Mortality Rates in Ghana - Research Paper Example

? Mortality Rates in Ghana Mortality Rates in Ghana Introduction This paper analyses the mortality rate in Ghana, Africa. The reasonfor choosing this country for analysis is that there is a lot of research that has been done on the state of the health sector in Ghana. This availability of information for accurate and detailed analysis is important. Ghana is located in West Africa, along the Gulf of Guinea. It neighbours three countries, Togo to the east, Cote d’ Vore to the west and Burkina Faso to the north. The country’s southernmost coast is 4 30’ degrees north of the equator from where it extends inland 11 degrees north (Princeton.edu, 2013). The total surface area of the country is 238,533 sq. km /92,098 sq. miles (WHO, 2013). According to the United Nations Department Of Population and Social Affairs, the estimated total population for Ghana was 24,392 000 for the year 2010 and a projected 27,315,000 in year 2015.Of the total population, a bigger percentage is estimated to be in urban areas than I rural areas. The total population density for Ghana is estimated to be 82,000 and 146,000 people per kilometre in 2000 and 2030 respectively (WHO, 2013). Ghana is one of the more stable nations in Africa, with a good record of power changing hands peacefully. It has a multi-party system with a presidential representative government, whereby; the president is elected directly by citizens in general elections. The president becomes both the head of state and government (Princeton.edu, 2013). Ghana is the world's second largest cocoa producer behind Ivory Coast, and Africa's biggest gold miner after South Africa. Other top minerals in Ghana include tuna, bauxite, aluminium, manganese ore, and diamonds. It is one of the continent's fastest growing economies with a projected growth rate of 7% in 2012 although its lower than of the previous year(World Bank,2013). The high growth rate is prompted by strong cocoa production, increased gold production among other factors. The GNI per capita of Ghana is US $1,230 (WHO, 2013) State of Health in Ghana The probability of dying between 15 and 60 years otherwise known as adult mortality rate, in Ghana was 273 per 1000 people. The life expectancy in years is slightly higher in females than in males, at 64% and 60% respectively. According to WHO, the leading cause of death in the country is malaria followed by HIV/AIDS and diarrhoeal diseases. It is estimated that in 2008, the leading cause of death among children under five was malaria, accounting for 26% of the total deaths. The mortality rate as a result of malaria in 2006 was higher in Ghana than in the neighbouring Cote d’ vore.In addition, theHIV/AIDS was also high in that country as compared to Burkina Faso and generally in the African continent in year 2007.Communicable diseases record the highest burden of disease, followed by non-communicable diseases. Injuries have the lowest distribution of burden of disease. According to WHO, the number of deaths from traffic accidents in Ghana was among the highest in the world, which marks a major contribution to the high mortality rates. Being one of the stable nations in Africa, Ghana does not experience a lot of deaths from violence (WHO, 2013). According to a study conducted in Ghana titled “Public Perceptions on the Role of Traditional Medicine in Health Care Delivery System”, findings suggest that traditional medicine is effective in treating various ailments. Some of the ailments that are effectively treated using traditional medicines in Ghana include malaria, mental illness, infertility, arthritis, boils, and typhoid fever, just to mention a few. While this is the case, it is worth noting that the traditional medicines are non-standardised as emphasized by Gyasi, Mensah, Osei-Wusu & Agyemang,2011). To most Ghanaians, poverty is a strong barrier to the utilization of health people than the orthodox care services. It’s no surprise then that traditional medicine is found to be cheaper and more readily available to the medicine. Therefore, to the poor, who live below US$1.25 a day, orthodox medical care is relatively costly to access. According to the study mentioned above, 58.6% users of traditional health care services claimed that traditional medical services are “cheap” in comparison with the conventional medical services. However, only 7.1% considered the service to be ‘‘expensive’’ relative to the orthodox medical services (Gyasi et al). Another contribution to the usage of traditional medicine is due to the long distance of most villages to the health centres. Most rural villages are isolated and residents are required to travel long distances to access these centres where else the providers of traditional medicine live amongst the villagers. Therefore, the role of traditional medicine is significant particularly in rural Ghana in the treatment of life-threatening and dreadful ailments (Gyasi et al). Organisation of the Health Sector and Regulatory Agencies Health Administration in Ghana is divided into five functional levels namely national, regional, district, sub-district and community levels. All these levels of administration are organised as cost centres for the purpose of administering funds by stakeholders and the Government. There are a total of 223 functional cost centres and 110 Sub-Districts cost centres. The Ghana Health Service headquarters is also managed as a cost centre, bringing to 10 the total number of Regional Health Administration, 8 Regional Hospitals, 110 District Health Administrations and 95 District Hospitals, all of them run as cost centres (Salisu & Prinz, 2009). The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is in charge of equipment, transport, infrastructure provision and delivery of information. Hence it provides support and guidance for the design of policies and strategies. The Ghana Health Service Council coordinates and administers the activities