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The copyright of a submitted article is only transferred to the publishers if and when the article is accepted for publication. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers.
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Factors Influencing Child Health at the Periphery of the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana
Abstract
The paper examined some of the factors that influence child health at peripheral settlements of the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana. The simple random technique, supported by purposive procedure, was used to select 240 women whose children were above 2 years but less than 5. Formal interview was the main data collection instrument, whilst linear regression, alongside crosstabulation, was the main analytical tool. Results showed that the principal determinants of child health, in the metropolis were mother's education, household income and exclusive breastfeeding (nutrition). Besides, the use of insecticide bed-nets has been established as having a positive impact on child health. Among the recommendations to improve child health in the locality are the adoption of an integrated approach by appropriate government Ministries and institutions to lift women from the buck of ignorance and poverty through the functional literacy and income generation programmes, whilst steps should be taken to ensure effective formal education of the girl-child. It is recommended that a survey on the impact of childhood immunisation on child health, using a larger sample size, be carried out. A schematic model of the determinants of child health has emerged. This survey has an additional merit of deviating from the normal bivariate and purely descriptive approaches to the use of the multivariate model which evaluates the impact of independent variables.
Keywords: child health, urban periphery, women's schooling, exclusive breastfeeding
Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 28 (1) 2008 pp. 35-48
