Ghana Graduates Conference

Theme: Health care in Sub-Saharan Africa – Exploring the Impact of Culture, Technology and Policy

Discussants:

• Richard Boateng, PhD, PearlRichards Foundation
• Michael Nkum, Treasurer, Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana [Greater Accra Unit]
  

Date: 23rd September, 2010

Time: 1.00pm - 4.00pm, Silverbird Cinema [Screen 1]

Target Group: Health Care Professionals, Policy Makers, Students, Information Technology Professionals, Medical Institutions, Pharmacists and the General Public

RSVP: Only 50 seats - You need to register and book a place.

Summary

The need for affordable and accessible health care services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and its rural areas is critical. The primary challenge is the lack of well-trained medical health professionals and facilities. Many rural areas are without physicians especially specialists. On an average, most countries in SSA have less than 20 doctors per 100,000 people and the exodus of new health care professionals to developed countries remains a challenge (WHO, 2006; WHO, 2008). Beyond accessibility there is also the question of affordability. The inhabitants of SSA only spend an average of less than US$ 10 per capita compared to more than US$250 in developed countries including the USA and Europe (WHO, 2008). Rural areas are significantly crippled in accessing and sustaining access to health care services.

In Ghana, the current life expectancy is low, approximately 57 years, though this is above the average 46.1 in SSA (WHOIS, 2008; Lugg et al., 2007). The higher life expectancy is attributed to lower HIV/AIDs prevalence rates. The most common causes of death, include: HIV/AIDS, malaria, lower respiratory infections, perinatal conditions, cerebrovascular disease, ischaemic heart disease, diarrhoeal diseases, tuberculosis – all according to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2009). The country has a critical shortage on health care workers. There are 2 physicians and 9 nurses and midwifery personnel per 10,000 inhabitants. More than one in ten children dies before their fifth birthday (WHOIS, 2008). The total expenditure on health as percentage of gross domestic product is below 10 percent, 6.2 percent in Ghana. The socio-economical impact of this situation is felt across sectors of activities – agriculture, education, industry, transport, and human resources.

With these resource challenges, a preventive approach to healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa and other the resource-poor settings cannot be overemphasized. However, such a preventive approach extends to other challenges in culture, technology and policy. We can only develop a preventive approach if we can better understand these institutions in society – understand how we got where we are and what contributes why we are there. To do this, we question that, how can we better understand culture, technology and policy in order to define more concrete and comprehensive solutions to our health care challenges?

References

1. Lugg, R., Morley, L. & Leach, F., (2007). Country Profiles for Ghana and Tanzania: Economic, social and political contexts for widening participation in higher education. Available at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/education/documents/country_profiles_24may_2007.pdf [Accessed September 28, 2009].
2. WHOIS WHO Statistical Information System (2008). Available at: http://apps.who.int/whosis/data/Search.jsp?countries=%5bLocation%5d.Members [Accessed September 28, 2009].
3. World Health Organization(WHO) (2006). World Health Statistics 2006, Last Accessed January 29, 2006 http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/58.html.
4. World Health Organization (2008). The World Health Report 2008. Last Accessed on January 8, 2009 http://www.who.int/whr/2008/en/index.html.
5. World Health Organization (2009). Statistics, Last Accessed on January 8, 2009 from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/en/
6. World Health Organisation (WHO), (2009). WHO | Ghana. Available at: http://www.who.int/countries/gha/gha/en/ [Accessed September 28, 2009].