Background Access to healthcare for speech and hearing impaired clients can be difficult against the backdrop that healthcare providers are inadequately trained to work with Deaf clients whose primary mode of communication is sign language. Therefore, this study sought to explore communication experiences of deaf people and barriers affecting their access to healthcare in Hohoe municipality in Volta region of Ghana. Method: For this quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional study 40 participants were recruited through snowball sampling technique. Quantitative data was obtained through administration of semi-structured questionnaire to sixteen (16) willing participants. The information was triangulated with three (3) focus group discussions. The statistical software Epi Info version 7 and Stata version 11 was used to analyze the quantitative data and presented in graph and tables. Thematic analysis was adopted for analyzing the qualitative data. Findings: Majority (93%) of the study participants are deaf and 7% being hard of hearing. Half (20) of them were above 30 years. Male to female participants in the study were equal. Thirty-five percent of participants had at least primary education and 10.0% had no formal education however 28% of them were employed. Gestures, sign language, assistance from a family member/friend, lip reading and writing are the various methods used by the deaf in communicating with healthcare providers. Family member/friends assistance and gestures were the most frequently used methods of communicating. Due to communication difficulties, they experience disparity, discriminations, neglect and delays in receiving healthcare from providers. Financial difficulties was also identified as barrier in accessing health. Conclusions: Access to healthcare for hearing impaired clients is important to achieve health equity. However challenging it can be, due to communication gaps, efforts must be made to ensure that this group receive adequate health care.
Background: Infant and young child nutrition has been engaging the attention of scientists and governments over the years. Their feeding practices comprise both breastfeeding as well as complementary feeding which have major role in determining the nutritional status of the child, therefore, there has been a well-established link between malnutrition and infant feeding. Children are the future of the world and yet the most vulnerable population, with some 6.6 million children dying before their fifth birthday globally. Studies have shown that poor breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, coupled with high rates of morbidity from infectious diseases are the primary causes of malnutrition and death in the first two years of life. Ketu-North district noted that even though nutrition and health programmes were in place, breastfeeding coverage has been between 53% in 2013 and 69% in 2015. This study sought to assess mothers or caregivers adherence to Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices
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