Background: Depression and insomnia are major psychiatric conditions predicted by occupational stress. However, the influence of occupational stress on these two conditions is under-explored in telecommunication companies, especially in Africa. This research was conducted to assess occupational stress in a Ghanaian telecommunication company and its effect on depression and insomnia. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among employees at a telecommunication company in Accra. Structured self-administered questionnaires were used in collecting data from 235 respondents using simple random sampling. The Chi-square test of independence and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test were employed to assess the significance of associations with subsequent sensitivity analysis using Multiple logistic, Poisson and Probit regression models. Occupational stress was matched on four variables: age of the workers, marital status, responsibility for dependents and work experience, to improve on the estimation of its impact on symptomatic depression and insomnia using the coarsened exact matching procedure. Results: More males (52.8%) than females participated in this study. The age range for study participants was 20-49 years with a mean of 30.8 ± 6.9 years. The prevalence of excessive occupational stress reported by the employees was 32.8% (95% CI = 26.7-38.8). More than half of respondents (51%) reported depressive symptoms in the past week and only a few (6%) reported being diagnosed with insomnia in the past year. Age, responsibility for dependents and work experience were the only background characteristics that were significantly associated with excessive occupational stress. After controlling for background characteristics, the estimated risk of reporting symptoms of depression among employees who reported excessive stress from work was only 5% higher [ARR; 95% CI = 1.05 (0.94-1.17)] whereas it was 2.58 times the risk of reporting insomnia [ARR; 95% CI = 2.58(0.83-8.00)] compared to those who did not report excessive stress from their jobs. The relative risk reduced to 2.46[ARR; 95% CI = 2.46(0.77-7.87)] and 1.03[ARR; 95% CI = 1.03(0.91-1.17)] for insomnia and depression respectively after employing Poisson regression with CEM.

Purpose Malaria continues to be a major health issue globally with almost 85% of the global burden and deaths borne by sub-Saharan Africa and India. Although the current artemisinin derived combination therapies in Ghana are still efficacious against the Plasmodium falciparum ( Pf ) parasite, compounding evidence of artemisinin and amodiaquine resistance establish the need for a full, up-to-date understanding and monitoring of antimalarial resistance to provide evidence for planning control strategies. Materials and Methods The study was cross-sectional and was conducted during the peak malaria transmission seasons of 2015, 2016, and 2017 in two ecological zones of Ghana. Study participants included children aged 6 months to 14 years. Using ex vivo 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) drug sensitivity assay, 330 Pf isolates were used to investigate susceptibility to five antimalarial drugs: chloroquine (CQ), amodiaquine (AMD) dihydroartemisinin (DHA), artesunate (ART) and mefloquine (MFQ). Results The pooled geometric mean IC 50 S (GMIC 50 ) of the five drugs against the parasites from Cape Coast and Begoro were 15.5, 42.4, 18.9, 4.6 and 27.3nM for CQ, AMD, DHA, ART, and MFQ, respectively. The GMIC 50 values for CQ (p<0.001), ART (p<0.011) and DHA (p<0.018) were significantly higher for Cape Coast isolates as compared to Begoro isolates. However, GMIC 50 estimates for MFQ (p<0.022) were significantly higher for Begoro isolates. Positive correlations were found between each pair of drugs with the weakest found between MFQ and DHA ( r = 0.34;p<0.001), and the strongest between ART and DHA ( r =0.66; p<0.001). Conclusion The parasites showed reduced sensitivities to three (AMD, DHA and MFQ) out of the five drugs assessed. The study also demonstrated the continual return of chloroquine-sensitive parasites after 13 years of its withdrawal as the first-line drug for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Ghana. The ex vivo DAPI assay is a reliable method for assessing antimalarial drug sensitivities of Pf field isolates under field settings.

Abstract Background Depression and insomnia are major psychiatric conditions that are predicted by occupational stress. However, the influence of occupational stress on these two conditions is under-explored in telecommunication companies, especially in Africa. This research was conducted to assess occupational stress in a Ghanaian telecommunication company and its effect on depression and insomnia. Methods An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among employees at a telecommunication company in Accra. Structured self-administered questionnaires were used in collecting data from 235 respondents using simple random sampling. Chi-square test of independence and the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test were employed to assess the significance of associations with subsequent sensitivity analysis using Multiple logistic, Poisson and Probit regression models. Occupational stress was matched on three variables: age of the workers, responsibility for dependents and work experience, to improve on the estimation of its impact on symptomatic depression and insomnia using the coarsened exact matching procedure. Results More males (52.8%) than females participated in this study. The age range for study participants was 20-49 years with a mean of 30.8 ± 6.9 years. The prevalence of occupational stress among the employees was 32.8% (95% CI= 26.7-38.8). More than half of respondents (51%) reported depressive symptoms in the past week and only a few (6%) reported being diagnosed with insomnia in the past year. Age, responsibility for dependents and work experience were the only background characteristics that were significantly associated with perceived occupational stress. After controlling for background characteristics, the estimated risk of reporting symptoms of depression among employees who perceived stress from work was only 5% higher [ARR; 95% CI=1.05 (0.94-1.17)] whereas it was 2.58 times the risk of reporting insomnia [ARR; 95% CI=2.58(0.83-8.00)] compared to those who did not perceive stress from their jobs. The relative risk reduced to 2.46[ARR; 95% CI=2.46(0.77-7.87)] and 1.03[ARR; 95% CI=1.03(0.91-1.17)] for insomnia and depression respectively after employing Poisson regression with CEM. Conclusion The study found a higher risk of insomnia among employees who reported occupational stress compared to those who did not. However, there was not enough statistical evidence to conclude that occupational stress was associated with depression among the study participants.

Objective: The study assessed driver, vehicular and road-related factors associated with road crashes (RC) in the Kintampo North Municipality.Design: Cross-sectional studySetting: Kintampo North MunicipalityData source: Demographics, vehicular and road usage information on registered drivers at Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU) and Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA) in Kintampo North MunicipalityMain outcome: involvement in road crashes and related factorsResult: A total of 227 drivers were approached for this study. None of them declined participation. They were all males. Most were between 28-37 years (30%). The proportion of drivers that reported RC ever involvement in at least one RC was 55.5% (95% CI: 8.0%, 62.1%). In the bivariate analysis, drink and drive changed lane without signalling, ever bribed police officer, drove beyond the maximum speed limit, paid a bribe at DVLA for driving license, violation of traffic signals were found to be associated with RC involvement (p<0.05). Drivers who violated traffic signals had 2.84 odds of being involved in road crashes compared to those who did not [aOR; 2.84 (95%CI:1.06,7.63)]Conclusion: The proportion of drivers ever involved in road crashes was high. The major factor that is associated with RC involvement was a violation of the traffic light signals. Continuous driver education and enforcement of road traffic regulations by the appropriate authorities could curb the road crash menace in the Municipality.Keywords: commercial drivers, road crashes, vehicle, road signs, traffic light signalFunding: The authors funded this work.

No abstract