How do we improve maternal and child health outcomes in Ghana?

Joseph Adu and Mark Fordjour Owusu

International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2023, vol. 38, issue 4, 898-903

Abstract: Maternal and infant mortality includes a number of health challenges in Ghana, with outcomes among the worst in the subregion and the world. Our aim here was to provide insights into how Ghana has approached these challenges, with a view to making suggestions for the future. Ghana has made significant gains in reducing infant and maternal deaths in the past decade through initiatives like the Free Maternal Care Policy, the Community‐based Health Planning Services, and the National Health Insurance Policy. These policies have improved financial access to maternal and obstetric health services, facility‐based delivery, and antenatal care services in particular. However, a number of challenges still hinder access to maternal and child health outcomes. Poor infrastructure, human resource challenges, poor access to essential medicines, poor quality of care, and superstitious and cultural beliefs have been noted in the literature. We suggest that while providing the necessary human and financial resources, other initiatives including the promotion of maternal health education, supervised home delivery, and zero maternal death interventions should be encouraged to help improve maternal and child health outcomes in Ghana.

Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3639

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:38:y:2023:i:4:p:898-903

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0749-6753

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Health Planning and Management is currently edited by Calum Paton

More articles in International Journal of Health Planning and Management from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().