Ghana - Investment in health education for quality health care delivery

Author(s):  
Nafiu Aminu ◽  
Mahmud Sani Gwarzo

Counterfeit drugs (CDs) continue to cause serious public health problems in many countries around the globe, particularly in the African countries which are their major consumers. Soft penalties for the drug counterfeiters; recent increase in internet commerce; ignorance and lack of effective partnership between drug companies, drug regulatory agencies, law enforcement bodies, customs, among others, have contributed to the rise in counterfeiting menace. However, governments at various levels in some of the affected countries do not accede to the menace of CDs, as they are implementing many strategies through the recent innovations and advancement in technology to curtail it. Nevertheless, there is still needs for taking more rigorous steps to achieve complete eradication of the crime. This review article presented the impact of CDs in the Africa’s quality health-care delivery, with particular attention to the causes, magnitude, and consequences. The review also identifies areas where concerted drug policies and actions are required to eradicate the drug counterfeiting crimes and also provides suggestions to drug’s policymakers and relevant stakeholders that may be useful in making decisions that can safeguard the public from the danger of CDs.


Author(s):  
Benson Chukwunweike Ephraim-Emmanuel ◽  
Adetutu Adigwe ◽  
Roland Oyeghe ◽  
Daprim S. T. Ogaji

The delivery of high quality health care is crucial to achieving enhanced health benefits, patient safety and a positive patient experience of health care. This article provides insight on the quality of the health care delivery in Nigeria and aim to uncover if quality health care in Nigeria is a reality or a myth. Relevant information was abstracted from included articles and used to provide both descriptive and analytical discourse on the subject. Discussions and reflections were carried out along an established quality framework of treatment effectiveness, acceptability, efficiency, the appropriateness of the means of delivery as well as equity. The slow pace of development of quality systems in health service delivery in Nigeria is evidenced by the poor quality of health services as well as the poor health status of the population. The pace of developing quality systems in health care delivery in Nigeria is unsatisfactory. There is a need to galvanise the efforts of relevant stakeholders including the patient in charting a new agenda for health care quality improvement in Nigeria.


Author(s):  
Blánaid Daly ◽  
Paul Batchelor ◽  
Elizabeth Treasure ◽  
Richard Watt

Earlier chapters have highlighted the influence the medical model of health has had on both the philosophy of health care and the structures devised to deliver health care including dental care. The overriding influences of the medical model are the downstream focus on treatment of disease and the communication gap caused by differing concepts of health and need held by lay people and health professionals. Problems with health care delivery operate at a macro level (i.e. overall policy for and structure of health care) and at a micro level (how health care is delivered, one-to-one communication, and interaction with the patient and members of the dental team). Chapter 18 has described some of the specific problems with health care at the macro level. In this chapter we shall also look at some of the problems with how health care is delivered and problems with health services at the level of the user and the provider of health care. What should good health care look like? Maxwell (1984) defined six characteristics of a high-quality health care. Services should to be equitable (fair), accessible, relevant to health care needs, effective, efficient, and socially acceptable. There are recognized inequities in how health care is distributed; urban areas are often better provided for compared to rural areas, and hospital-based health care consumes more resources than community-based care. Not everyone has equal access to health care; for example, people living in deprived communities with greater health need have fewer doctors and dentists compared to richer areas with fewer health care needs. This phenomenon has been described as the inverse care law (Tudor Hart 1971). Uncomfortable choices and rationing have to take place in allocating health care resources. Ideally, these decisions should be based on the greatest health need (and the capacity to benefit) rather than who has the loudest voice. The focus on treatment inherent in the medical model of health means that resources are spent on high-technology medicine and hospitals, while programmes to prevent disease are poorly supported and resourced. There is an expectation that there will be a magic bullet for every health problem, yet most chronic diseases have no cure. People learn to adapt and cope with their chronic illness rather than recover.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekpomebe Elozino ◽  
Leonard E. Ananomo ◽  
Andrew Abanum Onome Vivian

The significance of health to national development and poverty eradication over the centuries, in that improving health status and increasing life expectancy adds to long term economic growth. This article examined the condition of health education and community mobilization in Nigeria's health care delivery. Health literacy is imperative to power and sustains government efforts in fostering health for all. Many developing countries, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the 1970s witnessed remarkable and improper inequalities in the provision and delivery of health services. This contributed to and explained the exploration of diverse approaches to enhance health care delivery by international health organizations.


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