AimsThe aims of this study were: 1) to assess the level of knowledge of women about Pap smear tests, 2) to determine the practices of women regarding Pap smear tests, and 3) to determine the barriers to Pap smear tests in Elmina, Ghana.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with 392 randomly selected sexually active females aged 10–74 years using structured interview questions. The Institutional Review Board of the University of Cape Coast gave ethical approval for the study and informed consent was obtained from participants. Data were analyzed with SPSS software (v19.0) using frequencies, chi-square test, and exploratory factor analysis.ResultsThe results revealed that 68.4% had never heard about cervical cancer, 93.6% had no knowledge on the risk factors, nine (2.3%) reported multiple sexual partners and being sexually active as risk factors, and 92% did not know about the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer. The majority (97.7%) had never heard of the Pap smear test. Only three (0.8%) women out of 392 had had a Pap smear test. Reasons for seeking a Pap smear test included referral, fear of cervical cancer, and radio campaigns. A significant association was found between institutional and personal barriers and having a Pap smear test.ConclusionComprehensive education on cervical cancer screening and removal of access barriers are critical in reducing risk associated with the disease and promoting women’s health.

Accessibility of screening services could be improved through planning and implementation of screening programs involving community leaders and culturally appropriate messages. The government should incorporate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in its immunization program for adolescents, and health education should be intensified to encourage women and their partners to comply with diagnostic and treatment regimens.

BackgroundDisclosure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) to infected older children and adolescents is essential for both personal health maintenance and HIV prevention within the larger population. Non-disclosure of HIV status has been identified as one of the potential barriers to optimum adherence especially in children and adolescents. Like many other countries in the SSA region, Ghana has significant number of children and adolescents infected by HIV, who have increased survival times, due to increased access to ART. However, both family caregivers and healthcare workers face an array of challenges with the disclosure process, including the timing, what information about the child’s HIV status should be shared with him/her and how to go about it. The aim of the study was to identify family caregiver factors associated with non-disclosure of HIV status to infected children and adolescents accessing Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) at the three main ART sites within the Central Region of Ghana.MethodsA quantitative analytical survey was conducted among 103 family caregivers of HIV infected children (aged 6–17 years) assessing ART services in the Central Region of Ghana. Data were analyzed using SSPS version 21.ResultsThe age range of caregivers was 20–69 years. The study found a low disclosure rate (23.3%) among caregivers. Majority of the caregivers (80.6%) lacked knowledge on the process of disclosure (how and what to tell child), and majority (64%) also had never received guidance about the disclosure process from their healthcare providers. The main barriers to disclosure were caregiver lack of knowledge regarding the disclosure process and when to disclose, the fear of child’s reaction, and fear of stigmatization and associated negative social consequences.ConclusionThese findings suggest a lesser involvement of health care providers in preparing caregivers for the disclosure process. This therefore highlight the need for the National HIV/AIDS/STI Control Program to strengthen the involvement and training of healthcare providers in HIV diagnosis disclosure to infected children, based on context-specific policy guidelines informed by the WHO recommendations.

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Some leadership behaviors are more frequently applied by women than men in the management of teams. These attributes have been proven successful in enhancing corporate performance and will be a key factor in meeting tomorrow's business challenges. Talent is unevenly distributed in diversified work environments and promoting women and gender leadership variety is of strategic importance in companies. Results from a recent study show an unprecedented amount of CEO turnover in 2015 and a growing tendency to look for new leadership outside the company. Nearly a quarter of the world companies replaced their CEOs during the same year and it is the highest turnover for the past two decades. Those new top executives were increasingly hired from elsewhere even during planned leadership changes. The data indicates that fewer women are the incoming list of top executives indicating that some of the old habits still linger in 21st century organizations. The organization development of effective capability deduces new viewpoints to advance the best talent for all time.

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This article discusses how leakage of knowledge can occur in value creation networks embedded in knowledge-intensive firms, and how a collaborative approach can be utilized to minimize risk and increase sustainability. For knowledge to be preserved from unintentional outflow, its confidential nature and description must be understood at all levels. Loss of knowledge can occur at any point; whether it is through the process of consultation or when employees do their work. Forfeiture of information can be unintended or a planned effort. To prevent such unintended leakage, it is important to develop a shared mindset among employees to minimize the risk. The socio-technical system design is a philosophical framework that enables companies to simultaneously consider both ethical and technical systems in order to best match the technology and the people involved. History has shown through a number of situations that firms that failed to comprehend new opportunities were often limited by stakeholders' thoughts and actions.

This chapter makes a contribution to talent management literature by investigating the construction of a high-performance organization applying the structuration proposition. People remain as the source of value in all companies and increasingly the human factor is critical in making the difference. The structuration approach make it possible to include the collective experience of the people doing the work to leverage each employee's unique talents to boost productivity. The structuration ontology is applied to create structure and agency useful in making the competitive advantage real. The analysis of both structure and agency can lead to a reproduction of the competences that undergird high performance organization.