World Contraception Day

Today is World Contraception Day. The day is commemorated annually on 26th September to improve awareness of available contraceptive methods and empower young adults to make informed choices regarding their reproductive health.

More on population projections

We stated in our earlier post on population projections that they are conditional and based on assumptions. These assumptions form the basis of predictions of what changes will occur in the population size and structure. 

It is critical to involve multiple stakeholders and experts in the determination of these assumptions because it allows for:

•       A thorough assessment of existing trends.

•       Identification of potential changes (political, economic, health, legal etc.) that can impact population trends going forward

•       Knowledge of subgroup trends that are not yet obvious at the population level (e.g. antenatal coverage increasing in remote rural areas)          

International literacy day

Today is International Literacy Day. The day has been commemorated since 1966 to raise awareness of the benefits of literacy at the individual, national and global levels. This awareness is necessary as the UN estimates that 617 million youth worldwide do not have basic literacy skills with a quarter of the world's illiterate population living in sub-Saharan Africa. 

The theme for this year is Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. 

Almost two-third of migrant workers sampled travelled abroad without a valid work visa

The Ghana Statistical Service released findings from the 2019 recruitment cost pilot survey conducted in four districts in the Ashanti, Bono and Bono East regions that sampled households with return and current international migrants. The survey aimed to measure SDG Indicator 10.7.1 (Recruitment cost borne by employee as a proportion of monthly income earned in country of destination) under SDG 10.7 which aims to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies. SDG 10 focuses on the reduction of inequality within and among countries.

The findings reveal the concerning statistic that only a third of migrant workers travelled abroad with a work visa; the others either went legally but without a work visa or through unapproved routes. The points to a need to implement policies to provide productive and profitable means to engage the working age population to discourage them from illegally migrating abroad. 

Half of Ghanaian households had to reduce food consumption due to covid-19

We continue to highlight the impact of the covid-19 pandemic in our series based on findings from the Ghana Statistical Service covid-19 household and jobs tracker survey.

Mobile money account ownership in Ghana

There has been a substantial increase in the amount of funds in mobile money accounts in Ghana between June last year and June this year. The increase in funds was from GH¢3 billion to GH¢4.5 billion while the number of active mobile money accounts increased from 12.9 million to 15.5 million. These changes have been attributed to the effect of the covid-19 pandemic.

We posted findings earlier from the covid-19 business tracker that showed businesses reporting using more digital technology in their businesses use.

The increase in the use of digital payments such as mobile money has us wondering about financial inclusion and the proportion of the population that has access to mobile money.

About 3 out of 10 Ghanaian children have not engaged in any learning activities since March

We discussed the implications of school closures on educational inequality in Ghana as not all children would be able to participate in virtual learning programmes because they did not have access to radio, TV, and/or internet.

The Ghana Statistical Service report from the first wave of their household and jobs survey confirms that a substantial proportion of children have not been able to engage in virtual learning since March.

3 out of 4 Ghanaian children who missed vaccinations did so due to covid-related reasons

During World Immunization Week 2020, the WHO called for actions to minimize disruptions to immunization programmes due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The Households and Jobs Tracker survey has confirmed that the pandemic has increased the risk of children who are due for vaccinations not getting the needed vaccine. The report indicated that 76.8% of children did not get vaccinated when they had to because of covid-19 related reasons.

Global breastfeeding scorecard

The Global Breastfeeding Collective, led by UNICEF and WHO, have developed a useful  scorecard that tracks progress towards 2030 global breastfeeding targets. The indicators in the scorecard assess programmes and policies for the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding.

Read more about the scorecard and explore the interactive dashboard here.

Ghanaian businesses reported an average 61% decline in sales since March

The Ghana Statistical Service has just released findings from their Business Tracker survey which presents some sobering statistics on the impact of the covid-19 restrictions on businesses and the labour force. 

The report estimates businesses lost GHS 115.2 million in sales since March. An estimated 770,124 had their wages reduced while an estimate 41,952 were laid off. The report also highlighted the limited access to the government's assistance for businesses with only 3.5% of firms receiving government assistance.

