AFRICA
Ghana

In 1993 the Population Council, in partnership with Ghana’s Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, launched an experimental program at the Navrongo Health Research Center to determine the demographic and health impact of deploying health service nurses and volunteers to village locations. In 2002 the Council consolidated its West and Central and East and Southern Africa regional offices into a single sub-Saharan Africa regional office based in Accra.

Program Focus

The Council has provided research-based evidence and technical advice to the government in the development of its national health policies and programs. The results of the Navrongo experiment demonstrated that affordable and sustainable means of combining nurses’ services with volunteer community action can accelerate attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Since 2004, the Council has provided technical assistance to the Ghana Health Service in the national expansion of the Navrongo model. Success of the Navrongo pilot and its replication in Nkwanta prompted the government to adopt community-based service delivery as the health component of its national poverty-reduction strategy. Demographic monitoring tools developed at Navrongo have been replicated for use at 28 other research sites around the world. Other initiatives include projects to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity and to improve access to and quality of contraceptive services.

Highlights of Past and Present Work

• Supported the Ministry of Health in identifying barriers to intrauterine device (IUD) use and in developing messages to encourage providers and clients to consider the IUD as a contraceptive option.
• Developed the economic evaluation and marketing skills of two major private providers of reproductive health services: the Christian Health Association of Ghana and the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation Enterprises.
• Supported the Ghana Health Service in assessing the implementation and effects of Ghana’s antenatal-care policy adapted from the World Health Organization’s Healthy Motherhood package.
• Examined the effect of Ghana’s health-sector reorganization on reproductive health goals.

Selected Projects

Current Projects

• Poverty, Gender, and Youth

  • Demographic Data for Development (8/08–11/09)

  • Ghana Essential Medicines Initiative (6/06–6/09)

  • Female Condom Exploratory Mapping Exercise (2/08–11/08)

  • Community-based Health Planning and Services (ongoing)

  • ExCHANGE: Expanding Community Healthcare Accessibility Network (ongoing)

  • Scaling Up the Community-based Health Planning and Services Initiative in Nkwanta District (ongoing)

• Reproductive Health

  • Reducing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Through Increased Access to Comprehensive Abortion Care and Family Planning Services in Ghana (9/07–8/08)

Completed Projects

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See Also

• Contact Information for Ghana

• Publications/Resources on Ghana

• Frontiers in Reproductive Health: Ghana

• Situation Analysis

Offsite Link

• Navrongo Health Research Centre

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This page updated 16 March 2009

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