Background
The estimated five million snakebites per year are an important health problem that mainly affect rural poor populations. The global goal is to halve both mortality and morbidity from this neglected tropical disease by 2030. Data on snakebite morbidity are sparse and mainly obtained from hospital records.
Methods
This community-based study was conducted among 379 rural residents with or without a history of snakebite in the Ashanti and Upper West regions of Ghana. All participants in the snakebite group were bitten at least six months before the day of survey. The World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) and the Buruli Ulcer Functional Limitation Score were used to obtain patient-reported measure of functioning and disability. Long-term consequences were evaluated based on the severity of the symptoms at the time of the snakebite.
Findings
The median (IQR) time since the snakebite was 8.0 (3.5–16.5) years. The relative risk of disability was 1.54 (95% CI, 1.17–2.03) in the snakebite group compared to the community controls. Among patients with clinical symptoms suggesting envenoming at the time of bite, 35% had mild/moderate disabilities compared to 20% in the control group. The disability domains mainly affected by snakebite envenoming were cognition level, mobility, life activities and participation in society. A combination of the severity of symptoms at the time of the bite, age, gender and region of residence most accurately predicted the odds of having functional limitations and disabilities.
Conclusion
The burden of snakebite in the community includes long-term disabilities of mild to moderate severity, which need to be considered when designing appropriate public health interventions. Estimating the total burden of snakebite is complicated by geographic differences in types of snakes and their clinical manifestations.
Agriculture contributes a fifth of the greenhouse gas emissions on earth. To help reduce this large ecological footprint, there is the need for collaborative efforts aimed at increasing farmers' environmental consciousness. This chapter used the ladder of participation as a framework to assess how knowledge co-creation between local farmers in Ghana's Upper West Region and NGO agro-technocrats is associated with farmers' environmental consciousness. Using an exploratory sequential mixed method design, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with NGO officers and beneficiary farmers. Probability sampling was then used to select 1,050 beneficiary farmers for interviews and analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regressions. Results show that the use of robust categories of participation were associated with farmers' increased likelihood of adopting most of the environmentally conscious practices co-created. Conversely, less robust participatory approaches resulted in either a reduced likelihood of adoption or non-adoption among beneficiary farmers.
The inherent benefits of community participation are sometimes used by local power holders as a façade to perpetuate non-participation in the management and use of forest resources. Guided by the concept of participatory exclusion, the study assessed the perceptions of inhabitants around the Wa Community Forest Reserve (WCFR), concerning the categories of people that benefit from the forest and the factors influencing community participation in the management of the forest reserve. Data was collected from 200 households in three communities and analysed using mainly descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The study found that community participation in the forest reserve management is below average. Gender, age, and livelihood options of households were significant determinants of one's participation in forest reserve management. Lack of community cooperation and logistical challenges were impediments to the effective management of the forest reserve. Local authorities should therefore encourage women to co-manage the forest reserve with men and local authorities for its sustenance.
The inherent benefits of community participation are sometimes used by local power holders as a façade to perpetuate non-participation in the management and use of forest resources. Guided by the concept of participatory exclusion, the study assessed the perceptions of inhabitants around the Wa Community Forest Reserve (WCFR), concerning the categories of people that benefit from the forest and the factors influencing community participation in the management of the forest reserve. Data was collected from 200 households in three communities and analysed using mainly descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The study found that community participation in the forest reserve management is below average. Gender, age, and livelihood options of households were significant determinants of one's participation in forest reserve management. Lack of community cooperation and logistical challenges were impediments to the effective management of the forest reserve. Local authorities should therefore encourage women to co-manage the forest reserve with men and local authorities for its sustenance.
Many NGOs pride themselves with their ability to use grassroots participatory approaches when working with economically disadvantaged farmers. I asked whether current participatory approaches could be relied on to promote sustainable agriculture among subsistence farmers in Ghana's Upper-West Region. To ascertain this, I employed Arnstein's (2015) ladder of citizen participation as a theoretical basis. A two-phase exploratory sequential mixed method design was also used. Phase one consisted of a qualitative comparative analysis of the various participatory approaches of two purposively sampled NGOs using FGDs and in-depth interviews. In phase two, themes from phase one guided the formulation of a structured questionnaire, which ascertained the differences in grassroots participatory approaches between the two identified NGOs and how these differences influenced the likelihood of their respective beneficiary farmers adopting sustainable agronomic practices using chi-square and logistic regression. Findings show statistically significant associations between grassroots participation and farmers’ adoption of sustainable agronomic practices. The findings suggest that farmers who were engaged in higher levels of Arnstein's (2015) typology of participation were more likely to adopt sustainable agronomic practices than those who minimally participated. This suggests that development interventions can be most beneficial to the grassroots when intended beneficiaries fully participate in them.
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