Assessment of personal hygiene and food safety practices of food handlers among selected senior high schools in the Kumasi metropolis, Ghana.
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Date
September, 2019
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Abstract
Access to quality maternal health care services before, during and after childbirth
remains critical in the efforts by world leaders towards reducing maternal mortality.
Whilst an estimated 90 percent of all births in most developed countries benefit from
the services of trained healthcare professionals, less than half of births in developing
countries (which accounts for 99 percent of the world‟s maternal deaths), benefit from
trained maternal care service providers. Ghana, a middle-lower income country among
other efforts targeted at reducing maternal mortality, implemented the free maternal
health care policy initiative in July 2008 eliminating the barrier of financial access to
quality maternal health care services. Twenty years on after the successful
implementation of this policy initiative, this study seeks to examine the impact of the
free maternal health care policy on maternal mortality in St. Francis Xavier Hospital in
the Assin Foso Municipality. The study was a descriptive study which made use of
secondary quantitative data collected from the biostatistics unit and maternal records
from the maternity unit from 1997 – 2018. The free maternal care policy among other
interventions, contributed to a reduction in maternal mortality ratio (pre and post policy
MMR mean = 1332.68 /100000LB and 311/ 100000LB respectively). ANC coverage
and distribution of midwives and registered nurses had a statistically significant impact
on maternal mortality ratio (p = 0.001, 0.036 and 0.048). PNC coverage and
institutional deliveries however had a statistically insignificant impact on maternal
mortality ratio (p = 0.883, 0.872). The free maternal care policy over the years, has
played a role in the decline of Ghana‟s national maternal mortality ratio and should be
maintained and strengthened with the equipping of health facilities with trained health
staff and logistics.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Health Promotion, Education and Disability Studies, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Degree of Master of Public Health in Health Promotion and Education.
Keywords
Personal hygiene, Safety practices, Food handlers, Senior high schools