Skip to main content

Applying an Ecosystem Approach to Community Health Research in Ghana: A Case Study

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Ecosystems and Human Health
  • 1579 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter discusses an ecohealth project that was conducted in a small rural community in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Ghana is located along the West Coast of Africa and has often been referred to as an “island of peace” because of the longstanding tranquility that exist in the country, compared to others in the west africa sub-region. Ghana has population of about 23 million, with about half the population living in rural areas. The population growth rate is estimated at 2.6% with a total fertility rate of 4.0 (WHO Country Profile).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    World health Organization Country profile. http://www.who.int/countries/gha/gha/en/ Accessed May, 10th 2010.

  2. 2.

    WHO Country Cooperation Strategy http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccsbrief_gha_en.pdf. Accessed May 10th 2010.

  3. 3.

    Pito is a local beer made from guinea corn.

  4. 4.

    Previously published in Dakubo, C (2004: 54).

  5. 5.

    Previously published in Dakubo, C (2004: 55).

References

  • Aidoo TA (1982) Rural health under colonialism and neocolonialism: a survey of the Ghanaian experience. Int J Health Serv 12:637–657

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alubo SO (1990) Debt crisis, health and health services in Africa. Soc Sci Med 31:639–648

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anyinam CA (1989) The social costs of the international monetary fund’s adjustment programs for poverty: the case of health care development in Ghana. Int J Health Serv 19:531–547

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley DJ (1993). Environmental and health problems of developing countries. In: Environmental and human health. Wiley, Chichester, pp 234–246. Ciba Foundation Symposium 175

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornia G, Jolly R, Stewart F (1987) Adjustment with a human face. Clarendon, Oxford, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Dakubo C (2004) Ecosystem approach to community health planning in Ghana. EcoHealth1:50–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Dei GJS (1993) Learning in the time of structural adjustment: the Ghanaian experience. Can Int Educ 22(1):43–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer P (2001) Infections and inequalities: the modern plagues. Updated Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghana Living Standards Survey (2000) Ghana statistical service. Ghana Accra, Government of Ghana

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Macro International Inc (1999) Ghana Demographic and health survey. GSS and MI, Calverton, MD

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Macro International Inc (2003) Ghana demographic and health survey. GSS and MI, Calverton, MD

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Macro International Inc (2008) Ghana demographic and health survey. GSS and MI, Calverton, MD

    Google Scholar 

  • Government of Ghana (2008) Budget and Economic Policy Statement of Ghana, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Accra, Ghana

    Google Scholar 

  • Harper J (2004) Breathless in Houston: a political ecology of health approach to understanding environmental health concerns. Med Anthropol 23(4):295–326

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanji N, Kanji N, Manji F (1991) From development to sustained crisis: structural adjustment, equity and health. Soc Sci Med 33:985–993

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler JJ, Van Dorp M (1998) Structural adjustment and the environment: the need for an analytical methodology. Ecol Econ 27:267–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Konadu-Agyemang K, Takyi BK (2001) Structural Adjustment Programs and the political economy of development and underdevelopment in Ghana. In: Konadu-Agyemang K (ed) IMF and World Bank sponsored structural adjustment programs in Africa: Ghana’s experience. 1983–1999 Ashgate Publishing Company, Burlington, VT, pp 17–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunfaa EY (1996). Sustainable rural health services through community-based organisations. Spring Research Series No.16, University of Dortmund. Dortmund: SRING Centre, 1996; p 25, 54

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee RG, Garvin T (2003) Moving from information transfer to information exchange in health and health care. Soc Sci Med 56:449–464

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levins R et al (1994) The emergence of new diseases. Am Sci 82:52–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Maguire P (1996) Considering more feminist participatory research: What’s congruency got to do with it?. Qual Inq 2:106–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minkler M (1994) Challenges for health promotion in the 1990s: social inequities, empowerment, negative consequences, and the common good. Am J Health Promot. 8(6):403–413

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neubauer D, Pratt R (1981) The second public health revolution: a critical appraisal. J Health Polit Pol Law 6(2):205–228

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nyonator F, Kutzin J (1999) Health for some? The effects of user fees in the Volta Region of Ghana. Health Policy Plan 14:329–341

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pierce N (1996) Traditional epidemiology, modern epidemiology and public health. Am J Public Health 86(5):678–683

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Randall P (1998). Health care systems in Africa: Patterns and Prospects. Report from the workshop, health systems and health care: patterns and perspectives. 27–29 April 1998. The North-South Co-ordination Group. University of Copenhagan and The ENRCA Health Network

    Google Scholar 

  • Schrag SJ, Wiener P (1995) Emerging infectious diseases: what are the relative roles of ecology and evolution?. Trends Ecol Evol 10:319–324

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Songsore J (1983) Intraregional and interregional labour migrations in historical perspective: the case of north-western Ghana. University of Port Harcourt, Faculty of Social Sciences, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

    Google Scholar 

  • Susser M, Susser E (1996) Choosing a future for epidemiology: eras and paradigms. Am J Public Health 86:668–673

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Twumasi P (1981) Colonialism and international health: a study in social change in Ghana. Soc Sci Med [Med Anthropol] 15B(2):147–151

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vrijheid M (2000) Health effects of residence near hazardous waste landfill sites: a review of epidemiologic literature. Environ Health Perspect 108(Suppl 1)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallerstein N (1999) Power between evaluator and community: research relationships within New Mexico’s healthier communities. Social Sci Med 49(1):39–53

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2003) Ghana-Second Health Program Support Project. Project Appraisal Document. Project # 24842-GH, Washington D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodward D (1992) Debt, adjustment and poverty in developing countries. Frances Pinter in association with Save the Children, London

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Crescenti Y. Dakubo Ph.D .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Dakubo, C.Y. (2011). Applying an Ecosystem Approach to Community Health Research in Ghana: A Case Study. In: Ecosystems and Human Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0206-1_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0206-1_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0205-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0206-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics