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Behaviour change communication (BCC) remains a central component of the interventions used in the fight against malaria in Ghana. However, there is limited evidence of its effectiveness. This study evaluated the effects of BCC strategies on knowledge (symptoms, causes and prevention) and overall knowledge of malaria among Ghanaian women aged 15–49 years. The propensity score matching (PSM) approach and logistic regression were used to analyse data from the 2016 edition of the Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS). Women who participated in community-level education or heard/saw media messages on malaria, or both, had significantly more knowledge of the disease than women who lacked access to any of these mediums of communication. The effect of these strategies on women's overall knowledge of malaria is about 2% to 4% and is higher on their knowledge of the symptoms (3% to 6%) and prevention (2% to 4%) than the causes (2%). The combined effects of both mediums of communication are relatively higher than the effect of either of them as a single medium of communication. Further analysis showed that improved knowledge of the disease is associated with higher preventive measures taken by women for themselves and for their children. The results are more significant in rural and poor households than in urban and non-poor households. These findings underscore the need for the Ministry of Health and its partner institutions to adopt an innovative approach which combines the two strategies in intensively educating Ghanaians, and women in particular, on the symptoms and prevention of malaria, giving due cognisance to households' socioeconomic status and geographical location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest for undergraduate Accounting students to obtain a professional certification early is being propagandised to boost chances upon graduation in securing well-paying job and enhancing a career path in Accounting. The study provides evidence on the idiosyncratic differences among students who are undergoing a professional programme while acquiring a first degree and students who only focused on the first degree. The study participants include 107 registered second-year Accounting students studying in Nigeria. Measures of personal characteristics, parental characteristics academic characteristic, prior academic performance, activities in leisure time, reading habits and current academic performance were used to ascertain the differences. The Independent Sample T-test and Binary logistics regression were used to analyse the data obtained from the survey, also copies of questionnaires were administered to the respondents. Our findings indicate that mother's field of qualification in the sciences, Grade point Average (GPA) before professional examinations and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) have a positive and significant influence on participation in the professional certification programme. We conclude that students' current academic achievements instill confidence to undergo more academic rigour.

This study investigates the impact of a family law reform in Ethiopia that raises the age of marriage entry for females (among other aspects of the law) on the nutritional intake of the children of affected women. Using the difference-in-differences and event-study strategies, the result suggests that exposure to the reform led to a significant increase in dietary diversity (14 percent increase relative to the mean) and a significant increase in the likelihood of consuming fruits and vegetables, fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin A, green leafy vegetables, and animal-source foods. The effect does not appear to be due to changes in women's economic engagement, such as their agency and outside options. Instead, it seems to imply that the implementation of the reform affects women's social status in terms of their decision-making power over sexual and marital relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an ex ante analysis of the welfare effect from the improvement of border road infrastructure in Nigeria. It assesses how changes in the price of food commodities induced by border road improvements would affect different types of households. Finally, we also examine how simulated changes in local transportation costs, stemming from road improvements, would affect local prices of imported rice, and taking into consideration the effect of simulated price changes on household welfare across household head, gender, and household location (rural and urban households). Results indicate that policies aiming to improve border roads and thereby lower transportation costs, and subsequently the price of the regularly consumed household commodity, would be more beneficial to rural than urban households. Such policies would likely produce larger welfare gain for poorer households than richer households and would be more beneficial for the poorest female-headed households than their male counterparts.

This paper examines the effect of a change in a legal regime to reinstate the adjudication of criminal matters to Islamic courts and documents the effect of the change on the marital matches of women. This change reduces the litigant rights of women in cases of illicit sexual behavior and extramarital relations. Combining three rounds of a nationally representative survey in Nigeria, I show that a woman affected by the legal reform is 29.2 percentage points more likely to be married to a man who earns less than she does and significantly more likely to be married to an older man. Regarding the educational attainment of the spouse, I show that an affected woman is 21.5 percentage points less likely to be married to a spouse who has higher educational attainment. Finally, a woman affected by the reform enforcement is 7.6 percentage points less likely to report that she is involved in any four intrahousehold decisions and less likely to be involved in decision-making about spending her spouse's earnings. Some of these effects are seen only in nonmatrilineal communities, and changes in the woman's attitude toward male dominance and outside marriage utility are other channels of effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the psychological consequences of school innovation for ongoing learning during the COVID-19 lockdown, which includes teaching strategies that use both online and offline (e.g. telephone-based instruction) teaching methods. Based on survey data obtained from Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, as collected by UNESCO/IEA, it is evident that the existence of learning innovation in schools is associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of children reporting poor mental health and experiencing negative emotions. The results indicate that the gender of teachers and students, and the location of the schools, play a significant role in influencing the outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]