Browsing by Author "Affordofe, Michael"

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    Heavy metal exposure and symptoms of respiratory infection among children under-five (5) residing near an open dumpsite: a cross-sectional study at Abokobi
    (September, 2019) Affordofe, Michael;
    The purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence of self-reported symptoms of Acute Respiratory Infection(ARI) defined as Acute Upper Respiratory Infection (AURI) and Acute Lower Respiratory Infection(ALRI), the levels of toxic metals in biological media (blood), and hand washed water among children under five (5) residing near Abokobi dump site in the Ga-East Municipality. Participation in the study was voluntary; based on that, a population of 200 children under five (5) and their parents residing within 200meters around the dumpsite were recruited as participants for the study. Descriptive statistics was used to present data. It came out that, the proportion of self-reported symptoms of acute upper respiratory infection (AURI) and acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) was high in all children respectively. Cadmium was high in children aged 0-2years than 2-4 years and Lead was the same in ages 0-2years and 2-4 years in biological media (blood). Lead was the same in ages 0-2 years and 2-4 years while Cadmium and Mercury were high in Ages 2-4 years than ages 0-2 years in the handwashed water. There was significant association between residual levels of Arsenic in blood samples and symptoms of AURI. Similarly there was significant association between residual levels of Cd and symptoms of ALRI. However, there was no significant association between residual levels of the other toxic metals in blood samples and symptoms of AURI and ALRI. The study therefore recommended Parents should ensure regular medical checkup for children who live close to dumpsites for detection of symptoms of diseases to avert any health risk they may be exposed to. Ministry of Health should intensify public education on good practices in child care to avert the development of preventable diseases such as acute respiratory infections. The Ministry of Local Government through the Ga-East Municipal should create awareness on proper waste management practices. Finally, Local Government Ministry and the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources should permanently ban or prohibit the use of the dumpsite.
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    Toxic metal exposure and symptoms of respiratory infection among children (under-five) residing near open dumpsite: a cross-sectional study at Abokobi
    ( September, 2019.) Affordofe, Michael;
    The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of symptoms of acute respiratory infection defined as Upper Respiratory Infection (URI), the levels of toxic metals in biological (blood) media, and the association between toxic metals and symptoms of respiratory infection among under five children residing around Abokobi dump site of the Greater Accra Region. Participation in the study was voluntary; based on that, a population of 200 children under five (5) and their parents residing within 200meters around the dumpsite were recruited as participants for the study. Descriptive statistics was used to present data. It came out that, the proportion of self-reported symptoms of acute upper respiratory infection (AURI) was high in children aged 2 years. Also the proportion of children reporting symptoms of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) was higher among children age 3 years. The association between mean concentration of metals in hand washed water in blood and symptoms of ALRI and URI is greater as a result of Hg in hand wash water. However, the mean residue and standard deviation of Hg contributes to ALRI than AURI in blood than in hand wash water. The study therefore recommended public education of good practices in child care should be intensified to avert the development of preventable diseases such as acute upper respiratory infections. Awareness must also be created on proper waste management practices. Also regular checkup must be done for children who live close to dumpsites to avert any health risk they may be exposed to. Finally, Local Government Ministry and the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources should permanently ban or avoid the use of the dumpsite