Assessing the Challenges and Coping Strategies Adopted by Street Children of School Going Age in the Tamale Metropolis: Policy Implications

Children form the foundation of every society. They are expected to be trained, supported and guided to become responsible to the society. In Ghana, the 1992 constitution (Article 28, clause 1), the children’s Act (Act 560) and the Child Rights Regulations 2002 (LI.1705) are among the measures put in place to promote the wellbeing of children in the country. However, there are significant numbers of children who are living in many city streets in Ghana including the Tamale metropolis. These street children are living the life that has the tendency to affect their physical and mental development. This paper examines the challenges street children in Tamale face and their coping strategies. It also explores various policy options to ensure their continuous education. The study used a case study design to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Findings of the research show that street children encounter challenges related to accommodation, education, sexual abuse, health, security, and malnourishment and in some cases death. The paper also found that street children adopt variety of strategies including relying on self-medication, hawking and the formation of networks to cope with the various challenges they encounter on the street. However, the education of these children is a big challenge. It is in the light of this, that the paper calls on relevant key stakeholders to put in serious efforts towards tackling the education of street children and child streetism in the Tamale metropolis to ensure access and quality of education of these children.

LAND RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS IN CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT (CBD) OF THE TAMALE METROPOLIS IN GHANA

Tamale Metropolis have been experiencing a significant increase in economic activities especially with the influx of occupation, tertiary institutions, industrial explorations and usage of the town as the main transit route to other parts of the Northern Region and Ghana as a whole. Development of a Central Business District (CBD) has become very crucial for Tamale Metropolis as is seen in other parts of Ghana but this can best occur only depending on Land Resource Development Decisions (LRDD) taken by developers as every Central Business District backbone is on the built environment. This study explored the land resource development decisions in the Tamale Metropolis. The primary data for the study was obtained mainly through interviews with property owners within the Central Business District of Tamale Central. Existing literature both published and unpublished were also secured and reviewed. The study found out that there are more ripped for redevelopment properties than redeveloped properties within the Central Business District of Tamale Central with a source of funding being the major challenge towards redevelopment. Education, occupation and income are key things that were revealed to have a significant influence on the issue of redevelopment decisions within the Central Business District of Tamale. The study recommends that there should be awareness creation on the various aspects of redevelopment to developers within the Tamale Metropolis by the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, the introduction of a by-law on redevelopment within the CBD of Tamale by the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly Town and Country Planning Department and a special mortgage scheme by mortgage institutions/financial institutions in Ghana to support low-income developers in Tamale Metropolis to contribute to development and redevelopment of the housing industry thereby reducing the housing deficit of Ghana. Keywords: Land, Resource, Development, Redevelopment, Redevelopment Decisions, Central Business District (CBD). Tamale Metropolis, Northern Region, Ghana.

Thermal Impacts of the Internal Courtyards in Compound Houses: The Case of Tamale Metropolis

The research seeks to understand the effects of internal courtyards onthermal comfort conditions in compound houses in Ghana’s TamaleMetropolitan area. Internal courtyards are an integral part of the design ofcompound houses in this location.Their inclusion in building designs is largely as a point of domestic activitysuch as cooking and cleaning and also for social interaction. However, a lotof interchanges in thermal conditions between structures and the outdoorstake place within these internal courtyards. Various design details of thebuilding will engender different thermal responses of the internal courtyard.This paper assesses thermal comfort in compound houses as againstbungalow type houses in the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana by the applicationof the Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied Persons (PPD) and PredictedMean Votes (PMV) model. This prototype compares with the InternationalStandards Organization (ISO) 7730 and American Society of Heating,Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 55(estimated values between 23˚C - 26˚C seen as the allowable temperatures).Ambient indoor conditions (dry bulb temperature and relative humidity)of five (5) buildings each from the two building typologies from wererecorded over a period of ten calendar months. These ambient conditionswere analyzed, consequently generating the Predicted Percentage ofDissatisfied Persons (PPD) and Predicted Mean Votes (PMV) recordings.The investigations uncovered relatively high PPD - PMV recordingsrelating to the Bungalow type buildings while the compound housesattune to the comfort zone. The Actual Mean Votes (AMV) of residentssuggests the two building typologies are all rated comfortable however; thecompound houses are rated above the bungalow type houses.

