SYNCRISIS: The Dynamics of Health. An Analytic Series on the Interactions of Health and Socioeconomic Development. X: Ghana

摘要

Ghana has seven major health problem areas: (1) low life expectancy, with especially high infant and childhood mortality; (2) poor nutrition, especially for young children; (3) high incidence of communicable diseases; (4) poor and badly distributed environmental sanitation facilities; (5) a shortage and bad distribution of most kinds of health manpower and health facilities; (6) emphasis on curative rather than preventive medicine; and (7) a relatively low level of resources allocated to the health sector. To remedy these, the Ghanian government already has increased the personnel being trained and has expanded comprehensive health services in rural areas. However, agricultural productivity needs to be improved, with special emphasis on growing more protein-rich crops. Resource allocation should be shifted from curative services to control by prevention in the area of diseases preventable by vaccination and in the provision of potable water supplies. The health care infrastructure must be reorganized, with a more efficient distribution of health personnel, better health education, and more emphasis on maternal and child health and nutrition programs.