Browsing by Author "Pandya, R."
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Item The economic burden of meningitis to households in Kassena-Nankana District of Northern Ghana(Public Library of Science, 2013) Akweongo, P.; Dalaba, M.A.; Hayden, M.H.; Awine, T.; Nyaaba, G.N.; Anaseba, D.; Hodgson, A.; Forgor, A.A.; Pandya, R.Objective: To estimate the direct and indirect costs of meningitis to households in the Kassena-Nankana District of Ghana. Methods: A Cost of illness (COI) survey was conducted between 2010 and 2011. The COI was computed from a retrospective review of 80 meningitis cases answers to questions about direct medical costs, direct non-medical costs incurred and productivity losses due to recent meningitis incident. Results: The average direct and indirect costs of treating meningitis in the district was GH¢152.55 (US$101.7) per household. This is equivalent to about two months minimum wage earned by Ghanaians in unskilled paid jobs in 2009. Households lost 29 days of work per meningitis case and thus those in minimum wage paid jobs lost a monthly minimum wage of GH¢76.85 (US$51.23) due to the illness. Patients who were insured spent an average of GH¢38.5 (US$25.67) in direct medical costs whiles the uninsured patients spent as much as GH¢177.9 (US$118.6) per case. Patients with sequelae incurred additional costs of GH¢22.63 (US$15.08) per case. The least poor were more exposed to meningitis than the poorest. Conclusion: Meningitis is a debilitating but preventable disease that affects people living in the Sahel and in poorer conditions. The cost of meningitis treatment may further lead to impoverishment for these households. Widespread mass vaccination will save households' an equivalent of GH¢175.18 (US$117) and impairment due to meningitis.Item Erratum to: The role of weather in meningitis outbreaks in navrongo, Ghana: A generalized additive modeling approach(2012) Dukić, V.; Hayden, M.; Forgor, A.A.; Hopson, T.; Hodgson, A.; Pandya, R.Item Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to meningitis in northern Ghana(American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2013-06) Hayden, M.H.; Dalaba, M.; Awine, T.; Akweongo, P.; Nyaaba, G.; Anaseba, D.; Pelzman, J.; Hodgson, A.; Pandya, R.Meningitis has a significant impact in the Sahel, but the mechanisms for transmission and factors determining a person's vulnerability are not well understood. Our survey examined the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of people in a meningitis-endemic area in the Upper East region of northern Ghana to identify social, economic, and behavioral factors that may contribute to disease transmission and possible interventions that might improve health outcomes. Key results suggest potential interventions in response to the risk posed by migration, especially seasonal migration, a lack of knowledge about early symptoms causing delayed treatment, and a need for further education about the protective benefits of vaccination. Copyright © 2013 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.Item Using weather forecasts to help manage meningitis in the West African Sahel(Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2015-03) Pandya, R.; Hodgson, A.; Hayden, M.H.; Akweongo, P.; Hopson, T.; Forgor, A.A.; Yoksas, T.; Dalaba, M.A.; Dukic, V.; Mera, R.; Dumont, A.; McCormack, K.; Anaseba, D.; Awine, T.; Boehnert, J.; Nyaaba, G.; Laing, A.; Semazzi, F.Understanding and acting on the link between weather and meningitis in the Sahel could help improve vaccinedistribution and save lives. People living there know that meningitis epidemics occur in the dry season and end after thestart of the rainy season. Integrating and analyzing newly available epidemiological and meteorological data quantifiedthis relationship, showing that that the risk of meningitis epidemics climbed from a background level of 2% to amaximum risk of 25% during the dry season. These data also suggested that, of all meteorological variables, relativehumidity has the strongest correlation to cases of meningitis.Weather acts alongside a complex set of environmental, social, and economic drivers, and a complementaryinvestigation of local and regional knowledge, attitudes, and practices suggested several additional interventions tomanage meningitis. These include improved awareness of early meningitis symptoms and vaccinations for farmworkerswho migrate seasonally. An economic survey showed that the cost of a single case of meningitis is 3 times the averageannual household income, underscoring the need for improved vaccination strategy.Using these insights, meteorologists and public health workers developed a tool to guide vaccination decisions. Iterativedevelopment allowed a multinational team of public health officials to use the tool while guiding its refinement anddirected research toward maximum practical use. That meant focusing on predicting areas where high humidity wouldnaturally end epidemics so vaccines could be moved elsewhere. Using this tool and this approach could have preventedan estimated 24,000 cases of meningitis over a 3-yr period. © 2015 American Meteorological Society.