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This study investigates the association between foreign direct investment (FDI) and environmental quality, taking into account policies and institutions for environmental sustainability across 23 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. We applied the Generalised Method of Moment (system-GMM) to analyse the data for the period 2005 to 2019. The results revealed that FDI improves environmental quality in the long run, whereas in the short run, FDI diminishes environmental quality when interacted with policies and institutions for environmental sustainability. Furthermore, policies and institutions for environmental sustainability and domestic investment improve environmental quality in both the long and short run. The study concludes that policies and institutions for environmental sustainability in SSA are important as they improve environmental quality. The study also finds policies and institutions for environmental sustainability complements with FDI to improve environmental quality in the long run. Finally, the study further establishes that domestic investment is important to improve environmental quality in SSA. The key findings call for strengthening policies for improving environmental quality in SSA.

Developing countries, of which Ghana is no exception have actively engaged in trade openness after independence, yet, their economic growth remains low and this calls for urgent attention to address the situation. This study therefore examines the impact of trade openness on economic growth of Ghana for the period 1984-2018 taken into consideration the role quality of institutions play. The results from the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) reveal that, both trade openness and quality of institutions exert a significant positive impact on economic growth in both the long and short run. However, the interaction of trade openness and quality of institutions is shown to have insignificant impact on economic growth in both periods. The results further indicate that exchange rate has a significant positive (significant negative) impact on economic growth in the long run (short run). Based on the findings, the study concludes that, institutional quality has no influence on the impact of trade openness on economic growth in the Ghanaian context. Policy implications aimed at ensuring sustained economic growth have been put forward for the discourse of stakeholders.

For decades, tuberculosis (TB), caused by (MTB), has remained a global health challenge. Central to this issue are the proline-proline-glutamic acid (PPE) proteins, which play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis and persistence of MTB. This article explores the molecular mechanisms of PPE proteins and their roles in facilitating MTB's evasion of the host's immune system while enhancing virulence and transmission. Focusing on the structural and functional aspects of PPE proteins, this review provides a detailed analysis of antigenic variation, a crucial mechanism allowing MTB to elude immune detection. It also probes the genetic diversity of these PPE proteins and their complex interactions with host immunity, offering insights into the challenges they pose for therapeutic development. This review delves into the potential of targeting PPE proteins in novel therapeutic strategies, discussing the prospects of drug and vaccine development. The evidence reviewed in this article underscores the pressing need for innovative approaches to combat TB, especially in the face of increasing drug resistance. Ultimately, this review article highlights the untapped potential of PPE proteins in revolutionizing TB treatment, paving the way for breakthroughs in drug and vaccine development.

The paper investigates the long run dynamics of money supply, budget deficit and inflation in Ghana. It also tests the validity of the classical, monetary and fiscal theories of price level within the vector error correction framework. Using quarterly data from 1999Q1 to 2019Q4, the paper employs Granger causality test and the vector error correction model (VECM) for the analysis. The results from the VECM show that budget deficit has a significant positive effect on inflation while money supply negatively affect it. By contrast, inflation exerts a positive and negative effect on budget deficit and money supply, respectively. The results from the impulse response function also indicate that inflation responds more positively to budget deficit shocks. However, it tends to respond negatively to money supply (M2) shocks. Also, budget deficit responds positively (negatively) to inflation (money supply [M2]) shocks. Furthermore, money supply responds positively (negatively) to budget deficit (inflation) shocks. Based on the weak exogeneity test, the result favours the fiscal theory of the price level in explaining the nexus between money supply, budget deficit and inflation in Ghana. A corollary of our results is that a reduction in government expenditure coupled with restrictive bureaucratic nature of government officials have the tendency of ensuring favourable and stable inflation in Ghana.

Polymers are effective agents for EOR due to their water solubility, which improves water viscosity, sweep volume, and displacement efficiency. To elucidate their mechanisms in EOR and optimize polymer–water synergistic flooding parameters, this study combined core and core network experimental research with numerical simulations. Experimental flooding results demonstrated that polymer–water synergistic flooding reduces residual oil saturation by 13.79% compared to water flooding. Key parameters such as well pattern, well spacing, bottom-hole pressure, polymer viscosity, and injection slug size were optimized through numerical simulation of a conceptual model based on actual oilfield data. A bottom-hole flowing pressure of 10.6 MPa, well pattern density of 84 wells/km2, staggered line drive pattern, and polymer viscosity of 21 cp are recommended for EOR. Numerical simulation data showed that polymer–water synergistic flooding enhances displacement efficiency by 5–11% over conventional water flooding. The findings from the experimental research and numerical simulations indicate that the total recovery factor may be increased by implementing the recommended parameters in an actual oilfield.

