The Quest for Equity in the Provision of Health Care in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana has pursued extensive reforms of its health care system since the colonial days. The intended goals of such reforms apparently were to improve access, increase efficiency and reduce health inequalities. It has attempted to achieve these goals through a significant state control and interventions through public national health system, albeit some periods adopted market competition under the ‘cash-and-carry’ system. This study investigates the impact of health care reforms on some key health care outcomes. Our results indicate that health care reforms have had a pernicious effect on infant mortality and life expectancy. However, the effect on crude mortality rate seemed more benign, albeit not statistically significant, after controlling for GDP per capita. Thus, considering the structure of the Ghanaian economy, it is recommended that, a more socially based intervention seem in the medium term the best in order to reduce the level of inequality within and in comparison with the counterpart nations in Africa.

Keywords: Ghana, Health care reforms, Equity, Shortfall inequality