ANALYSIS OF GHANIAN HEALTH SYSTEM

Analysis of Ghanian Health System

Analysis of Ghanian Health System

Health services in Ghana are provided by the central government, local institutions, Christian missions (nonprofit agencies,), and a relatively small number of private practitioners. (Carrin 1999) According to the United Nations, about 62.9% of the country's total population in 1984 depended on the government health centers for medical care. The government of Ghana has been working hard to improve health conditions in the country. Like the rest of the sub -Saharan African countries, Ghana has the full range of diseases. According to World Health Organization (WHO). Most of these diseases are contributed by the poor sanitation facilities and also acquired through insect bites,which is common in rural areas. Over the years, the administrative branches of the Ministry of Health have worked closely with city, town, and village councils in educating the people in sanitation matters. Sanitation advances have been made in the urban areas and not the rural communities where the majority of the population lives. (Monye 2009)

Even without significant industrial growth, the expansion of global markets, the mass media, the civil service, and other services such as health care, education, and transportation led to the formation of modern families in developing countries. Caldwell and Caldwell (1977) described this change in Nigeria and Ghana as "a movement toward monogamy, a strengthening of the conjugal bond over all others, a strengthening of the parent-child bond over all relationships external to the nuclear family, and ultimately an emphasis on what parents owe children rather than what children owe parents." (Hughes 2007)

Ghana has the full range of diseases endemic to a sub-Saharan country. According to WHO, common diseases include cholera, typhoid, pulmonary tuberculosis, anthrax, pertussis, tetanus, chicken pox, yellow fever, measles, infectious hepatitis, trachoma, malaria, and schistosomiasis. Others are guinea worm or dracunculiasi, various kinds of dysentery, river blindness or onchocerciasis, several kinds of pneumonia, dehydration, venereal diseases, and poliomyelitis. According to a 1974 report, more than 75 percent of all preventable diseases at that time were waterborne. In addition, malnutrition and diseases acquired through insect bites continued to be common. (Carrin 1999)

WHO lists malaria and measles as the leading causes of premature death in Ghana. Among children under five years of age, 70 percent of deaths are caused by infections compounded by malnutrition. Guinea worm reached epidemic proportions, especially in the northern part of the country, in 1988-89. Cerebral spinal meningitis also spread in the country and claimed a number of victims in the late 1980s. All these afflictions are either typical of tropical regions or common in developing countries. (Monye 2009)

To improve health conditions in Ghana, the Ministry of Health emphasized health services research in the 1970s. In addition, WHO and the government worked closely in the early 1980s to control schistosomiasis in man-made bodies of water. Efforts have been intensified since 1980 to improve the nation's sanitation facilities and access to safe water. The percentage of the national population that had access to safe water rose from ...