of the various organs under the Ghana Health Service which is supervised by the Minister of Health. The main goals of the ministry of health include: to implement national policies related to health delivery approved by the government; to raise access to healthcare services; and to effectively manage healthcare resources. In this sense, the ministry of health has the duty to come up with policies and manage information related to infrastructure, financing, and human resources. Other health regulatory agencies in Ghana include, the Food and Drugs Board which regulates the importation, manufacture exportation and distribution of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and household chemicals; the Medical and Dental Council agency that regulates the standards of training and practice of medicine and dentistry; and the Pharmacy Council which collaborates with other agencies to enhance the effectiveness of pharmaceutical services and medicines use in the country (Ministry of Health, 2007). There are about 55,000 individuals currently enrolled in the health sector, working in the public sector, Islamic missions, and the Christian Health Association of Ghana. About 8, 938 of these are nursing professionals while 8,100 are nursing associated professionals. The number of nursing institutions is 16 (AHWO, 2010). The Nurses and Midwives Council of Ghana is mandated to regulate nursing and midwifery education and practice. Training of nurses is share between government institutions, NGO‘s and Faith Based Organisations. With regard to nursing organisations, the strongest in the country is Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) which represents all nurses of all categories on matters affecting them. Priorities and Contribution of the Nursing Sector to Challenges Some of health care challenges facing Ghana include high rates of maternal and infant mortality. There is a heavy burden of disease resulting from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The country has 24% of the burden of disease but has only 3% of the world’s health care workers. Poor living conditions create serious inequalities in health for Ghanaians. Malaria continues to be main cause of morbidity and mortality in Ghana (Pillinger, 2011). The other health priority of Ghana is with regard to brain-drain. It is estimated that in the past decade, Ghana lost about 50% of its professional nurses to the UK, U.S., and Canada. The estimated vacancy levels in the Ghana Health Service, in 2002, were 65% for doctors, 68% for professional nurses and 56.6% for pharmacists (Moellering & Kundacin, 2011). The health care system in Ghana faces a human resources crisis resulting from under-funding due to low investment in health. These investments are inadequate to meet the health needs of the growing population. Nurses and health care workers are leaving the country faster than they are being trained. Reasons for the migration are low nurse patient ratios, low salaries, poor working conditions and overburdened health care staff. The attraction by higher salaries, opportunities, better working conditions and career development is causing the migration of the health professionals to keep rising (Pillinger, 2011). However, some improvements in the health sector initiated by the government have seen the migration numbers reduce. Data from the Ghana Nurses and Midwives Council indicates that 22% of nurses leaving Ghana between2002 and 2005 went to the USA, followed by 71% to the UK.Themigration of nurses reached its highest in 2000, fell substantially in 2006, and has since stabilized (Pillinger, 2011).The new pay reform known as the Health Sector Salary Structure (HSSS) is widely regarded as a key factor in retaining nurses and midwives and reducing outward migration. Conclusions and Recommendations In addition, trade unions have had a great impact towards addressing the migration issue. Majority of those who had considered migrating were not aware that their unions would be of any assistance, and until now had not seen the relevance of contacting their unions in this regard.Nursing associations in Ghana should ensure good incentives are given by the government to encourage nurses not to migrate. Moreover, the government should increase the amount of investment that goes to health sector in order to improve the conditions in the health delivery (Pillinger, 2011). References African Health Workforce Observatory (2010). Human Resources for Health Country Profile: Ghana. Global Workforce Alliance / WHO. Gyasi, M., Mensah, M., Osei-Wusu, P. & Agyemang, S., (2011). Public Perceptions of the Role of Traditional Medicine in the Health Care Delivery System in Ghana. Global Journal of Health Science. Ministry of Health (2007). The Ghana health sector 2008 programme of work. Retrieved September 19, 2013 from http://www.moh-ghana.org/UploadFiles/Publications/Annual%20Programme%20of%20Work%202008120422152854.pdf Moellering, A. & Kundacin, J. (2011). National profile of migration of health professionals – Ghana. Brussels: International Organization for Migration (IOM), MHD RO. Retrieved 19 Sept2013 fromwww.mohprof.eu/GHANA Pillinger, J. (2011). Quality health care and workers on the move: The Ghana report. Accra. Public Services International (PSI). Princeton.edu (2013). The Geography of Ghana. Retrieved 19 Sept 2013 from http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Geography_of_Ghana Salisu, A. & Prinz V. (2009). Health care in Ghana. ACCORD. Retrieved 19 Sept 2013 from www.ecoi.net United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2012). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision, CD-ROM Edition. WHO (2010). Ghana Factsheets of Health Statistics of 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2013 from http://www.afro.who.int/en/ghana/country-health-profile.htmlJane World Bank (2013). Ghana Overview. Retrieved 19 Sept 2013 from http://www.wordbank.org/en/country/Ghana/overview Read More