Partnerships between HEAPI.Org and Mankessim College of Health Sciences
Ghana has about 200 hospitals which include government operated facilities, privately owned clinics and some nonprofit health posts. However, these facilities provide less than 2% of mental and physical care services especially to the people in the communities. Ghana’s system of health is operated under the Cash and Carry system which required immediate payment of cash before medical treatment could be provided to those who are sick. Several towns and villages continue to lack adequate health care benefits. There are also few physicians working in these areas due to the lack of logistics to train more mental and physical health providers. With a third of Ghanaians living on less than a dollar a day, health care is barely affordable. Many Ghanaians therefore rely on traditional healers/doctors who mostly use herbs and local concoctions to cure various illnesses. This is particularly the case in rural and more remote areas where Western-style medical centers can be some distance away.
HEAPI.Org aims to partner with Mankessim College of Health Sciences to educate the local people about the need to seek mental and physical health services when they need it. Our focus is to educate the local communities and promote good mental and physical. Our partnership aims at providing assistance to the local people. HEAPI.Org will partner with MANCOLLEGE to focus on the health needs below:
Malaria
Infections are a primary reason for hospital visits and admissions. Malaria is rampant, and its burden is tremendous most malaria is treated easily with 3 days of pills distributed by the government but many people acquire malaria repeatedly, and if untreated, it can be fatal. With the wet tropical climate, mosquitoes are a constant threat in Ghana and malaria is the number one killer disease (among 900 people, on average one will die of malaria). Other insect-borne diseases include sleeping sickness and river blindness. In 2009, 1.9 million cases of malaria were recorded (WHO). Many Ghanaians have developed a resistance to first-line treatments so more expensive alternatives drugs have to be used. Diseases caused by lack of adequate sanitation also pose a huge problem in Ghana. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 90% of the population lack adequate toilet facilities. This leads to a high incidence of infections linked to contaminated water, such as diarrheal illnesses and bilharzias /schistosomiasis. An isolated case of tuberculosis is common in Ghana as well. HIV infection are common and affects bout 1.8 percent of the population.
Diabetes may be less common than it is in the overweight population of the United States, but it is almost certainly under-diagnosed in Ghana. It also takes a terrible toll when not attended to appropriately, leading to the spread of devastating infections (including perinatal) and gangrene of the limbs after minor cuts. A patient may wait for a few weeks at home before going to a hospital with a nearly necrotic limb. Often, it is too late, and many septic patients die.
Heart disease and cancer, so prominent in the developed world, certainly exist in West Africa, but they are not the major focus of the medical system. The acute presentation of coronary disease is relatively rare in rural hospitals, but the disease appears to be increasing rapidly and is being recognized much more nationwide. Asthma exists but is much less common than infectious illnesses of the lung, especially tuberculosis. Cancers tend to present late, often with gigantic masses, leaving little to offer.
Trauma
There is a high rate of motor accidents in Ghana which has created trauma for many more people in the society. The cause is a combination of poor road conditions, vehicle malfunction, and, mostly, less well-trained drivers with dangerous habits. Rules of the road are not well adhered to or enforced. Motor vehicle accidents generate the large majority of severe trauma cases in Ghana.
Women's Health
A disturbingly large percentage of emergency and critically ill patients are young women who are pregnant and many from complications of botched abortions. Safe abortions cost approximately $25 in some private clinics, but this is prohibitive for many young women and their families. Various herbal concoctions may or may not produce miscarriages, but they also cause fulminant infections or even sepsis and subsequent scarring, obstructions, and child-bearing trauma. Early life mutilation produces similar anatomic barriers to healthy deliveries. Toxemia and eclampsia are common. Maternal mortality is high in West Africa, approximately 560/100,000 births in Ghana. HIV/AIDS infections are low in Ghana compared to other parts of Africa. An estimated 260,000 people live with the disease – about 2% of the population.
Education Video
http://www.our-africa.org/ghana/poverty-healthcare NEED FOR MEDICAL EQUIPMENT Lack of Medical Technology While equipment and other facilities are generally modern in hospitals in few hospitals in the cities, this is not the case in most small towns and villages. It can be difficult to tests such as cardiogram, CT Scans, and clear x-rays done.
