Description:
Ghana has come a long way in improving
health outcomes and it performs reasonably well when
compared to the other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
However, when its health outcomes are compared to other
countries globally with similar incomes and health spending
levels, its performance is more mixed. Ghana's health
outcome performances, in terms of child health and maternal
health, are worse than the levels found in other comparable
lower middle income and health spending countries, but life
expectancy is better. Ghana's demographic profile is
changing, and demographic, epidemiological, and nutrition
transitions are well underway. The dependency ratio is
expected to be favorably affected by the expanding large
numbers of individuals entering the labor force, while
fertility albeit still high continues to decline. It is the
right time for Ghana to take advantage of this potential
demographic dividend. Taking appropriate steps to improve
employment opportunities is critical or else the country
will face economic pressures as well as political unrest.
There is a funding shortage for public health goods. Many
public health goods, such as immunization and family
planning, are generally heavily subsidized, with tax or
donor financing. However, Ghana has a low allocation of
public funds to meet the demands for family planning
commodities. The private sector has responded somewhat to
this market failure by selling family planning commodities
in private pharmacies, thereby increasing supply. Morbidity
and mortality from communicable disease (CD) are highly
prevalent in Ghana, and make up fifty three percent of the
disease burden. Although, cost-effective interventions are
offered, a significant proportion of morbidity and mortality
is still CD related.