ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTH PLANNING AND SERVICES (CHPS) IN HEALTH CARE DELIVERY A CASE STUDY OF THE KASSENA – NANKANA DISTRICT OF GHANA

Abstract

The world as a whole and Ghana in particular is faced with various kinds of health problems, such as poverty, inadequate health facilities, lack of good roads to convey patients, lack of logistics for effective and efficient health service delivery, and many more. These factors have negative repercussions on health status of Ghanaians such as high rate of maternal and infant mortality and poor service delivery at the health sector. Adopted in 1999, CHPS is a national health policy initiative that aims to reduce barriers to geographical access to health care. Hence the study set out to assess community participation in the CHPS programme using the Kassena- Nankana District as case study. Descriptive design was adopted for the study. Descriptive statistics such as tables and figures were also employed to present data analyzed with the aid of the SPSS version 21.0. In all a sample of 146 respondents were drawn comprising people who are community members as well as staff of the healthcare centers. Interviews were conducted in assessing views on the issues of local knowledge as well as performance of the CHPS programme. The study revealed that, opinion leaders were inform of its establishment and aside, respondents expressed their knowledge on the fact that it has existed for over a year. Also most of the respondents reported that they have knowledge of the CHPS concept and understand the concept as well. However, it was revealed that community members do not participate fully in the decision – making of the CHPS programme. Some were of the view that they are completely neglected in the process. Additionally, the CHPS programme is fulfilling the initial intent of providing accessible health care to the people in the selected communities and by so doing the author can conclude that although the CHPS programme is bedeviled with some challenges, it has significantly impacted positively on the health of the people in the district. It is recommended that civil society organizations should support efforts by government in providing healthcare to those at the grass root.