Suchergebnisse

SummaryAfter a decade of fertility decline, Ghana's fertility and the level of unmet need for contraception stalled in mid-transition in the late 1990s. Although the literature acknowledges this, the geographical patterns in unmet need have not been adequately documented. Spatial analysis of unmet need can reveal differences in usage and provision of contraceptive commodities, thereby pointing to geographical areas where contraceptive programmes should be strengthened. This study examines the geographical variation of the risk of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies between rural communities and also between urban communities of the three ecological zones of Ghana. The study also investigates if geographical differences in the risks of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies changed during the period when unmet need stalled at the national level. A multilevel regression model was applied to pooled data from the 1998 and 2003 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys to examine the determinants of the risk of unintended pregnancies, while controlling for clustering of outcomes within communities. The results show that between the two surveys, there was no significant change in the levels of risk of mistimed and unwanted pregnancy. However, geographical heterogeneity in the risk of mistimed and unwanted pregnancy was observed, after controlling for relevant predictors. This showed concentration of mistimed pregnancies in some rural communities relative to others, and variation in the risk of unwanted pregnancies between urban communities. The results give a clear indication that bridging the inequality gap in contraceptive use requires programmes that are area-specific.

Climate‐dependent subsistence agriculture remains the main livelihood for most populations in Ghana. The spatiotemporal variations in rainfall and temperature have influence particularly in poorly‐developed agrarian regions with limited or no irrigation infrastructure. Therefore, a systematic understanding of climate patterns across space and time is important for mitigating against food insecurity and household poverty. Using over a century of high‐spatial resolution data, this study examines the spatiotemporal variations in rainfall and temperature across Ghana to identify climate‐stressed locations with potential effect on the production of major staple crops. The data for the analysis were drawn from the University of Delaware's Gridded Precipitation and Temperature Monthly Climatology version 4.01. The analysis was restricted to the main crop‐growing periods (March to December). The Mann‐Kendall nonparametric regression test was used to examine significant changes in rainfall variability and temperature at the district level. The results show that Ghana's climate has become progressively drier over the last century and prone to drought conditions. The most climate‐stressed districts are clustered within the three northern regions (Upper West, Upper East, and Northern) and the Western region. The most recent census in Ghana shows that the three northern regions also have the highest prevalence of subsistence agriculture. The findings from this study have implications for targeted interventions such as the Ghanaian government's recent policy initiative aimed at alleviating rural poverty by encouraging youth participation in agriculture along with efforts to intensifying crop production using modern farming techniques.