Neuroscience-related research in Ghana: a systematic evaluation of direction and capacity.
Neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases account for considerable healthcare, economic and social burdens in Ghana. In order to effectively address these burdens, appropriately-trained scientists who conduct high-impact neuroscience research will be needed. Additionally, research directions should be aligned with national research priorities. However, to provide information about current neuroscience research productivity and direction, the existing capacity and focus need to be identified. This would allow opportunities for collaborative research and training to be properly explored and developmental interventions to be better targeted. In this study, we sought to evaluate the existing capacity and direction of neuroscience-related research in Ghana. To do this, we examined publications reporting research investigations authored by scientists affiliated with Ghanaian institutions in specific areas of neuroscience over the last two decades (1995-2015). 127 articles that met our inclusion criteria were systematically evaluated in terms of research foci, annual publication trends and author affiliations. The most actively-researched areas identified include neurocognitive impairments in non-nervous system disorders, depression and suicide, epilepsy and seizures, neurological impact of substance misuse, and neurological disorders. These studies were mostly hospital and community-based surveys. About 60% of these articles were published in the last seven years, suggesting a recent increase in research productivity. However, data on experimental and clinical research outcomes were particularly lacking. We suggest that future investigations should focus on the following specific areas where information was lacking: large-scale disease epidemiology, effectiveness of diagnostic platforms and therapeutic treatments, and the genetic, genomic and molecular bases of diseases.
Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK. quansahmanuel@yahoo.com.|Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, School of Biological Science, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana. quansahmanuel@yahoo.com.
Emmanuel
E
Quansah
Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. T.K.Karikari@warwick.ac.uk.|Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. T.K.Karikari@warwick.ac.uk.
Thomas K
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1422-4358
TK
Karikari
D000818:Animals; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D009462:Neurology / Q000639:trends; D009488:Neurosciences / Q000639:trends*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000639:trends; D012106:Research
Ghana; Mental health; Neuroscience; Research capacity; Research focus; Science policy