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Biomedical subjects

J K Anarfi

Publications and source records attributed to J K Anarfi.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Secular trends in menarcheal age among Ghanaian women in Accra.

The Women's Health Study of Accra is a population-based cross-sectional survey that was conducted between March and September 2003 to assess the burden of disease in women in Accra. In addition to data relating to general health and living conditions, data on age at first menstruation was collected during the survey. A retrospective cohort analysis of the reported age at menarche was conducted using data from 2,644 women aged between 18 and 100 years. The median age of first menstruation of the entire cohort was 15.5 years and the median age of first menstruation among those aged <20 was 14.5 years. There was a statistically significant difference in median age at menstruation among the different age and socioeconomic groups. Multiple linear regression showed a significant decline of 0.2 years per decade in the mean age at menarche among Ghanaian women.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Livelihood and the risk of HIV/AIDS infection in Ghana: the case of female itinerant traders.

Itinerant trading is the second major economic activity for women who constitute an important chain in the distribution of goods in West Africa. Historically they have played important roles in the political economy of Ghana. With the outbreak of AIDS these women, some of whom move far away from home sometimes for days for even weeks, stand the risk of being infected with HIV through their activities. Using a combination of methods including a survey, focus-group discussions and conversations with key informants; we examine how the trade is organized, the characteristics of the traders, and the risk factors that are likely to predispose them to contracting the AIDS virus. Itinerant women traders appear highly vulnerable, as women and as highly mobile people. This state of affairs, occasioned by the extremely difficult conditions in which the women work, is exploited for the sexual gratification of the men with whom they come into contact. The attempt to reduce the spread of AIDs through education has to target itinerant women traders at the points of transaction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Health-seeking behaviour of persons with HIV/AIDS in Ghana.

Historically, diseases whose aetiology could not be readily explained have been given supernatural explanations among the various ethnic groups in Ghana. Now HIV infection, with no known cure and origin, has been given a supernatural explanation. Such an explanation of disease causation influences people's attitude to the disease and to infected persons, and influences the health-seeking behaviour of infected persons. Data from a study on the Social Dimensions of HIV/AIDS Infections in Ghana are used to examine the health-seeking behaviour of some persons with AIDS interviewed in 1992. The paper examines the health care outlets used by infected persons and the reasons for using those outlets. Some HIV-infected persons in Ghana felt that they had been bewitched and, therefore, used multiple health care outlets, either serially or simultaneously, hoping that one of them might provide a cure or relief as well as explain the source of the infection. This is in spite of the continuing educational campaign stating that the disease has no cure. Such attitudes towards the disease and health-seeking behaviour should be considered in the design of programs for infected persons.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Postpartum sexual abstinence in the era of AIDS in Ghana: prospects for change.

Postpartum sexual abstinence for females has been identified as one of the socio-cultural factors with the potential for creating conditions for the sexual spread of HIV in areas where it is practised. In general, women are expected to abstain from sex after childbirth in order to ensure the survival of the mother and child. Men are not similarly expected to abstain and that has been used to rationalize polygyny. With changes in socio-economic conditions making it more difficult now than before to maintain two or more wives, particularly in urban areas, some men will abstain like their wives for fear of HIV infection; but such men may press their wives to resume sex early. Some women, on the other hand, may give in to the demands of their husbands by reducing the prescribed duration of postpartum abstinence. If this happens without the use of effective modern contraception, fertility may be affected. Some may also enter short or long-term relationship outside marriage, hoping that they will be safe from sexually transmitted infection. Using data from the Ghana segment of the Social Dimensions of AIDS Infection Survey, the study examines the responses of women who reported postpartum sexual abstinence and that of their partners. Both men and women reported abstaining, but some women were aware that their partners did not abstain as they did. Some of the women knew the sexual partners of their partners. Mostly it was men who made the first move to resume sex. For any behavioural change to occur, attitudes towards socially-constructed practices such as postpartum sexual abstinence will need to be changed by intensive education of both men and women and also through community support.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Migration and AIDS.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1993

African families and AIDS: context, reactions and potential interventions.

This paper reviews publications and research reports on how sub-Saharan African families have been affected by, and reacted to, the AIDS epidemic. The nature of the African family and its variation across the regions is shown to be basic to both an understanding of how the epidemic spread and of its impact. The volume of good social science research undertaken until now on the disease in Africa is shown to be extremely small relative to the need.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