Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

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  AN ECONOMETRIC STUDY OF THE DECISION TO SEEK MEDICAL CARE IN WEST AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF THE GHANA DANFA HEALTH PROJECT USING DISCRETE CHOICE MODELS (DEMAND, LOGIT).

  AYIVOR, EDWARD CARLOS KOFI. (The University of Arizona., 1985)

  A theoretical and an empirical investigation using Logit Analysis, Discriminant Analysis, (Hierarchical) Log-Linear models with factor interactions and Goodman's measures of optimal prediction and uncertainty within the framework of consumer choice theory to explain the usage of health-care facilities and the behavior of individual consumers and different population segments seeking medical care within the Danfa Community in Ghana, West Africa. Based upon the household objective of utility maximization and the set of constraints--income, wealth, time, information and health, the demand for medical care is estimated as a function of individual and system characteristics, i.e. those characteristics describing in broad terms the factors of the household's needs, perception, willingness to secure care, and ability to secure care (e.g. age, sex, education, ethnicity, type of disease, literacy, health condition, occupation and costs of medication, travel and consultation. The sources of treatment or the providers of medical care were classified into five categories: self, family, drug seller, herbalist, and clinic. Our empirical results indicate that an individual's decision to seek or purchase medical care is more likely to be based on individual characteristics such as the number of unhealthy days rather than on system characteristics such as prices or costs of medication, travel, etc. This study has also revealed that some segments of the Danfa population in Ghana are more likely to exhibit an increasing preference or avoidance for certain health care facilities than others or use health-care facilities in different ways by either purchasing more or less medical care than other consumer groups. In assessing the effects of changes in the levels of particular factors on health-care decisions, our empirical results indicate that there is a reduction in total medical outlays for some consumers if there is a rise in the number of unhealthy days or an increase in the cost indices of medication, travel, and consultation. Policy measures for improvement in the future, including the reduction of the number of unhealthy days and household medical care expenditures through preventive health care education, community-based health insurance schemes for various occupational groups, and improvement of access capabilities or income earning capabilities through the encouragement of proper organization of economic activities within the rural community have been recommended in this study.
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  West African Monsoon Variability from a High-Resolution Paleolimnological Record (Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana)

  Shanahan, Timothy Michael (The University of Arizona., 2006)

  Instrumental and observational records of climate in West Africa suggest that this region may be susceptible to abrupt, decades-long drought events, with potentially catastrophic impacts for the people living in this region. However, because of the dearth of long, continuous and high quality climate records from sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the long-term frequency and persistence of drought events in this region. It is also unclear whether observed 20th century droughts are natural or due to human impacts. In the present study, we use several complementary approaches to develop a high-resolution record of paleoclimatic changes in West Africa from the geological record preserved at Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana.Our results suggest that West Africa has undergone significant hydrologic variations over the last ca. 10,000 years. The dominant influence on hydrologic changes over this interval was changes in northern hemisphere summer insolation and the associated feedback processes acting in the oceans and on land. This led to a more northerly position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and increased precipitation during the early to mid-Holocene. In the late Holocene, a second increase in precipitation occurred along the Guinea coast as a result of the southward migration of the ITCZ from its northern position. This maximum was followed by an abrupt decrease in precipitation at ca. 2.5-3 kyr.The West African monsoon also varies on timescales from millennia to decades. Millennial and century-scale variations appear to be partly paced by changes in solar irradiance, either directly or indirectly. On decadal timescales, variability appears to be dominated by changes in Atlantic sea surface temperatures. The dominant mode is a ca. 40 year oscillation, which in strongly coherent and in phase with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). It is unclear from this study, however, if drought conditions over the last century are related to this multidecadal oscillation, or if they are forced by anthropogenic changes.
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  ENERGY CONSUMPTION: CASE OF THE IVORY COAST, SENEGAL AND GHANA

  Yao, Koffi (The University of Arizona., 1980)

  The thesis examines the consumption of electricity and gasoline in the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal. Its main objectives are (1) to investigate the determinants of the demand for gasoline and the demand for electricity by households and firms, (2) to forecast the level of electricity and gasoline consumption for the years 1980 to 1985, and (3) to recommend measures to curb the rate of increase in the demand for energy and to reduce the dependence upon imported oil. The choice of the models used in the estimation of the demand for gasoline and the demand for electricity by households and industries were greatly influenced by the fact that energy consumption is associated with that of other complementary durable goods. The models of gasoline demand fitted to annual data for the Ivory Coast were the stock-adjustment model and the Koyck model. The empirical results of the residential demand for electricity are based on the Koyck model, the flow-adjustment model and the new demand model. As to the estimates of the industrial demand for electricity they were obtained with the following models: The Koyck model, the new demand model, a model based on an overtime profit maximization by a firm. The results based on the gasoline demand equations indicate that income is a major determinant of gasoline consumption in Senegal, while in the Ivory Coast, habit formation and or stock adjustment are the determinant factors. As far as price is concerned, it has consistently negative elasticities both across countries and specifications, but is not significant. For the residential demand for electricity, the results are much more encouraging. All of the countries show that price and the social and demographic factors and per-capita income are major predictors of residential electricity consumption. Their relative importance differ, however, both across countries and specification. The lagged dependent variable is significant with the new demand for electricity for Senegal and Ghana, and with the Koyck model for the Ivory Coast. Finally, the results for the industrial demand for electricity indicate that price, capital stock, and wage have an influence on the level of electricity consumed in the Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ghana. In addition to the variables mentioned above, output is also an important predictor of industrial electricity consumption in the Ivory Coast. On the basis of these findings, we recommended the following measures: (1) to increase the price of electricity and gasoline over a reasonably long period so that the relative price of different fuels reflect the change in relative cost of alternative fuel production; (2) to adopt a development strategy based on the implementation of export-oriented industries and the progressive removal of the trade barrier behind which the import-substitution industries have been hiding; and, (3) to reconsider the non-commercial fuel (wood, charcoal) as an alternative source of energy.