by Maxime Kouao Diané, Claude Aimée Diaha-Kouamé, Rita José Julie Bouagnon, Hervé A. Kadjo, Karidja Yakoura Ouattara, Mathias Kouamé N’dri, Nathalie Aya Guessennd-Kouadio and Mireille Dosso
Original Research
Introduction: Many hospital, public health and university medical laboratories, whether public or private, contribute through their diagnostic activities to health care and the improvement of public health Objective: To evaluate the state of knowledge of the National Reference Centres (NRC) in order to identify measures for their improvement after more than a decade of practice. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out with managers of national reference laboratories. Result: The NRCs are active in the surveillance of priority communicable diseases. Their activities are national and international in scope. The NRCs are headed by medical doctors or scientific biologists, all of whom are researchers with an experience of 18.4±9.2 years, with 8 (72.7%) men and 3 (27.3%) women. These managers were appointed by a decision of the management. The NRCs estimated the funds allocated to their activities to be (91.7%) insufficient. The NRCs did not have a laboratory information management system (66.7%). Concerning the problem of infrastructure and operational equipment, the result shows that the NRCs are confronted with an interruption of electricity in 16.6% of cases. Half of the NRCs (58.4%) do not have sufficient laboratory space to carry out their work without compromising the quality of work and the safety of staff. 9 (75%) of the NRCs have successfully participated in proficiency testing programmes and 4 (33.3%) have organised proficiency tests. Conclusion: No national reference laboratory is accredited ISO 15189. The results of the assessment can be used to develop a work plan to improve laboratory surveillance and detection of communicable and potentially epidemic diseases in Côte d'Ivoire.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2023, 11(4), 143-151. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-11-4-3
Pub. Date: September 19, 2023
by Isaac Kwesi Acquah, Desmond Appiah, Victor Antwi, Michael Gyan, Fortune Addo-Wuver and Cynthia Jebuni-Adanu
Original Research
One of the sectors that have been greatly affected by the 2019 pandemic coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was the various universities in Ghana. Universities were closed down for several months until strategically academic work resumed normalcy. COVID-19 immunisation is one of the best approaches to mitigate the spread of the novel disease. This process will increase the immunity of the students due to the extremely congested environments. For that matter, this study utilised a cross-sectional survey to assess the knowledge and attitudes of students toward vaccines in several Ghanaian universities. Reasons behind the refusal and acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccines were also ascertained. Descriptive, one-sample t-test and multinomial logistics regression statistics were used to analyse the data. Seven hundred and eighty-five (785) students from various universities in Ghana participated in this study. Respectively, 78.5% and 73.8% of the students were well informed about COVID-19 disease and COVID-19 vaccines. It can be concluded that information on social media significantly discouraged students from the COVID-19 immunisation process. The majority of students representing 63.1% were willing to receive the COVID-19 immunisation, compared to 36.3% of the students that exhibited negative attitudes toward the immunisation. The primary cause of non-compliance with the government-recommended immunisation schedule was the safety and side effects of the vaccines. It is recommended that additional advocacy initiatives be implemented at various universities to help address the numerous safety concerns students have regarding the COVID-19 immunisation and its side effects.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2023, 11(4), 136-142. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-11-4-2
Pub. Date: September 06, 2023
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