First-aid Resources Availability and Attitudes of Senior High School Students in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

Aims: This study aims to explore the availability of first-aid resources in Senior High Schools and the attitudes of students towards giving first-aid in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was performed. This study was conducted in three different senior high schools, namely, Ghana Senior High School, Business Senior High School and Vitting Senior High School during April - July 2020. The study recruited 381 students across the three schools. Students were categorized per their course of study and randomly sampled to attain the sample size. The median was used to determine the likeliest response of the ‘average’ respondent and Inter-Quartile Range (IQR) was used to measure dispersion in Likert scale questions. Results: About 57.2% of participants stated that equipped first-aid kits were not provided in dormitories. All three schools lacked fire extinguishers in the dormitories. The schools also lacked equipped sick bays. A significant relationship was found between students’ perception of school safety and their attitude towards giving first aid (p-value = 0.005). Conclusion: All schools had implemented the Ministry of Education safety standards and guidelines to a lesser extent. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education must play its supervisory role by ensuring the implementation of safety standards and guidelines on health and safety in the schools.

Prevalence, Awareness and Risk Factors of Hypertension among Public Sector Workers Aged 40 Years and above in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana

Aim: To determine the prevalence, awareness and risk factors associated with hypertension among adults. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Tamale Metropolis from January to March 2020. Methodology: 200 adults (101 men and 99 females) aged 40 years and above were recruited. Socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric and blood pressure data of participants collected through face-to-face administered questionnaire and physical measurements were analyzed for prevalence, knowledge and awareness of hypertension. Binary and multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of association of risk factors with hypertension. Results: Overall age-standardized prevalence of hypertension was 46.00% (49.50% in males, 42.42% in females). The prevalence of both systolic and diastolic hypertension was higher in males than in females. 49.10% of hypertensive participants were unaware of their status at the time of this study and 83.3% of the hypertensive participants who were aware of their status were diagnosed incidentally. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a significant positive association of being male [AOR = 2.39, (95% CI: 1.08–5.30)], aged between 50 – 65 years [AOR = 2.03, (95% CI: 1.03–4.01)], and being obese [AOR = 3.64, (95% CI: 1.43–9.29)] with hypertension. Being widowed [AOR = 0.06, (95% CI: 0.01–0.66)] was negatively associated with hypertension. Only obesity [AOR = 2.81, (95% CI: 1.29–6.14)] was independently associated with hypertension. Conclusion: Hypertension affects one in every two adults aged 40 years and above in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana. Awareness of adult hypertension status in the Metropolis is very low with the most diagnoses of the disease occurring accidentally. Obesity, advancing age, being male and being widowed are risk factors associated with hypertension. The study suggests workplace BP screening and a scale-up of awareness campaigns in the Metropolis to curb the incidence of the disease and control associated risk factors.

Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Salmonella Species

Aim: This research was carried out to determine the prevalence of Salmonella species from smoked fish sold in the three major markets in Tamale Metropolis and examined the isolates resistance patterns to various antibiotics. Study Design: The study was in two parts which include administering questionnaires and collecting samples. The second part was the laboratory analysis to detect Salmonella species from the collected samples. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the Spanish laboratory (microbiology section) of the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Biosciences, of the University for Development Studies. Methodology: A total of one hundred samples were examined. The samples were enriched on buffered peptone water and inoculated on Modified Semi-Solid Rappaport Vassiliadis. Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate was used to identify the bacteria, and Simons Citrate agar was used for the biochemical test. The antibiotic test was done by using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion test. Results: After the laboratory analysis, 67 (67%) out of the 100 samples were confirmed to be positive for Salmonella species of which Cut fish (11.9%), Redfish (11.9%), Mudfish (11.9%), and Chale fish (11.9%) recorded the highest contamination, and among the three markets, Central market had the highest fish contamination. The resistance patterns of the isolates to the various antibiotics used were; Ciprofloxacin (2.98%), Ceftriaxone (34.32%), Ampicillin (83.58%), Doxycycline (88.05%), Amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid (91.04%), and Oxytetracycline (92.53%). Conclusion: This study revealed that smoked fish sold in the Tamale Metropolis contained Salmonella positive that can cause food poisoning and other gastrointestinal problems.

Internal migration in Northern Ghana: understanding the integrative challenges of migrants in Tamale Metropolis

Purpose: Successful integration of migrants in any society has a very vital impact on the wellbeing of migrants. The study therefore uses descriptive statistics to analyse the integrative challenges of internal migrants in the Tamale metropolis of Northern Ghana. Research methodology: The study adopted the mixed-method approach and non-probability sampling techniques to select 120 internal migrants for the study. Results: The results revealed that economic factors (46.7%) accounted for most reasons cited for migrating. Language barriers (24.2%) and higher cost of living (19.2%) were the most encountered challenges and a proportion of 10.8 per cent reported not having encountered any difficulty. Limitations: The study explored all forms of internal migration in the Metropolis. However, it failed to explore the occurrence of international migration given the growing influx of international migrants in the study area. Contribution: The outcome of the study will advance knowledge on the challenges faced by migrants within the Metropolis and measures could be taken to resolve some undesired experiences. Additionally, the study will make a valuable contribution to the limited migration literature in the North.