This chapter investigates older people’s needs in contemporary Ghana using the analyses of quantitative and qualitative data sets. The findings identified eight distinct patterns of needs, namely basic needs, care, and domestic help; sociability, emotional and affective support; information; counseling; spiritual needs, free bus rides, and rights. These needs highlight older adults’ social and personal requirements regarding daily living and healthcare in their desire to age with dignity. Their provision may avert problems related to population ageing, including old-age dependency. These (...) needs can be addressed through the following measures. First, the facilitation of the informational needs of older people is attainable through the introduction of initiation for adults and/or older people into the social structure and/or life course. Second, the provision of houses through the mediation of government on behalf of pension contributors, payable in installments. These may ensure appropriate adjustment to life in old age, albeit longevity. The life-sustaining needs of older people have existed since time immemorial. However, these needs are now taking a new dimension in the era of population ageing and increased life expectancy, economic hardships, and weakening extended family support system. We, therefore, argue that these require interventions at both the family and institutional or state levels or formal and informal levels, particularly needs satisfying programs and policies should be instituted by the government in addition to the existing ones. (shrink)

Many instances have presented mathematics as a difficult subject for students, and some of these difficulties have been perceived as an injustice to those who suffer from it. Meanwhile, no child is to be left behind in building a just society if all were to experience the collective good of mathematics. For this reason, it became necessary to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions of mathematics as social justice in their lived experiences. In doing this, the qualitative interpretive approach was adopted, where (...) qualitative data was collected, transcribed, and analysed using the case study design. A sample of eleven pre-service teachers were involved in the study. The findings indicated that the pre-service teachers had experienced severe issues of mathematics as social justice in their previous schooling that were unfair to them. However, they now felt mathematics could be interesting if delivered in a manner that let their voices be heard in the delivery process. (shrink)

Preparedness inadequacy for the retirement transition is one of the critical reasons for age reduction. This chapter examines retirement planning as a leveraging strategy and vibrant remedy for age reduction using quantitative data obtained from formal and informal sector workers. The findings show that retirement plans are categorized into short-term, medium, and long-term plans. Collectively, these yield income, health, housing, social networks, leisure, and paid work beyond pensions. Post-retirement income is a significant determinant of the retirement decision. Retirement planning can (...) be used to leverage the lack of preparedness for retirement, which in turn reduces the activity of age reduction. This averts dependency in old age and creates the avenue for successful ageing, which is often heralded by the retirement transition. Further, not planning for retirement and the associated act of age reduction is an indication of the non-acknowledgment of the notion of active ageing. Noteworthy age reduction is a portrayal of old age as a shameful loss of youthfulness. This chapter argues that planning for retirement may be the best alternative strategy for combating age reduction from an economic outcome dimension. Retirement planning is leveraged without which labor cannot achieve old age oriented social protection at the individual level. (shrink)

The literature on the history of electricity production have studied the evolution of electricity in both developed and developing countries and its impact on their economies. Some have laid foundations upon which other works are carried out. A close examination of historiography and multidisciplinary research on electricity production in Ghana shows that more efforts are required to improve the electric power landscape in Ghana. From the colonial era, the increasing demand for electricity has been the biggest challenge plaguing the energy (...) sector. Respective governments have made significant strides in ensuring reliable and universal access to electricity throughout Ghana, yet such efforts have been accompanied by different levels of challenges. The study uses a qualitative and exploratory research approach to trace the activities that helped, in many other ways to the creation of a sustainable electric power provision to household and industry in Ghana, particularly in two of Ghana’s cities; Accra and Kumasi, within the period 1900 to the1960s. The work focused mainly on archival sources in its quest to arrive at how indigenous Ghanaians provided power for industrial activities and for household purposes. Results from the study show that local and cottage industries relied predominantly on wood, fuel, and biomass for their operations even before the introduction of the more sophisticated means of power generation. Also, the study revealed that in finding solutions to the challenges of electricity production, policymakers have focused more on current issues with little or no effort to trace the historical foundation of electricity production. This notwithstanding, the little efforts that have been made examined the history of energy production, with a limited focus on the immediate post-independence era. (shrink)

Women have always been central concerning the provision of healthcare. The transitions into the modern world have been very slow for women because of how societies classify women. Starting from lay care, women provided healthcare for their family and sometimes to the members of the community in which they lived. With no formal education, women served as midwives and served in other specialised fields in medicine. They usually treated their fellow women because they saw ‘women’s medicine’ as women’s business. They (...) were discriminated against by the opposite sex and by the church, which regarded it as a taboo to allow women to practice medicine. This study points to a Ghanaian context on how the charismas of women have made them excel in their efforts to provide healthcare for their people. The study also focused on the role of indigenous practitioners who are mostly found in the rural areas and modern practitioners who are mostly found in the peri-urban, urban areas and larger cities in Ghana. (shrink)

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are reported to have caused significant deaths for more than a decade. Consequently, NCDs have posed as a threat to the socio-economic well-being of individuals and families, contributed to a rise in healthcare costs and largely undermined the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of NCDs have compounded the problem of already ill equipped healthcare systems in these (...) countries as they are faced with constraints to deal with the burden of both infectious and non-communicable diseases. Informed largely by the rapid increase in NCDs and their subsequent threat to public health, we aimed to ascertain the various healthcare interventions that Ghana has fashioned out in her bid to prevent and control the incidence of NCDs, how these interventions were rolled out and examined past and present barriers to their implementation since 1990. We culled the data gathered for this paper from both primary and secondary sources to construct a coherent synthesis and to facilitate discussions on Ghana’s NCDs interventions from 1990 to 2018. A systematic analysis of the data gathered, revealed that Ghana’s healthcare system has by far tackled the NCDs burden in two folds; the clinical care aspect and the health promotion aspect. While certain healthcare interventions were purposively directed toward addressing NCDs, others were directed at promoting healthy lifestyles but had a bearing on the prevention and control of NCDs. Present challenges concerning shortfalls in interventions are a reflection of unresolved challenges in the past. We argue that despite the significant strides made for more than two decades, the interventions have addressed the burden of NCDs with limited success given the trends in NCDs mortality and morbidity. (shrink)

The illegal drug trade is a world phenomenon, which has had some adverse impact on societies. Significantly, the impact is damning in developing economies in Africa and Ghana in particular. This paper therefore seeks to address the causes and effects of the use and peddle of these illegal drugs in three communities in the capital city of the Asante Region of Ghana. It further ascertains the extent to which these drugs burden the security agencies in the communities and the country (...) in general. We have used documentary and non-documentary sources to arrive at some postulations on this important social question which has wider ramifications on Kumase, Asante, Ghana and Africa in general. (shrink)