According to a November 2003 AllAfrica.com interview with Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa, the head of Ghana's AIDS Commission, the HIV-positive rate among Ghanaian adults is at 3.4 percent and rising rapidly. HIV-prevalence in the city of Koforidua has gone up to 8.5 percent, and prevalence rates in several other cities have gone over 6 percent. (The most recent UNAIDS data for Ghana as a whole had the rate at 3.0 percent; Synergy reported a HIV prevalence in Ghana within a range of 2.8 to 4.2 percent.) HIV prevalence rates are higher in the more heavily populated southeast of the country, and women account for 63 percent of AIDS cases.

The incidence of TB in Ghana has risen dramatically in the last decade; currently there are about 30,000 TB cases each year and 15,000 people die of the disease. In 1995 Ghana had only 2,195 cases of TB. The spread of TB from cattle to humans has become a major problem, and multi-drug resistant TB (MDRTB) is on the rise.

As in many other African nations in the tropical belt, malaria is the leading cause of death in Ghana for children under five. In 2000 WHO estimated a mortality rate of 448 per 100,000 for children under five. The GFATM estimates that only three percent of Ghanaians sleep under insecticide treated nets (ITNs), whereas 25 to 40 percent of people in other African countries with high malaria prevalence use ITNs.

A major concern for Ghana's health infrastructure is the exodus of its trained medical personnel. According to a 2002 report, over 30 percent of all health professionals trained in Ghana during 1993-2002 left the country. Doctors were much more likely to leave than nurses, with 604 of 871 doctors trained during the period leaving the country.

Sources: USAID; www.geographic.org; United Nations Statistics Division; AllAfrica.com: Public Agenda, July 3, 2003, posted to the web July 7, 2003; AllAfrica.com, Interview with Professor Amoa, November 30, 2003; Synergy Project; IRIN

Over the last decade Ghana has consistently spent about 10 percent of its national budget on health. In the 1990s a World Bank analysis found a number of shortcomings in Ghana's health sector:

• too many resources were devoted to curative care relative to preventative care
• too high a proportion of funds were spent on salaries relative to drugs and other medical supplies
• high user fees and other barriers prevented many Ghanaians from gaining access to care.

To address these and other shortcomings in its health sector, in 1997 Ghana adopted a five year Program of Work aimed at improving the availability, efficiency and quality of health services. The government of Ghana provided $360 million for this program, bilateral donors $240 million, and the World Bank $50 million. Gains under that program were "slow and uneven", in the assessement of Danida, one of the bilateral donors. The 1997-2001 program was a precursor to the current effort to bridge the health-care gap in Ghana.

The treatment of TB in Ghana is a particular area where gains can be made. The WHO estimated in 2000 that only 55 percent of TB cases in Ghana were diagnosed and treated under DOTS protocols.

Ghana's Health Ministry is working to fight malaria by providing a 60 percent discount on ITNs for pregnant and nursing women.

Sources: Ghana Health Service; Danida; United Nations Statistics Division; IRIN

Demographic data contained in this section was obtained from the following sources: The Population Reference Bureau’s 2009 World Population Data Sheet was used for total population, life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, fertility, birth rate, death rate, % of married women 15-49 using modern methods of contraception, % of population 15-49 with HIV/AIDS in 2007/2008, and the GNI PPP per capita (2008). Literacy rates were found in the Population Reference Bureau’s publication 2005 Women of Our World. HIV prevalence data for 2001 and 2003 was obtained from the UNAIDS Barcelona 2002 report; HIV prevalence and orphan data for 2005 was obtained from the UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2006. Data on the % women who have discussed AIDS prevention with their husband or partner can be found in ORC Macro and USAID’s Women’s Lives and Experiences: Changes in the Past Ten Years (Research Findings from the Demographic and Health Surveys). Childhood malaria mortality data was accessed in 2003 from the United Nations Statistics Divisions’ Millennium Indicators. Tuberculosis data was obtained from the United Nations Statistics Division’s Millennium Indicators: MDGInfo 2006. In some cases information was unavailable.

About 40 percent of Ghana's health care services are provided by faith-based NGOs represented by the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG). 49 hospitals and 75 clinics are connected to the CHAG network.

Ghana's most advanced hospitals are the two teaching hospitals, Korle-Bu located in the capital city of Accra, and Komfo Anokye in Kumasi. Ghana's AIDS Commission plans to launch an anti-retroviral pilot program in January 2004 at Korle-Bu and Komfo Anokye teachijng hospitals, and also St. Martin's Hospital and Manya-Krobo. The NGO Info-Ghana provides contact information for around 18 hospitals.

Sources: World Bank health sector assessment, Swishweb, Info-Ghana

Centre for Tropical Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital

Korle-bu Teaching Hospital

Navrongo Health Research Center

Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research

Severe Malaria in African Children (SMAC) site ( website )

1. GFATM has approved a grant for $18.5 million to fight malaria in Ghana. The grant agreement has yet to be signed.

   Source: GFATM portfolio of grants in Ghana