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“Zongos” are a part of the urban phenomena in Ghana that have escaped critical social inquiry. The purpose of this paper is three fold. It seeks insight into the reasons zongos continue to attract new dwellers despite their “unattractive” reputation; the role of religion in the choice of residential locations; and the role of Islamic marketing vis‐à‐vis zongos.

As an exploratory study whose objective is to generate insight, the study uses interview technique as an investigative tool. The researcher interviewed eight zongo dwellers from four different zongos (different parts of the country) and from different educational and socio‐economic backgrounds. The interviews were conducted individually with an unstructured format that provides for unlimited follow‐up questions.

The findings suggest that: religion and identity are the common threads that bind zongo dwellers together; zongo dwellers seem to be more religious than the average city dweller; religion informs the behavior of most zongo dwellers; though income plays a role, religion seems to be the overriding reason for the dwellers' choice of zongo as a place to live; and zongo dwellers are aware of the negative image that zongos have, but see their choice of living in a zongo as a step to better practice their religion.

As an exploratory study, the results of this study are not generalizable. Furthermore, the small sample size makes the findings tenuous. Nonetheless, the results are important in the sense that they uncover an aspect of zongos that has not received much attention from academic researchers.

By virtue of not only sharing a common religion, but practicing the tenets of their religion in their daily lives, zongos constitute “natural” market segments that can be profitably addressed by Islamic marketing. The four “Ps” are used to illustrate a strategy that could be used by marketers who wish to serve zongo dwellers.

Besides “guiding” the religious sensibility of non‐Muslem entrepreneurs who wish to serve zongo dwellers, Islamic marketing can play a role in educating zongo dwellers on health care, sanitation and environmental preservation issues that seem to be problematic with zongos. Furthermore, Islamic marketing can play a role in educating non‐zongo dwellers about the “positives” of zongos and Islam.

This paper takes an academic approach to studying zongos both as a social and a business phenomenon, and develops a sampler marketing strategy for zongo entrepreneurs based on the insight gained from interviews.

This paper examines young people's ‘lived' experience of urban spaces in Accra, the capital of Ghana, by focusing on the use of auto-photography as an appropriate method for this investigation. Accra has a very young population and low rates of employment among the young people, demographics that are often associated with societal instability and increased risk of civil conflict. Research into African youth and the urban spaces they occupy is scarce and involves real challenges, but it is necessary and urgent due to various issues of exclusion and identity. This paper reports part of a larger phenomenological study on the spatial exclusion of youth in Accra's urban spaces. The theoretical framework builds on Lefebvrian dialectics of space and focuses on how notions of belonging and exclusion are reflected in the mode of ‘lived space'. The fieldwork was completed on a small sample of young people in two distinct neighborhoods of Accra. In essence, the focus of the paper is on the urban spaces occupied by young people and on the utility of the participatory research tool adopted, auto-photography. In this context, the tool is less intrusive than direct observation and therefore well equipped to allow an ‘insider' view into personal experiences and perceptions of place that are otherwise difficult to access and study. The paper concludes with a call for urban professionals and decision makers to produce inclusive urban environments that cater for all while allowing for differences and belonging to co-exist.

Slum upgrading has received intense attention in the Global South, particularly among stakeholders. This study aims to examine government policy priorities towards slum management with the view of establishing its level of commitment in terms of measures undertaken and identify specific policies to structure the sector.

The study systematically reviewed national policies, guided by the frequency statistics method in identifying key issues relating to slums management. Content analysis was used to identify findings into themes and discussed in line with the study’s objectives.

The results revealed the government’s determination to upgrade the existing slums, with the establishment of a Ministry for Inner City and Zongo Development to facilitate collaboration between stakeholders in the value chain of slum management. Furthermore, the study established government’s resolve to strengthen the Local Government Act, 1993, and the National Development Planning Act, 1994 within context to pave way for slums upgrading.

The study used a national policy framework to inform the conclusion reached. Further studies are needed in similar contexts to understand the inputs of government and stakeholders and their contributions towards slum management. This would further expand the frontiers of knowledge in the domain.

The findings revealed policy-driven that can be used by policymakers, practitioners, housing managers and other relevant stakeholders to create workable policies for slum management.

This study provides first insight into government commitment to slums management using national policy documents in context.

The purpose of this paper is to study the factors associated with the occurrence of diseases and beriberi among prisoners incarcerated in the two largest Remand and Correctional Facilities (RCF).

