The Ghana essential health interventions program: a plausibility trial of the impact of health systems strengthening on maternal & child survival
Awoonor-Williams JK, Bawah AA, Nyonator FK, et al. BMC Health Services Research 2013;13(Suppl 2):S3.
In 2000, the government of Ghana launched a national program called Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) to scale up the Navrongo model, a highly successful model developed in the 1990s which reduced child mortality, maternal mortality, and fertility. CHPS scale-up has been slow in districts located outside of the Upper East Region, where the "Navrongo Experiment" was first carried out. The Ghana Essential Health Intervention Project (GEHIP) is a plausibility trial of strategies for strengthening CHPS, especially in the areas of maternal and newborn health, and generating the political will to scale up the program with strategies that are faithful to the original design.
Lessons learned from scaling up a community-based health program in the Upper East Region of northern Ghana
Awoonor-Williams JK, Sory EK, Nyonator FK, Phillips JF, Wang C, Schmitt ML. Glob Health Sci Pract. 2013;1(1):1-17.
Ghana's Community-Based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) initiative is envisioned to be a national program to relocate primary health care services from sub-district health centers to convenient community locations. The Initiative has begun to introduce health care reform in every region and district of Ghana. After a decade of scaling up, CHPS progress in the Upper East Region (UER) of Ghana has resulted in coverage of community-based care that is five times the national average, despite exceedingly challenging economic, ecological and social circumstances.
Listen Up GEHIP: Challenges in addressing misconceptions with family planning: a nurse's perspective
Pokuaa EA and Aboba M. GEHIP Year 4 Annual Report 2013; Appendix X.
The uptake of family planning (FP) services in Denugu in Garu-Tempane District remains persistently low, despite intensive community outreach by the Ghana Health Service and NGOs operating within the area. The main reasons that people are hesitant towards adopting FB services into their communities are the misconceptions and myths surrounding family planning methods. Being aware of the challenges faced when getting families to accept methods for birth planning puts health workers in a better position to employ appropriate approaches.
Sharing Best Practices: Training the Future: the Value of Incorporating Neonatal Resuscitation Trainings into Midwifery Education
GEHIP Year 4 Annual Report 2013; Appendix W.
The practice of training local practitioners to effectively teach neonatal resuscitation skills is crucial for the successful and sustainable training of future student midwives. A GEHIP initiated and funded program has trained 66 final year midwifery students on critical newborn care skills prior to their deployment in the workforce in the Upper East Region of Ghana.
Making the System Work: Evaluating the introduction of the Emergency Referral Programme (ERP) in the rural Bongo District
Azasi E. GEHIP Year 3 Annual Report 2012; Appendix K.
Vehicles dedicated to emergency transport are rare in Ghana and generally based in urban centers. The Bongo referral pilot strategy includes placing a vehicle at an operating CHPS compound and, in the case of a community without functional CHPS, at the home of a village health volunteer. The rationale for this project is that by expanding community access to referral services vulnerable populations will receive improved and more timely health care and maternal deaths will be reduced.
Sharing Best Practices: 'No Right to Get Sick': Resolving the plight of adolescents by confronting their health care needs
Aboba M. GEHIP Year 3 Annual Report 2012; Appendix J.
Two crucial health needs of adolescents are reproductive rights and health education. Any attempt which seeks to address the special health needs of adolescents must overcome social and motivational barriers that diminish the comfort zone for adolescents to seek health care. CHPS can resolve issues of privacy and social concerns of youthful clientele.