Browsing by Author "Aboagye, E.M."

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A bibliometric analysis of the impact of COVID‑19 social lockdowns on air quality: research trends and future directions
(Springer, 2023) Effah, K.O.; Aboagye, E.M.; Effah, N.A.A.
Social lockdowns improved air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments had previously spent a lot of money addressing air pollution without success. This bibliometric study measured the infuence of COVID-19 social lockdowns on air pollution, identifed emerging issues, and discussed future perspectives. The researchers examined the contributions of countries, authors, and most productive journals to COVID-19 and air pollution research from January 1, 2020, to September 12, 2022, from the Web of Sciences Core Collection (WoS). The results showed that (a) publications on the COVID-19 pandemic and air pollution were 504 (research articles) with 7495 citations, (b) China ranked frst in the number of publications (n = 151; 29.96% of the global output) and was the main country in international cooperation network, followed by India (n = 101; 20.04% of the total articles) and the USA (n = 41; 8.13% of the global output). Air pollution plagues China, India, and the USA, calling for many studies. After a high spike in 2020, research published in 2021 declined in 2022. The author’s keywords have focused on “COVID-19,” “air pollution,” “lockdown,” and “PM25.” These keywords suggest that research in this area is focused on understanding the health impacts of air pollution, developing policies to address air pollution, and improving air quality monitoring. The COVID-19 social lockdown served as a specifed procedure to reduce air pollution in these countries. However, this paper provides practical recommendations for future research and a model for environmental and health scientists to examine the likely impact of COVID-19 social lockdowns on urban air pollution.
Disability inclusiveness in Covid-19 pandemic policies in West Africa: “Are we left behind?”
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2022) Aboagye, E.M.; Mensah, F.; Owusu, N.O.; Effah, K.O.; Erzuah, M.
People with Disabilities (PwDs) suffer and are susceptible to social inequalities, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. In West Africa, these are influenced by how services geared towards PwDs are administered. This study explores the government policies implemented in West Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic and their impact on PwDs in line with the SDGs with disability targets. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyze eighty-one (81) documents, including legislation, reports and official documents that communicated measures taken in response to Covid-19 and SDGs with disability targets. The study found that various governments outlined pragmatic steps to address the needs of PwDs. It was unraveled that the policies and recommendations that the governments have published on disability inclusiveness in response to Covid-19 did not reflected in the lives PwDs. This is evident based on the difficulty PwDs have to go through to access all the available benefits. It takes a while to see such policies and recommendations reflected in the lives of PwDs. Measuring the expected improvements in the lives of PwDs relative to the SGD’s attainment can not happen overnight. This study is the first of its kind in West Africa and urges various governments to pay close attention to their policies to improve their policies toward PwDs. The study recognizes governments’ vital role in ensuring that PwDs are better off, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the government needs to provide adequate education on how PwDs will readily access policies to better their lives.