This was a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study carried out from April 20 to May 19, 2017, in the RCFs of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. All prisoners who consulted and those referred to the health center by the health-care team were included in the study. Complaints and diagnosed diseases information were collected using the second version of the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2). The authors used a logistic regression model to perform univariate and multivariate analyses.

Of the 1,004 prisoners from the two RCFs included in the study (32.6%), 966 (96%) were male. The median age was 31.6 years. The distribution of diseases diagnosed using the ICPC-2 showed a predominance of gastrointestinal tract, skin and respiratory tract diseases among 206 (19.3%), 188 (17.6%) and 184 (17.2%) prisoners, respectively. A total of 302 prisoners (30.1%) had clinical beriberi, and 80 prisoners (8%) were underweight. Being incarcerated for more than nine months was independently associated with a high risk of digestive and respiratory diseases as well as beriberi.

This study highlighted higher frequencies of digestive, skin and respiratory complaints and diseases in the two largest detention centers in Burkina Faso. These diseases are variously related to age, penal status and length of incarceration. In addition, underweight and thiamin vitamin deficiency responsible for beriberi are more frequent in adult prisoners, those not attending school, convicted prisoners and those with a length of stay in detention of more than nine months. These concrete results should help define a strategy and priority actions needed to reduce morbidity in prisons.

The actions should include the intervention of specialists in the field of common diseases in prisons, the improvement of individual hygiene conditions and environment, the improvement of the quality and quantity of the food ration, a strategy to reduce prison overcrowding. Other actions must be planned to allow specific groups such as women and minors to have access to health care that is adapted to them. Beyond the central concern of promoting the rights of prisoners and humanizing prisons, actions to improve the health of prisoners are part of an overall public health approach with its socio-economic and environmental implications.

There is a need for a strong commitment from the State to develop a prison health policy that prioritizes the prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases that are particularly prevalent in this context, without forgetting mental health and nutrition. This requires a collaboration of stakeholders based on better intersectorial communication, the implementation of a monitoring and evaluation system for the health of prisoners, an enhancement of the status of health-care providers working in prisons and an increase in the funding allocated to the health of prisoners with the mobilization of the necessary funds.

This study uses a primary health care classification to assess the health of inmates in a prison in Africa. It contributes to the weak evidence around prison health surveillance and health profiling of prisoners in Africa.

While the causes and effects of begging are well known, solutions on how to eradicate begging are still elusive in many parts of the developing world. The purpose of this study is to examine the different ways through which community leaders at the local level can contribute to the eradication of begging in one of Ghana’s most densely populated suburbs in the city of Accra.

This study was undertaken using the qualitative approach, and primary data was collected through interviews, participants observation and focus group discussions with beggars, community leaders and officials of non-governmental organisations at Nima, a suburb of Accra.

Begging in the suburb of Nima is increasingly becoming a business venture. It is no more an activity that is the preserve of only the weak, the poor, the elderly, the physically challenged, the needy and the marginalised in society. This paper argues that the eradication of begging requires multiple approaches and that community-based leaders must play a central role. This paper identified the provision of alternative sources of livelihood, the naming, shaming and condemnation of unjustified begging in the community, strict boarder control, returning foreign beggars to their home countries, the formulation and enforcement of community anti-begging by-laws and regular sensitisation programs on begging as crucial in reducing or eliminating begging.

While focusing on one Muslim-dominated suburb in Accra ensures a detailed discussion of strategies of eliminating begging from a cultural and religious perspective, the findings of this study may not be applicable to non-Islamic settings and communities where cultural or religious leadership structures do not exist.

This study has demonstrated that the eradication of begging in society cannot have one-size-fit all solution. This paper shows that in societies where cultural and religious leadership structures exist, they must play important roles in the design and implementation of strategies that seek to reduce or eliminate religious begging in society. This implies that formal government agencies and their associated laws alone will not be enough to eradicate or reduce begging under such contexts.

Measures to eradicate begging have often ignored the role of community leaders. This paper contributes to our understanding on this by specifically examining the phenomenon of begging at the micro level and exploring the different ways community leaders can contribute to the eradication of begging in society.

This paper aims to examine landlords’ health support systems to tenants to control COVID-19 in selected informal settlement rental housing (ISRH) in Ghana, dwelling on landlords’ views.

The paper used the concurrent imbedded mixed-methods approach and grounded the findings in the socio-ecological theory. The authors collected both qualitative and quantitative data from 242 landlords in 13 informal settlements across Ghana using quotas. The authors undertook semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews. The authors conducted content and thematic qualitative data analysis and used simple descriptive statistical data analysis.

