Population, Health and Development in Ghana

Population, Health and Development in Ghana
Author: Chuks J. Mba
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2007
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

The Millennium Development Goals address poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women, by the year 2015. In this volume scholars and policymakers in the fields of population and health reflect on the attainments of some of these goals, on the basis of empirical evidence in the Ghanaian context. The eight paper, with an introduction by the editors, synthesises papers presented at a seminar held in Ghana on ?Population, Health and Development in Relation to the Millennium Development Goals?, organised by the Population Association of Ghana.

The Health Sector in Ghana

The Health Sector in Ghana
Author: Karima Saleh
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2012-12-27
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0821396005

This volume analyzes Ghana s health system performance and highlights the range of policy options needed to improve health system performance and health outcomes.

Public Health, Disease and Development in Africa

Public Health, Disease and Development in Africa
Author: Ezekiel Kalipeni
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2018-06-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1351805347

The closure of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015 prompted the need for a book of this kind. An interdisciplinary group of global health scholars contribute to the understanding of the emerging and fast-growing problem of the dual burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa. This book is timely, as the international community has moved from the MDGs to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the blueprint for a new human development agenda. Contributions and case studies are situated in the revised Epidemiologic and Nutrition Transition Model to capture the current situation, referencing communicable and NCDs on the African continent. The case studies encapsulated aim to help minimize negative health outcomes and improve population health, well-being, and equity in the future. This book will be significant in policy circles to assist international organizations, governments, and United Nations agencies. It aims to chart the future for health in Africa in light of recently adopted SDGs. This book is also a useful complementary reader for global public health related courses.

Health Financing in Ghana

Health Financing in Ghana
Author: George Schieber
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2012-08-30
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 082139567X

This volume analyzes Ghana s National Health Insurance Scheme and highlights the range of policy options needed to assure its financially sustainable transition to universal coverage.

Population and Health in Developing Countries

Population and Health in Developing Countries
Author: Maryse Gaimard
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2013-07-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9400767935

This book provides an overview of the health of developing nations in the early twenty-first century. The basic assumption is that the health of a population is not independent of broader demographic trends, and does follow the health transition model. The coverage is broad, ranging from health transition in developing countries, to the health of women, to an analysis of morbidity. Population health is an essential component of human and social development. As both a means and an end of development, health lies at the heart of underdevelopment, and ranks first on the list of international priorities. The WHO slogan ‘Health for all in 2000’ reflects the spirit of a more general movement in favor of health promotion throughout the world. But the developing world is far from reaching this aim. The health of populations has improved in developing regions but there are still deep inequalities, and serious problems remain, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. After reviewing the core concepts of population health, the book examines health transition in developing countries, a process that has resulted in a double burden of diseases. A discussion of mortality in developing countries serves to highlight the high rates of child mortality in these regions. The book devotes a full chapter to women’s health, and its chapter-length analysis of morbidity highlights the double burden weighing down developing populations and concludes with an analysis of health systems in developing countries.

Blue Marble Health

Blue Marble Health
Author: Peter J. Hotez
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1421420465

Why do diseases of poverty afflict more people in wealthy countries than in the developing world? In 2011, Dr. Peter J. Hotez relocated to Houston to launch Baylor’s National School of Tropical Medicine. He was shocked to discover that a number of neglected diseases often associated with developing countries were widespread in impoverished Texas communities. Despite the United States’ economic prowess and first-world status, an estimated 12 million Americans living at the poverty level currently suffer from at least one neglected tropical disease, or NTD. Hotez concluded that the world’s neglected diseases—which include tuberculosis, hookworm infection, lymphatic filariasis, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis—are born first and foremost of extreme poverty. In this book, Hotez describes a new global paradigm known as “blue marble health,” through which he asserts that poor people living in wealthy countries account for most of the world’s poverty-related illness. He explores the current state of neglected diseases in such disparate countries as Mexico, South Korea, Argentina, Australia, the United States, Japan, and Nigeria. By crafting public policy and relying on global partnerships to control or eliminate some of the world’s worst poverty-related illnesses, Hotez believes, it is possible to eliminate life-threatening disease while at the same time creating unprecedented opportunities for science and diplomacy. Clear, compassionate, and timely, Blue Marble Health is a must-read for leaders in global health, tropical medicine, and international development, along with anyone committed to helping the millions of people who are caught in the desperate cycle of poverty and disease.

The Political Economy of Universal Healthcare in Africa

The Political Economy of Universal Healthcare in Africa
Author: Philip C. Aka
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2022-04-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000580687

The global rise in pandemics, most recently COVID-19, and other health challenges, some of which are due to climate change, have imposed significant challenges on the healthcare systems in economies around the world. Thus, this book deals with an issue that is very timely and relevant, not just in Africa but globally. It critically assesses healthcare reforms in Ghana under the Fourth Republic, since 1993. Although it focuses on Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme of 2003, the book instructively goes beyond this program. The book argues that, although Ghana is a bellwether of healthcare reforms in Africa, its healthcare initiatives are still far from the service haven of healthcare as a human right. Themes that animate the book’s argument include the need to translate human rights law, such as the right to health, into practical policies that work for ordinary citizens. Key highlights of the book include an increased accent on health as a human right, emphasis on comparative analysis in healthcare studies, and the formulation of a four-hallmark framework, embedded in economics, law, politics, and human rights, to act as a guide for assessment of healthcare reforms in Africa in particular, and Ghana more specifically. Using Ghana as a case study and analytical window into the world, the book offers a valuable and timely resource for academics, students and policymakers across the disciplines of development and healthcare economics, law, public policy, political science, sociology, and African and Caribbean studies, as well as in various fields in health science.

Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme

Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme
Author: Huihui Wang
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 101
Release: 2017-08-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464811180

Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was established in 2003 as a major vehicle to achieve the country’s commitment of Universal Health Coverage. The government has earmarked value-added tax to finance NHIS in addition to deduction from Social Security Trust (SSNIT) and premium payment. However, the scheme has been running under deficit since 2009 due to expansion of coverage, increase in service use, and surge in expenditure. Consequently, Ghana National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) had to reduce investment fund, borrow loans and delay claims reimbursement to providers in order to fill the gap. This study aimed to provide policy recommendations on how to improve efficiency and financial sustainability of NHIS based on health sector expenditure and NHIS claims expenditure review. The analysis started with an overall health sector expenditure review, zoomed into NHIS claims expenditure in Volta region as a miniature for the scheme, and followed by identifictation of factors affecting level and efficiency of expenditure. This study is the first attempt to undertake systematic in-depth analysis of NHIS claims expenditure. Based on the study findings, it is recommended that NHIS establish a stronger expenditure control system in place for long-term sustainability. The majority of NHIS claims expenditure is for outpatient consultations, district hospitals and above, certain member groups (e.g., informal group, members with more than five visits in a year). These distribution patterns are closely related to NHIS design features that encourages expenditure surge. For example, year-round open registration boosted adverse selection during enrollment, essentially fee-for-service provider mechanisms incentivized oversupply but not better quality and cost-effectiveness, and zero patient cost-sharing by patients reduced prudence in seeking care and caused overuse. Moreover, NHIA is not equipped to control expenditure or monitor effect of cost-containment policies. The claims processing system is mostly manual and does not collect information on service delivery and results. No mechanisms exist to monitor and correct providers’ abonormal behaviors, as well as engage NHIS members for and engaging members for information verification, case management and prevention.