Children and COVID-19 Research Library

In Ghana, a population of teenage head porters have made the streets their sole living and breathing space. They are faced with several challenges as they live and work on the streets. The era of COVID-19 amidst several safety protocols that should be followed including maintaining physical and social distance as well as reducing movements appears to be detrimental to the survival patterns of teenager head porters as they live and work on the streets. Consequently, the study explores the experiences of teenage head porters in the wake of the pandemic to draw practice implications. Evidence was collected using semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 teenage head porters in Kumasi, Ghana. Narratives were analyzed thematically using reflective thematic analysis procedures. The study identified Kinship neglect and high exposure to infection as over-arching challenges experienced by teenage head porters on the streets amidst COVID-19.

This study provides a situational update on COVID-19 in Ghana, the seventh African country reporting the most cases. Some modifications occurring within the health system to curtail the outbreak and its potential impact on the delivery of antenatal care services are also highlighted. With the discovery of the Delta variant in Ghana, the current attention is to prevent a third wave of infection, and also control and manage existing cases. Efforts to procure vaccines, vaccinate special populations and sensitize the public on the implications of vaccine hesitancy are ongoing.

COVID-19 is a novel respiratory disease associated with severe morbidity and high mortality in the elderly population and people with comorbidities. Studies have suggested that pregnant women are more susceptible to COVID-19 compared to non-pregnant women. However, it’s unclear whether pregnant women in Ghana are knowledgeable about COVID-19 and practice preventive measures against it. This study sought to assess the knowledge and preventive practices towards COVID-19 among pregnant women seeking antenatal services in Northern Ghana

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread worldwide with an increasing number of patients, including pregnant women and neonates. This study aims to evaluate morbidity and mortality in the COVID-19 era compared to the preceding year in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana. This is a cross-sectional study carried out on neonates admitted to NICU between March 1st to August 31st, 2019 (pre-COVID-19 era) and March 1st to August 31st, 2020 (COVID-19 era). Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of mortality for both periods.

Learning loss is expected for millions of children who have been out of school as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, it is uncertain how much learning will be lost and how wide the gaps may be for disadvantaged children. This paper uses a unique longitudinal dataset to estimate learning loss during a three-month transition from Complementary Basic Education to government schools in Ghana.

This article aimed to assess adherence to COVID‐19 preventive measures and its associated factors among pregnant women in Ghana. This was a cross‐sectional study conducted in the Nabdam district, Ghana. Data were collected from 527 pregnant women randomly selected from antenatal care clinics from 16 healthcare facilities. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the prevalence of adherence to COVID‐19 preventive measures. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the factors associated with COVID‐19 preventive measures, whilst adjusting for potential confounders.

This paper is focused on answering the following questions: How are poor families surviving in this era of COVID-19? What is life for children from poor families? What has become of their reality? To understand the realities of poor families and children during COVID-19, specifically in Ghana, this paper aims to analyze how COVID-19 has affected children from poor families in Ghana and how welfare institutions can work to provide rapid help to such families.

This paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on deaf adults, children, and their families in Ghana, focusing on issues of inclusion. It asks what it takes to ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ (United Nations Strategic Development Goal 11) for deaf people in the context of the global pandemic in a low-resource context. The exceptional challenge to inclusion posed by COVID-19 is examined in terms of issues for deaf children and their families, and from the point of view of deaf adults in advocacy and support organisations.

Evidence on whether the amount of time children spend online affects their mental health is mixed. There may be both benefits and risks. Yet, almost all published research on this topic is from high‐income countries. This paper presents new findings across four countries of varying wealth.

We analyse data gathered through the Global Kids Online project from nationally representative samples of Internet‐using children aged 9 to 17 years in Bulgaria (n  = 1,000), Chile (n  = 1,000), Ghana (n  = 2,060) and the Philippines (n  = 1,873). Data was gathered on Internet usage on week and weekend days. Measures of absolute (comparable across countries) and relative (compared to other children within countries) time use were constructed. Mental health was measured by Cantril’s ladder (life satisfaction). The analysis also considers the relative explanatory power on variations in mental health of children’s relationships with family and friends. Analysis controlled for age, gender and family socioeconomic status.

In Bulgaria and Chile, higher‐frequency Internet use is weakly associated with lower life satisfaction. In Ghana and the Philippines, no such pattern was observed. There was no evidence that the relationship between frequency of Internet use and life satisfaction differed by gender. In all four countries, the quality of children’s close relationships showed a much stronger relationship with their life satisfaction than did time spent on the Internet.

Time spent on the Internet does not appear to be strongly linked to children’s life satisfaction, and results from one country should not be assumed to transfer to another. Improving the quality of children’s close relationships offers a more fruitful area for intervention than restricting their time online. Future research could consider a wider range of countries and links between the nature, rather than quantity, of Internet usage and mental health.