The paper discovered that tenants had limited knowledge on the transmission of the pandemic, forcing landlords to regulate their building services usage, ventilation and thermal control, entertainment, common areas and rent advancement for tenants to control the pandemic. Also, tenants found it difficult to comply with the rules on ventilation for fear of criminal attacks, while high social connection and interaction among renters and inadequate enforcement caused the non-adherence by renters to social gathering. Again, landlords had difficulty in contract-tracing visitors suspected to be infected with the virus.

The use of concurrent and imbedded mixed methods to investigate landlords’ viewpoints on their support in health needs of their tenants to regulate COVID-19. The prescriptions from the study provide practical applications to formulate a mix of housing and health policies to formalize the support of landlords to their tenants in ISRH in Ghana.

This paper aims to ascertain stakeholder’s willingness to contribute towards food banking implementation and further develops a framework for implementing food banks in developing country, Ghana.

Structured questionnaire was used to obtain response from 385 respondents using multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics was used to determine frameworks for food banking, whereas Heckman two-stage regression was used to analyse factors influencing stakeholder’s willingness to contribute towards food banking.

The results revealed that respondents preferred food banking with pantry, which is similar to the American model. Respondents were willing to contribute a minimum of (GH₵1–200, US$ ¢ 0.17-34.12) cedis and a maximum of GH₵ (400–600, US$ 68.23-102.35) monthly towards food bank implementation. Age, marital status and household head had a negative influence on stakeholders’ willingness to contribute towards food banking implementation, whereas income level and food bank awareness influenced willingness to contribute towards food bank implementation positively.

The study gives insight on stakeholder’s willingness to contribute towards food banking via cash or kind and further develops a framework for implementing food banking in Ghana.

This study provides empirical contributions and vital information about stakeholders preferred food banking models and framework for implementing food banking, which Government can use as a social intervention policy to help vulnerable Ghanaians. In addition, findings from the study can enlighten and guide non-governmental organizations, individual philanthropists and other corporate bodies who want to contribute to food security, food poverty, hunger alleviation and development through food banking implementation.

In a developing country such as Ghana where there remains a paucity of food banking research, this study adds to existing literature by providing vital information of stakeholders preferred food banking models and frameworks for implementing food banking.

This paper aims to assess the efficiency of public investment in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries at both the global and sectoral level over the 2005–2015 period.

This paper estimates efficiency scores using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) models. Efficiency is divided into managerial efficiency (related to inputs management) and technological efficiency (related to production technology). A Tobit model is then used to investigate the determinants of public investment efficiency.

The findings suggest that, at the global level, WAEMU countries are less efficient than sub-Saharan African and Asian reference countries. However, the breakdown of global efficiency into managerial and technological reveals that WAEMU countries are more efficient than sub-Saharan African countries in terms of technological efficiency. Moreover, these findings are robust to nonparametric estimation. The assessment of financing sources indicates that external debt has a more positive and significant effect on public investment efficiency than internal debt does.

This paper is unique in that it disentangles managerial efficiency from the technological efficiency of public investment in WEAMU countries and highlights how financing sources of investment affect its efficiency. In terms of policy implications, the underlying message of the results is that the rules and conditions of domestic or regional debt in the WAEMU countries must be strengthened to ensure better monitoring and then better efficiency of these resources.

This study investigates the incidence of ethical violations in the Ghanaian press which has become topical in the wake of misinformation in a charged political atmosphere. Public interest institutions have questioned the unprofessional conduct of journalists covering election campaigns in recent years. This study content analysed political stories from two leading Ghanaian newspapers (Daily Graphic and Daily Guide) to determine the nature and extent of ethical violations, and to examine the level of prominence accorded to political news stories by the two dailies.

This paper relied on qualitative content analysis for data gathering and analysis. A total of 387 political news items published between 1 October and 30 November 2020, were analysed.

This study found infractions of various nature to Article 1 of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) codes of ethics, chief among which is the deliberate publications of news stories without cross-checking facts. Other infractions to Articles 17, 11, 6 and 5 of the GJA codes of ethics were observed. Political news coverage favours the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) than any other parties, with the two parties (NPP-NDC) given greater prominence and salience by the Ghanaian press.

The research makes a modest contribution to the growing concern of journalism ethics in an increasing ecology of fake news.