DWW received an appeal from NOGAID Ghana a local NGO from Ghana. They asked DWW to send its volunteers to Tamale, in the North of the country for help. DWW sent two assessment teams, a summary of findings are listed below:
Althugh Ghana’s health indicators are better thaon some other sub-Saharan countries, health inequalities are very high and particularly Northern regions are most underdeveloped areas and their health indicators are worst than country average.
- Health facilities are very poor in north and particularly very poor in terms of medical equipment and personnel.
- Safe drinking water is a big problem in the north.
- Local government officials and NGO s are open for co-operation with INGOs.
- DWW can help through volunteers to fill the medical personnel vacuum.
- DWW can help for water projects in northern region.
- Local NGO (NOGAID) is well organized in the region and DWW can operate with them for its projects.
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Current projects
1. Teaching and training at Tamale hospital: main areas which DWW teams identified as possible for training are:
- Trauma life support and resuscitation
- medical emergencies
- paediatric resuscitation
- general paediatrics
2. Clinical help: Sending volunteers to help local government clinics. There are only 22 doctors for 2.2 million population in government clinics so DWW volunteers could help to fill this need. General practitioners and resident level medical doctors needed for this project.
As part of above projects DWW has sent 7 volunteers to the region so far and will be sending more soon. 3. Water aid: DWW is trying to support local communities in terms of providing safe drinking water. Guinea worm is very common parasites in the area (90% of all national cases are in Northern region) so safe drinking water is crucial to prevent from this fatal disease. DWW is planning various water provision startegies. |
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Fact File
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Total population
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22,113,000 |
Gross national income per capita (PPP international $) |
2,370 |
Life expectancy at birth m/f (years) |
56/ 58 |
Healthy life expectancy at birth m/f (years, 2002) |
49/ 50
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Probability of dying under five (per 1 000 live births) |
112 |
Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years m/f (per 1 000 population) |
355/ 322 |
expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2004) |
95 |
Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (2004) |
6.7 |
See More Facts...
(Source: WHO) |
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