Assessing the spatial distribution of health facilities in the Eastern Region of Ghana

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Date
2012-07-24
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Abstract
Inequalities in the distribution of health facilities have resulted in varying levels of accessibility to health care facilities in the country. Health facilities are better distributed in the southern part of the country compared to the three northern regions. The distribution of health of facilities is also comparatively better in urban areas compared to rural and deprived areas. As a result, accessibility to health facilities is better in southern Ghana and urban areas than the three northern regions, as well as rural and deprived areas. In the case of the northern part of the country it appears that since independence not much has been done in terms of investment in social infrastructure by successive governments compared to the southern part of the country. This study sought to investigate the issue of spatial inequality in the distribution of health facilities by using the Eastern Region for a case study. It described the distribution and accessibility to health facilities in the Eastern Region. The causes of inequalities in the distribution of health facilities in the region were also examined. Quantitative techniques have largely been used. Purposive sampling technique was also used. The study revealed that there are inequalities in the distribution of health facilities in the Eastern Region. The skewed distributions of health facilities are to the disadvantage of rural and deprived districts such as Birim North and Kwahu North in the Afram Plains while largely urban districts such as New Juaben and East Akim are comparatively better in terms of the distribution of health facilities. As a result accessibility to health facilities is poor in rural and deprived districts in the region compared to the largely urban districts. Lack of political will, conflicts such as chieftaincy dispute, lack of self initiatives by communities and difficulty in meeting population threshold for requirement for establishing facilities tend to cause inequality in the distribution of health facilities. Based on these findings it has been argued that the solution to the problem inequality in the distribution of health facilities lies in the expansion of health infrastructure, the intensification outreach health services, timely release of funds, and early resolution of conflicts among others.
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A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Partial fulfillment of the requirements of for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND PLANNING. 2012
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