Landfilling, which sits at the bottom of the waste management hierarchy, is the most employed option for managing waste in many emerging economies. In view of the numerous environmental and public health challenges associated with operation of landfills, proper siting would require inputs that overcome the challenges. This study sought to use Geographic Information System application through multi-criteria decision technique to spatially locate suitable sites that fulfill standard landfill guidelines, for waste disposal. Spatial Analyst extension within ArcGIS software was employed for the suitability analysis. Three processes were involved: (1) digitizing to determine boundaries around built up areas, (2) buffering for proximity analysis in order to generate zones around features such as roads, streams, etc. and (3) overlay analysis to determine areas suitable for landfilling. The findings from this study revealed that about 2.62% of the total area was considered as most suitable for landfilling, 2.74% deemed suitable and a large portion (94.64%), considered unsuitable. The study identified 6 most suitable sites that can be used for landfill development in the study area burdened with urbanization. GIS has been used to determine suitable sites for landfill development. Findings from the study serve as guideline for environmentally friendly landfill siting with efficient land-use planning.

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Introduction: KOICA and the Yonsei Global Health Center of Yonsei University finalized a baseline survey for the development of a maternal health program in the Volta Region of Ghana. Community, Health facility and health care provider surveys were conducted in the Region (Keta Municipality, Ketu North and South District) to evaluate the accessibility of essential reproductive health care, especially maternity services. Access to quality maternal health care is essential to reduce maternal mortality. Objective: To assess the strength and weakness of maternal health service and develop an action plan according to the problems to strengthen maternal health and reduce maternal mortality ratio in the Volta Region Method: Access to maternal health service had been categorized into five dimensions: availability, accessibility, affordability, accommodation and acceptability. 5As framework was used to assess the strength and weakness to the improvement of the maternal health. Results: Bested on the result it was found that, many obstacles to achieving every "A", excluding acceptability and problems include; insufficient health personnel, inadequate knowledge in health service provider and inadequate instruments in health facilities. Conclusion: Based on the survey, training of service providers, regular supply of essential medicine and equipment and strengthening basic unit of the health service are recommended to improve access to maternal health care in the Volta Region, Ghana.

Background: Ghana’s maternal mortality ratio continues to decline, but is not expected to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 target. The Ghana Health Service and Ministry of Health have displayed a high commitment to the improvement of maternal health in the country. One of the most recent partnerships directed at this is with the Korea International Cooperation Agency.Methods: This study was conducted among women between ages 15 and 49 resident in Keta Municipal, Ketu North and Ketu South districts in the Volta Region of Ghana who were pregnant or who had children aged less than five. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ghana Health Service Ethical Review Committee. Data were collected using questionnaires, entered into Stata version 12 and analyzed using frequency distribution and assessment of means. Comparisons among districts were conducted using chi square test and one way analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: The study covered 630 women whose mean age was 28.4 years. Almost all participants (99.1%) from Ketu North knew where to obtain family planning services. Use of modern contraception was highest in Ketu North with 31% of respondents using a modern method. Delivery in a health facility was highest in Keta Municipal (62.3%) with overall institutional delivery being 57.6%. Delivery by a skilled birth attendant (SBA) was also highest in Keta Municipal.Conclusion: Indicators used to assess maternal health services show a coverage of over 50% but we need to improve institutional delivery, use of modern contraception and education about danger signs in pregnancy. Funding: This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2013S1A5B8A01055336) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency(2013).Keywords: Maternal Health, Ghana, Volta Region, Family Planning, Skilled Birth Attendant