Sarah Kate Price- Public Health Trends in Ghana

Sarah Kate Price- Public Health Trends in Ghana

I had the privilege of interviewing Ty Dickerson, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics and an adjunct assistant professor of public health at the University of Utah. Dickerson is also the co-director of the Ghana public health study abroad and that I will be attending this summer. He has spent a great deal of time working with and within health care systems in Ghana and has become very familiar with the trends in public health there. I was interested in learning about Ghana because I will be spending time this summer doing public health initiatives there.

Family Planning

In Kumasi, Ghana, a lack of family planning among women tends to cause numerous issues in public health. Contrary to popular belief, most women don’t use contraception because they have a lack of access of disapproval from their partner, but rather because they have such great fears of side effects. Because contraception use is somewhat limited, the occurrence of abortion is heightened, which often leads to complications in the woman’s health. Effective family planning is important because it has been shown to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity, including infant mortality rates.

Malaria

            Like many countries in Western Africa, malaria is the disease in Ghana with the highest number of victims. One issue that the health sector has faced has been that more and more people are developing a resistance to chloroquine, which has been the first line of treatment for malaria. As a result, government officials are switching over from chloroquine to the more expensive artesunate-amodiaquine as the first line of treatment. They are also implementing the use of new artemisinin-based combination therapies. The newer, more effective malaria treatment practices are also more expensive, creating a need for more money dedicated to the treatment of malaria.

Child Death

            Unfortunately, Ghana, like many developing countries, experiences high rates of child mortality. Ghana has the 43^rd highest ranking of under-five child mortality with 57 deaths per 1000 live births. Twenty five percent of their child deaths are neonatal, with the top causes being neonatal sepsis, birth asphyxia, and pneumonia. The remaining seventy five percent of postnatal deaths are mostly caused by pneumonia, malaria, and malnutrition. Many of these deaths are preventable, but due to the lack of proper health records in Ghana, many of the deaths go unreported, and it is therefore difficult to implement effective intervention programs and allocate resources.

Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) Training

            In Ghana, the effectiveness of TBAs is widely scrutinized. Many resources have been spent in giving TBAs training with the goal being to identify, train, and support TBAs. However, the results are of little magnitude. Training TBAs has had little effect on pregnancy outcomes and while a few benefits may arise, it is much more beneficial to instead invest in making obstetricians more readily available for women. TBA training has been difficult in Ghana because while it is not particularly effective, TBAs are still widely used, particularly in pregnancies in rural areas.

Access to Health Care Facilities

            Inadequate access to health care facilities remains a challenge in Ghana. One reason for this is that facilities are not evenly distributed across the country. In fact, most rural areas lack even basic facilities such as clinics and hospitals, and also lack doctors and nurses. As a result of the lack of access, many people rely on self-medication as their primary form of treatment, which can be harmful. In order to more adequately serve the people of Ghana, more health care facilities and providers are necessary throughout the entire country, particularly rural areas.