Utilization of Evidence from Experimental Research to Guide Sector-Wide Health Care Reform In Ghana

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

3182.0: Monday, November 11, 2002 - 1:06 PM

Abstract #43582

Sam Adjei, MD, MPH¹, James Phillips, PhD², and Tanya C. Jones, MPA². (1) Deputy Director General, Ghana Health Service, P.O. Box M44, Accra, Ghana, 233-21-226739, sam.adjei@hru-moh.org, (2) Policy Research Division, Population Council, 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 10017

Health plans are often proposed and promulgated without guidance from field research on what works and what does not. In resource constrained sub-Saharan Africa, this approach can lead to overly centralized programs, unrealistic goals, and unworkable operational plans. Ghana is an exception to this generalization. “Sector-wide Planning” and health care reform in Ghana has been guided by participatory learning at the community level, experimental research at the district level, and national utilization of research findings to inform a program of health system reform. Known as the “Community-based Health Planning and Services” (CHPS) Initiative, the program aims to transform health care at the periphery from an inefficient facilities based program to a community based health care system with referral services at the sub-district and District Hospital level. Once confined to the Navrongo Project experimental areas of Kassena-Nankana District, CHPS now operates in 66 of the 110 Districts in Ghana. This paper reviews the role of national plans and policies that have guided the rapid transition in health care in Ghana, the role of service innovations developed by the Navrongo Project in informing community health systems design, and the CHPS paradigm for health care reform. The success of the Ghana health reform model merits review for possible dissemination to other settings in Africa where resource constraints and bureaucratic obstacles can impede the utilization of evidence for improving primary health care services.

Learning Objectives:

Step 1

The presentation will expose the audience to a new paradigm for health systems development in Africa and introduce new perspectives on the role of policy in putting research innovation into practice in large-scale public sector health service systems.
Step 2
- The presentation will expose participants to means of incorporating research based evidence into policies scale organizations with information gained in experimental studies, thereby enabling them to design strategies for fostering the effective utilization of research in large scale organizatons.
- Step 3
  - At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to
    - Discuss the experience of a successful health service scaling up effort in sub-Saharan, understand ways of designing research to foster utilization, and improve the utilization of small scale innovation elsewhere in Africa.
    Keywords: Health Reform, Community Health Planning
    Presenting author's disclosure statement:
    I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
    
    Health Sector Reform
    The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA