Ghana

Maternal deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa are largely preventable with health facility delivery assisted by skilled birth attendants. Examining associations of birth location preferences on pregnant women’s experiences is important to understanding delays in care seeking in the event of complications. We explored the influence of birth location preference on women’s pregnancy, labor and birth outcomes. [from abstract]

Ineffective district health management potentially impacts on health system performance and service delivery. However, little is known about district health managing practices and time allocation in resource-constrained health systems. Therefore, a time use study was conducted in order to understand current time use practices of district health managers in Ghana. [from abstract]

The objective of this study is to find the effect of institutional factors on the quality of care. The institutional factors examined were mainly the extent of decentralization between government and health facilities, as well as between health workers and facility administration, the hiring procedure, and job satisfaction. [from abstract]

Female sex workers (FSWs) in Ghana have a 10-fold greater risk for acquiring HIV than the general adult population, and they contribute a substantial proportion of the new HIV infections in the country. Although researchers have conducted behavioral and biological surveys, there has been no review of the contextual, programmatic, and epidemiological changes over time. The authors conducted a historical review of HIV prevention programs in Ghana. [from abstract]

In spite of the advances in modern medical technologies in dealing with ill-health, a section of society continues to use divination in their search for therapy. Using a qualitative survey, this study sought to gain insight into reasons why this practice is pervasive. [from abstract]

Hospitals are established to attend to the health needs of people as well as to treat the injured and the sick. However, health workers are sometimes faced with occupational health and safety issues which give a bad image to the socio-economic importance of the hospitals.
This study assessed how the health and safety issues of health workers in the public health facilities of Ghana are addressed. [from abstract]

The use of social media is a very important avenue for reaching MSM who are not reached by peer educators in Ghana. The method should be adopted as an integral outreach approach for HIV-prevention interventions in the future.[from abstract]

In this qualitative descriptive study, we explored the perceived impact and sustainability of the first accredited
Paediatric Nursing Training Programme (PNTP) in Ghana, established in 2010 by a north-south Ghanaian-Canadian
partnership to address child health care access and quality issues in the country. [from abstract]

Taking a perspective of frontline health workers as internal clients within health systems, this study explored how perceived injustice in policy and organizational matters influence frontline health worker motivation and the consequent effect on workers’ attitudes and performance in delivering maternal and neonatal health care in public hospitals. [from abstract]

It is in the context of Ghana’s persistently high number of maternal deaths that the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) is simulating two policy scenarios: (1) Training and deploying Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) at health centers in the five worst affected regions of Ghana by the year 2015 and (2) Training and deploying SBAs at district hospitals in the five worst affected regions of Ghana by the same year to find out if one or both will help Ghana achieve, or be close to achieving, the MDG 5 target of a maternal mortality rate of 185 per 100,000 live births by 2015.

Developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, the correct adaptation and implementation of the global guidelines on prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV is critical. This study explored the challenges that health workers face implementing WHO’s PMTCT guidelines, and the experiences of HIV-positive clients receiving these services. [from abstract]

Making the final decision to terminate a pregnancy can be influenced by different circumstances involving various individuals. This paper describes the key players involved in the decision-making process regarding abortions among women who elected to undergo an induced abortion in a cosmopolitan urban setting in Ghana. [from abstract]

Performance-based incentives (PBIs) are currently receiving attention as a strategy for improving the quality of care that health providers deliver. Experiences from several African countries have shown that PBIs can trigger improvements, particularly in the area of maternal and neonatal health. The involvement of health workers in deciding how their performance should be measured is recommended. Only limited information is available about how such schemes can be made sustainable. [from introduction]

Improving maternal and reproductive health still remains a major challenge in most low-income countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The growing inequality in access to maternal health interventions is an issue of great concern. In Ghana, inadequate attention has been given to the inequality gap that exists amongst women when accessing antenatal care during pregnancy and skilled attendance at birth.

This paper presents findings from a study designed to assess the extent to which community residents and leaders participated in the skilled delivery program and the specific roles they played in its implementation and effectiveness. [from abstract]

The study explored the effects of motivation and job satisfaction on turnover intention and how motivation and satisfaction can be improved by district health managers in order to increase retention of health workers. [from abstract]

Health care is labor intensive and managers strive to identify a mix of staff that can safely deliver a range of services using available resources. In many developing countries,primary-level workers, auxiliary staff, and community health workers (CHWs) are being trained to assume roles and perform functions traditionally reserved for mid- or high-level cadres of health workers as a means of optimizing the number and capacity of available providers.

This study was undertaken to assess perceived service quality in hospitals located in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The research was a cross-sectional survey which employed the use of a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire that was administered to 400 outpatients in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Data obtained from the study was analyzed quantitatively using descrip
tive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regressions. [from abstract]

This paper reports on a literature review as part of a research program, which aims to inform the development of an effective roadmap for the successful implementation of the national e-Health initiative in Ghana. [from abstract]

The project had four objectives: to create a “charter for collaboration” (CFC), to improve data-driven policy making, to enhance health care provider education, and to increase research capacity. [from abstract]

To understand factors influencing patients’ decisions to choose either fracture treatment by a bonesetter or in the hospital and to explore patients’ experiences with bonesetter treatment. [from abstract]

The primary purpose of this study is to identify predictors of complete household enrollment into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) among inhabitants of the Barekese sub-district in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. [from abstract]

The paper reports on country experiences using an analytical framework that examines effective coverage in relation to the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality (AAAQ) of HRH. [from abstract]

This paper identifies, ranks and compares perceptions of insured and uninsured households in Ghana on health care providers (quality of care, service delivery adequacy, staff attitudes), health insurance schemes (price, benefits and convenience) and community attributes (health ‘beliefs and attitudes’ and peer pressure). [from abstract]

This paper provides an overview of innovative experiences adapted while addressing these urban health issues, including the process of deriving constructive lessons needed to inform discourse on the design and implementation of the sustainable Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) model as a response to urban health challenges in Southern Ghana. [from abstract]

In 2003 the Government of Ghana established a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to improve health care access for Ghanaians and eventually replace the cash-and-carry system. This study evaluates the NHIS to determine whether it is fulfilling its purpose in the context of the Millennium Development Goals #4 and #5 which deal with the health of women and children. [from abstract]

The paper presents a quantitative investigation on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the Dormaa Municipality, Ghana: Why some residents remain uninsured? [from abstract]

The Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service in collaboration with the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) country office commissioned the development of this policy and guidelines on occupational health and safety (OHS) of health workers in view of the tremendous risks posed to these workers in the process of rendering invaluable services to mankind. We wish to express our appreciation to the W.H.O. for supporting this effort. [from introduction]

This case study discusses the steps taken to revitalize the Ghana Health Workforce Observatory through the application of fuidelines for forming and sustaining human resources for health (HRH) stakeholder leadership groups. The guidelines are aimed at HRH leaders or practitioners at the country level who see a pressing need for a stakeholder leadership group to address a key HRH problem or set of problems. [adapted from summary]

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of a national child survival quality improvement project, on key maternal and child health outcomes. [adapted from abstract]