Ghana

Ghana is located in western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, between Togo and Côte d'Ivoire. Formerly a British crown colony called the Gold Coast, in 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan nation to emerge from colonial rule. Now 50 years old, Ghana has suffered through a long string of political coups and the creation of a new constitution. Its economy, while better than its neighbors, is still heavily dependent on international aid, and about 60 percent of the workforce relies on subsistence agriculture. The population is 22,931,000, growing at 1.972 percent annually. The birth rate is 29.85 per 1,000 population and the death rate is 9.55 per 1,000. Median age is 20.2 years. Life expectancy is 58.31 years for males and 59.95 years for females. Forty-eight percent of Ghanians live in urban areas. The gross national income is $450 a year, with 45 percent of the population living on $1 a day or less.

With only 75 percent of the population able to access safe drinking water and 18 percent with sanitary waste facilities, Ghana suffers from a high rate of waterborne and parasitic infections, including diarrhea, typhoid fever, Guinea worm disease, and schistosomiasis.

Malaria and tuberculosis remain the biggest threat to Ghanian health. Recent years have seen a decline in malaria deaths, but it is still among the biggest killer of children under 5, and only three percent of Ghanians sleep under insecticide-treated nets. Tuberculosis (TB) cases have increased dramatically over the span of a decade. In 1995, there were 2,195 TB cases within the country. Today, there are 30,000 new cases a year, and 15,000 fatalities. Many cases are found to be multidrug resistant.

As in most country, the rise in TB cases has mirrored a rise in HIV/AIDS infections. The adult prevalence rate is 2.3 percent, with an estimated 320,000 cases, including 180,000 women. Ghana has a strong strategic plan and has secured international funding for programs, but the Ministry of Health notes that most patients have trouble affording even subsidized drugs. Only seven percent of patients are on antiretroviral therapy; 1.3 percent of pregnant women receive treatment to prevent mother-to-child tranmission.

The Ministry of Health says that the noncommunicable disease burden of Ghanians are “largely unknown.” A major hospital found that hypertension was the third leading cause of mortality in their facility, after malaria and diarrhea. Antitobacco programs and diabetes awareness campaigns have met with limited success. Most medical facilities are poorly equipped to handle noncommunicable illnesses.

One in nine Ghanian children die before their fifth birthday. Malaria is the leading cause, although it has declined over the past five years. Immunization rates have increased, and are most apparent in the substantial reduction in measles cases, from 13,500 in 2001 down to just 487 in 2005. Malnutrition rates are “unacceptably high” according to the Ministry of Health. Fifty-seven percent of children work, and 28 percent marry before the age of 18.

The total fertility rate is 3.89 children per women. A quarter of Ghanian women use contraceptives. Less than half have a trained attendant to assist during childbirth. The maternal mortality rate is thus high, estimated at 540 deaths per 100,000 live births.

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