Our international research, led by Dr. Ruthfirst E. A. Ayande, focuses primarily on studies in Northern Ghana to improve maternal health, pregnancy outcomes, and identify areas of need in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and special care baby units (SCBUs) for which we can develop appropriate nutrition interventions. They include:
- Maternal Health Literacy: Evidence from published literature and preliminary work done by the PI suggests that inadequate maternal nutrition may contribute to the burden of low birth weight (LBW) in Ghana. Interventions to improve maternal nutrition knowledge have focused on improving maternal health knowledge and nutrition status, but have yielded mixed results. This may be due to a primary focus on cognition, reading, and writing (functional health literacy) rather than on the broader aspects of health literacy, including communication and critical thinking. This study proposes to develop a culturally sensitive and intensive nutrition education intervention to improve both health literacy and nutritional intake in women, with the goal of positively impacting the incidence of LBW.
- Preterm Infant Lactation and Nutrition Practices: Preterm birth is one of the leading causes of infant mortality globally, accounting for approximately 33% of neonatal deaths in the first month of life and 20% of under-five infant deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The global rates of preterm births have remained relatively stable over the last decade. Rates are, however, disproportionately higher in low-middle-income countries, with an estimated 65% of preterm births occurring in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa alone. Although we believe that interventions to improve feeding in this population would be beneficial, data on the adequacy of current NICU/SCBU feeding practices and their relationship to infant outcomes are needed before nutritional improvements can be investigated. Our project aims to generate preliminary data on lactation and feeding practices among neonates at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, serving as an initial step towards conducting more extensive cohort studies and intervention trials in Ghana.
To learn more about individual projects and their respective research teams, click on the image links below.