Hypertension is among the first five causes of mortality, globally contributing more than 40% to cardiac related deaths worldwide, with almost 70% cardiovascular deaths in the low- and middle-income countries. Its burden is projected to be 150 million by 2025 based on epidemiological data within the Sub-Saharan Africa regions, with Ghana experiencing 505,180 increases in 2007. It is currently among the leading cause of death in the country, with prevalence ranging from 19% to 48%. There is limited data concerning hypertension on Ghanaian youth. Particularly, on those at the Senior High School (SHS) level that represents the immediate workforce of the country on the depth of prevalence, knowledge as well as the risk factors that may predispose them into having prehypertension and hypertension for proper records and interventional measures and that is what this study pursues to do. A cross-sectional study was employed in five different SHSs in the Ashanti region of Ghana from December 2018 to February 2019 with structured questionnaires and physical screening of participants. Logistic regression analysis was performed to test for relation knowledge and riskfactors on HTN. The overall prevalence of pre-HTN within the group was 33.8%, with stages 1 and 2 HTN prevalence of 5.4%. Sixty-three percent do not have an idea of what HTN is, and positive associations were found between no physical exercises, no addition of extra salt, type of food often eaten and family history. This study establishes prevalence in pre-HTN within students at the SHS level with low knowledge and high risk factors on the disease. This indication is beneficial to target the interventional programs on this population at this early stage by inculcating education on HTN prevalence and its risks in the educational curricular by the government.

Over the past fifteen years, the Bank of Ghana has revised the minimum capital requirement to stabilize the banking sector. Motivated by the unintended consequences of regulatory capital, this paper provides empirical evidence between minimum capital requirement and bank performance relationship in Ghana. We draw data on a sample of 20 universal banks spanning 2008 to 2017. The Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) estimation was adopted. The results indicate that the minimum capital requirement has a significant positive impact on bank performance measured by return on assets (ROA) and equity (ROE). However, the effects turned negative after 1.7% and 1.6% performance thresholds for ROA and ROE, respectively. Given this, the study establishes the relationship between capital requirement and bank performance in Ghana to be double-edged. The capital requirement improves bank performance initially, but bank performance worsens after the threshold values. Policy implications for Ghana's banks, regulators, and policymakers have been provided based on the findings.

Infection prevention and control (IPC) is a globally relevant aspect of all health systems impacting the health and safety of both patients and healthcare workers. However, best practices remain a challenge in healthcare delivery especially in resource limited situations. The primary objective of this study was to assess the infection prevention and control (IPC) preparedness levels of acute healthcare facilities in Ghana and to determine the factors associated with the overall IPC preparedness levels in acute healthcare facilities. A cross-sectional study adapting the IPC assessment framework (IPCAF) developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) was conducted. Five of the core components of the WHO IPCAF were used to assess the IPC level of 56 acute healthcare facilities in Ghana. Of the 56 facilities surveyed, only 19 had an IPC program with clearly defined objectives. Overall, 8 (14.3%) facilities scored an IPC preparedness level of \"Advance\", 18 (32.1%) facilities received an \"Intermediate\" IPC preparedness score, 23 (41.1%) facilities received an IPC preparedness level of \"basic\" and 7 (12.5%) facilities scored an IPC preparedness level of \"inadequate\". IPC materials like detergents, running water and PPEs were not significantly supplied. Government owned facilities performed better in terms of IPC preparedness as compared to privately owned facilities. A PLUM-ordinal regression analysis revealed that an IPC program with clearly defined objectives (OR= 76; 95% CI; 7.23, 808.19), dedicated IPC budget (OR= 13; 95% CI; 3.8-44.3) and regular mandatory training (OR= 50.9; 95% CI; 6.1-425) were associated with increased IPC preparedness. Generally, the IPC preparedness levels in a majority of the facilities were low and required significant improvements in several areas. Facilities must make periodic reviews and adjust their objectives based on facility priorities.

Industrial structure upgrading (ISU) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been improving in recent years, making it essential to examine how such upgrading influences pollution emissions in SSA. However, studies concerning the environment in SSA have overlooked this important role. Consequently, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals becomes futile if such critical issues are not given due attention in policy discourse. In light of this, this study examined the effect of ISU on pollution emissions in 28 SSA countries using data from 1980 to 2020 and employed two key measures of ISU as contributions to the literature. Regarding the analysis, the fixed effects, random effects, and feasible generalized least squares estimators and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) causality test were employed. The results show that ISU improves the sustainable environment by reducing pollution emissions in SSA by 0.03-0.04%. Furthermore, economic growth (EG) increases pollution emissions by 0.63-0.72%, but after reaching a threshold level of 0.10%, EG reduces pollution emissions by 0.03-0.04%. This confirms the EKC hypothesis in the selected SSAs. The D-H causality analysis also reveals a bidirectional relationship between ISU and pollution emissions. Based on these results, we conclude that upgrading the industrial structure in SSA is crucial for a clean and sustainable environment.

Over the past few years, the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has seen a marked increase among state-owned enterprises and large organizations. However, SMEs especially, those in Africa are yet to exploit the full potential opportunities embedded in the BRI. This study takes the initiative to systematically identify and rank the set of factors that enable the implementation of the BRI among Sub-Saharan African (SSA) SMEs using survey data from 178 stakeholders. In total, we identified twenty-two factors and categorized them into five broad headings. These are governmental, technical and innovation, firm-specific, network and cooperation, and BRI policy factors. Subsequently, the picture fuzzy projection-based TOPSIS technique was applied to rank the factors and sub-factors. The utmost ranked factor in the five categories was the governmental factors, while transparency in BRI policy, subsidy for SMEs, flexible trade agreements and clarity in the BRI policy framework emerged as the top four factors respectively within the 22 sub-factors. The study demonstrates that the BRI is embodied with its unique features, hence, the factors explored in this study could provide policymakers and SMEs in Africa and beyond with more useful information to understanding the nature of BRI projects objectively and comprehensively.