To address some of the challenges facing the agricultural sector in Northern Ghana, USAID/Ghana awarded a Cooperative Agreement No. AID-641-A-14-0001 2014 to a consortium led by ACDI/VOCA to implement its Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement II (ADVANCE II) Activity, as a follow-on to the successful initial ADVANCE activity which ended in March 2014.
About 60% of all newborn infants will develop neonatal jaundice in the first week after birth. In most newborns, jaundice is physiological and clears spontaneously over the first few days, but a significant proportion will require treatment to avoid a persistently high level of bilirubin (hyperbilirubinaemia). Severe hyperbiliribinaemia may lead to brain damage (kernicterus), death and lifelong impairment. It is the most significant and preventable risk factor for cerebral palsy in Ghana.
Healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) pose a constant threat not only to patients, their families and healthcare systems but also to society as a whole. Apart from contributing to increased mortality they add substantially to hospital costs. Very few studies estimate the excess cost of HCAI in developing countries with the majority of these studies found in Latin America. To date, there has been no costing of HCAIs in Ghana. The costing study which is part of larger HCAI study will be conducted in three phases with two stages of data collection within each phase.
