were purposively sampled for an interviewer-administered questionnaire survey at blood donation sites in Accra, Ghana. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factory analysis or structural equation modeling, leading to hypothesis testing to examine factors that determine intention to use caller tunes for blood donation among blood or nonblood donors who use or do not use mobile phone caller tunes. ResultsPerceived usefulness had a significant effect on intention to use caller tunes among blood donors with caller tunes (beta=.293, P

Résumé : Il est généralement admis que les coutumes et pratiques traditionnelles sont menacées par la modernité et l’avancement en technologie (Mensah & Amissah, 2016). Il y a également ceux qui estiment que la modernité et la tradition ne sont pas diamétralement opposées et qu'il pourrait y avoir une symbiose positive des deux (Sibani, 2018). C'est dans ce cadre que cet article examine l'impact de la modernité sur l'organisation des funérailles, événement traditionnel clé, chez les Akan. Il cherche à explorer dans quelle mesure les rites funéraires du peuple akan ont été influencés négativement ou positivement par la civilisation étrangère et les progrès technologiques du 21ème siècle et leur impact direct sur les Akan. Pour ce faire, nous avons adopté l'approche multi-méthodes consistant à parcourir les sources documentaires disponibles, l'observation, l'interview ainsi que les tendances et analyses historiques de l'organisation funéraire d'hier et d'aujourd'hui chez les Akan. Après une analyse sociocritique, nos résultats indiquent que la modernité a eu des effets à la fois positifs et négatifs sur les rites funéraires akan, mais les impacts positifs prédominent sur les négatifs. Encore une fois, il est ressorti de nos analyses qu'une fusion saine de la culture akan et de la modernité pourrait rendre les organisations funéraires plus mémorables, traditionnellement impressionnantes, moins stressantes et plus rentables. Mots-clés : Modernité, coutume, tradition, organisation funéraire, les Akan

Background: The supply of blood in many low‐ and middle‐income nations in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) does not meet the patient care needs. Lack and delay of blood transfusion cause harm to patients and slow the rate of progress in other parts of the health system. Recognizing the power of implementation science, the BLOODSAFE Program was initiated which supports three SSA research study teams and one data coordinating center (DCC) with the goal to improve access to safe blood transfusion in SSA. Study Design and Methods: The study team in Ghana is focusing on studying and decreasing iron deficiency in blood donors and evaluating social engagement of blood donors through different approaches. The study team in Kenya is building a "vein to vein" workflow model to elucidate and devise strategies to overcome barriers to blood donation and improve infrastructural components of blood product production and use. The Malawi team is studying the infectious disease ramifications of blood donation as well as blood donor retention strategies aimed at blood donors who commence their donation career in secondary schools. Results and Discussion: Together the project teams and the DCC work as a consortium to support each other through a shared study protocol that will study donor motivations, outcomes, and adverse events across all three countries. The BLOODSAFE Program has the potential to lead to generalizable improvement approaches for increasing access to safe blood in SSA as well as mentoring and building the research capacity and careers of many investigators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020, and governments worldwide began to take serious actions towards prevention, the creative arts industry responded. Such words can be used to construct a story within the song to highlight issues such as the need for vaccination, how vaccines work and messaging that would counteract COVID-19 vaccines misinformation. Population-based surveys on COVID-19 vaccination knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and hesitancy can be conducted prior to nationwide promotion of COVID-19 vaccinations through songs and short drama. Promoting COVID-19 vaccination through music and drama - Lessons from early phase of the pandemic. [Extracted from the article]