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Arbor Day (World Tree Planting Day) is an action to help replace dwindling tree cover globally. However, millions of the seedlings planted do not survive because of low regard for best planting practices and post‐planting maintenance activities. This study focused on the planting practices of Arbor Day participants at the Muni‐Pomadze Ramsar Site in Ghana and how that influenced their perception about seedling survival rate and their stewardship intention. The study used electronic questionnaire to solicit information from 229 participants (university students) at a 2021 Arbor Day planting event organized by the Forestry Commission and the Department of Geography Education, University of Education, Winneba. The study found four components of planting practices influenced perceptions including assessment of seedling quality, soil characteristics, surrounding environmental characteristics and planting operation. A multivariate analysis of variance showed that the academic year of participants influenced planting practices specifically planting operations with a post hoc test indicating respondents in academic year 1 observed better planting operations than third year students. A generalized linear model showed that respondents who planted seedlings within areas with good surrounding characteristics (enough spacing between successive seedlings and trees) perceived seedlings survival rate to be higher. Respondents who planted more seedlings were likely to provide time and money for post‐Arbor Day tree monitoring and maintenance. The findings also suggest that organizers of Arbor Day tree planting exercises should educate participants on proper planting practices and organize days for monitoring and maintenance of planted trees to improve participant perceptions and on‐going involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health efforts such as malarial control require efficient pharmaceutical supply chains to ensure effective delivery of quality-assured medicines to those who need them. However, very little is currently known about decision-making processes within antimalarial supply chains and potential vulnerabilities to substandard and falsified medicines. Addressing this gap, we report on a study that investigated decision-making around the stocking of antimalarial products among private-sector medicine retailers in Ghana. Licensed retail pharmacies and over-the-counter (OTC) medicine retail outlets were sampled across six regions of Ghana using a two-stage stratified sampling procedure, with antimalarial medicines categorised as 'expensive,' 'mid-range,' and 'cheaper,' relative to other products in the shop. Retailers were asked about their motivations for choosing to stock particular products over others. The reasons were grouped into three categories: financial, reputation/experience and professional recommendation. Reputation/experience (76%, 95% CI 72.0% to 80.7%) were the drivers of antimalarial stocking decisions, followed by financial reasons (53.2%, 95% CI 48.1% to 58.3%) and recommendation by certified health professionals (24.7%, 95% CI 20.3% to 29.1%). Financial considerations were particularly influential in stocking decisions of cheaper medicines. Moreover, pharmacies and OTCs without a qualified pharmacist were significantly more likely to indicate financial reasons as a motivation for stocking decisions. No significant differences in stocking decisions were found by geographical location (zone and urban/rural) or outlet (pharmacy/OTC). These findings have implications for the management of antimalarial quality across supply chains in Ghana, with potentially important consequences for malaria control, particularly in lower-income areas where people rely on low-cost medication., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)