Greater Accra and Ashanti covid-19 case counts greater than most African countries

Greater Accra has more confirmed covid-19 cases  (18,882) than the other 15 regions combined (18,132).

If Greater Accra region were a country on its own in the WHO African region*, it would rank 6th out of 47 in case counts** after only South Africa (503,290), Nigeria (43,537), Ghana (35,501), Algeria (30,950) and Kenya (21,363).

Ashanti region (9,328), which has more cases than the other regions excluding Greater Accra combined (8,804), would rank 11th out of 47.

Revisting our July covid-19 projections

We made some projections on what the national covid-19 case count would be at the end of July. Now that July has ended, we compare the projected with the actual figures.

The initial projections were based on the daily increases in June. The projection ended at July 29th because the Ghana Health Service did not provide figures for June 30th. There are also no figures available for July 29th and so the comparison will be for July 28th.

World Breastfeeding Week

August 1st to 7th marks World Breastfeeding Week, a time to promote breastfeeding and raise awareness on the physical and emotional benefits of breastfeeding for child and maternal health. The week commemorates the 1990 Innocenti Declaration  signed by international development agencies and governments to enable women exclusively breastfeeding for the first 4-6 months of their child's life.

The theme for this year is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), having near universal breastfeeding can save the lives of 800,000 children and 20,000 mothers every year. This is because breastfeeding is linked to lower risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease for mothers. For children, breastfeeding provides complete nutrition, protects against infections and illnesses and promotes early childhood development.

WHO guidelines recommend exclusive breastfeeding from the first hour of the child's life up till 6 months old. After 6 months, nutritious foods should complement breastfeeding up to 24 months or more.

Three-quarters of households in Ghana experienced a decline in income after mid-March

The Ghana Statistical Service has released findings from their households and jobs tracker survey, a nationally representative telephone-based longitudinal survey of 3,265 households across the country.

The survey found that covid-19 has had a substantial impact on household incomes with the results suggesting that over 22 million Ghanaians have seen their incomes fall since March. The findings also reveal that majority of respondents were understandably concerned about the impact of covid-19.

We will continue to explore the findings in further detail. In the meantime, read more in the household and job survey report here.

Global covid-19 death toll still climbing

644,832 deaths have been recorded with the trend indicating that number of deaths is still rising 7 months after the disease was declared a pandemic.

The world continues to grapple with covid-19 as global case count passes 16 million

United States (4.18 million), Brazil (2.39 million) and India (1.39 million) are leading the number of cases as of 26th July.

Ghana on the verge of passing 30,000 recorded covid-19 cases

4,442 new covid-19 cases were reported since our last update.  The national case count now stands at 29,672.

The cases recorded on the 19th includes samples taken as far back as 16th June. Daily testing numbers picked up from the previous week; 25,449 tests were carried out compared to 19,207 in the previous week. 

Greater Accra (1,837) and Ashanti (1,360) region combined to contribute 70% of new cases.

Number of new covid-19 increasing in Africa

South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana and Algeria lead with the highest case counts.

According to the Africa Centre for Disease Control new cases reported this week increased by 21% compared to the previous week. In all, 736,288 cases have been reported in 54 African countries representing 5% of the global case count. Africa's share of global cases has increased from 2% since we last posted a global update in May.

15,418 deaths have been reported representing a case fatality rate of 2.1%.

World Youth Skills Day

July 15 is World Youth Skills Day. The day is meant to raise awareness on the importance of equipping young people with the skills for employment. 

The covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the skills development of youth all over the world. UNESCO estimates that almost 70% of the world's learners at all levels have been affected by school closures.

Testing numbers decline as case count climbs past 25,000

3,284 new cases recorded since our update last week leading to a total count of 25,252. This represents a decline from the 4,227 cases recorded in the previous week. However, we have to note that the number of test conducted in this 7 day period also declined from the number in the week prior to this one.

19,207 tests were conducted in the period 27th June to 4th July compared to 14,030 tests conducted in the period 5th July to 11th July; representing a 27% decline in cases tested.