Evaluation of clinical preventive services in primary health facilities wthin the Kumasi metropolis
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Date
JUNE, 2019
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Abstract
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are increasing at an alarming rate in Ghana, with
stroke and heart attack among the common causes of deaths amongst adults in the
country. Already, Ghana is battling with infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS
and tuberculosis, as well as not meeting its targets in areas such as maternal and child
health. Yet several projections suggest that NCDs will continue to increase, with the
possibility of outstripping communicable diseases as the leading cause of morbidity and
mortality in the African region if the current situation is not dealt with.
Even though there is some evidence of preventive health service provision in Ghana, the
extent to which these services are streamlined and standardized is not well documented.
This study set out to evaluate the state of clinical preventive services (CPS) within the
Kumasi Metropolis.
The cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in forty-six (46) primary health
facilities, 21 government-owned and 25 privately-owned. In each facility, the practitioner
likely to provide medical checkup services was purposively interviewed.
The findings of the study suggest that primary health facilities in the Kumasi Metropolis
do not have adequate structures in place that encourage the provision of medical
checkups services. Healthcare being delivered to the public is mainly curative to the
neglect of preventive services. Inadequate knowledge and lack of use of evidence-based
guidelines for providing medical checkup was observed in most facilities. Most
providers relied mainly on their professional discretion without making reference to at
least one evidence-based guideline on preventive services as a basis for providing the
service. Patronage for CPS was found to be low, accounting for less than 1 % (0 –
0.83%) of all OPD attendance in all 46 facilities.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Health Services Planning and Management, College of Health Sciences, School of Public Health, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Services Planning and Management.
Keywords
Clinical preventive, Evaluation, Primary health, Kumasi Metropolis