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).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
World health Organization Country profile. http://www.who.int/countries/gha/gha/en/ Accessed May, 10th 2010.
- 2.
WHO Country Cooperation Strategy http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccsbrief_gha_en.pdf. Accessed May 10th 2010.
- 3.
Pito is a local beer made from guinea corn.
- 4.
Previously published in Dakubo, C (2004: 54).
- 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
Alubo SO (1990) Debt crisis, health and health services in Africa. Soc Sci Med 31:639–648
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
Bradley DJ (1993). Environmental and health problems of developing countries. In: Environmental and human health. Wiley, Chichester, pp 234–246. Ciba Foundation Symposium 175
Cornia G, Jolly R, Stewart F (1987) Adjustment with a human face. Clarendon, Oxford, UK
Dakubo C (2004) Ecosystem approach to community health planning in Ghana. EcoHealth1:50–59
Dei GJS (1993) Learning in the time of structural adjustment: the Ghanaian experience. Can Int Educ 22(1):43–65
Farmer P (2001) Infections and inequalities: the modern plagues. Updated Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA
Ghana Living Standards Survey (2000) Ghana statistical service. Ghana Accra, Government of Ghana
Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Macro International Inc (1999) Ghana Demographic and health survey. GSS and MI, Calverton, MD
Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Macro International Inc (2003) Ghana demographic and health survey. GSS and MI, Calverton, MD
Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Macro International Inc (2008) Ghana demographic and health survey. GSS and MI, Calverton, MD
Government of Ghana (2008) Budget and Economic Policy Statement of Ghana, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Accra, Ghana
Harper J (2004) Breathless in Houston: a political ecology of health approach to understanding environmental health concerns. Med Anthropol 23(4):295–326
Kanji N, Kanji N, Manji F (1991) From development to sustained crisis: structural adjustment, equity and health. Soc Sci Med 33:985–993
Kessler JJ, Van Dorp M (1998) Structural adjustment and the environment: the need for an analytical methodology. Ecol Econ 27:267–281
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
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
Lee RG, Garvin T (2003) Moving from information transfer to information exchange in health and health care. Soc Sci Med 56:449–464
Levins R et al (1994) The emergence of new diseases. Am Sci 82:52–60
Maguire P (1996) Considering more feminist participatory research: What’s congruency got to do with it?. Qual Inq 2:106–108
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
Neubauer D, Pratt R (1981) The second public health revolution: a critical appraisal. J Health Polit Pol Law 6(2):205–228
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
Pierce N (1996) Traditional epidemiology, modern epidemiology and public health. Am J Public Health 86(5):678–683
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
Schrag SJ, Wiener P (1995) Emerging infectious diseases: what are the relative roles of ecology and evolution?. Trends Ecol Evol 10:319–324
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
Susser M, Susser E (1996) Choosing a future for epidemiology: eras and paradigms. Am J Public Health 86:668–673
Twumasi P (1981) Colonialism and international health: a study in social change in Ghana. Soc Sci Med [Med Anthropol] 15B(2):147–151
Vrijheid M (2000) Health effects of residence near hazardous waste landfill sites: a review of epidemiologic literature. Environ Health Perspect 108(Suppl 1)
Wallerstein N (1999) Power between evaluator and community: research relationships within New Mexico’s healthier communities. Social Sci Med 49(1):39–53
World Bank (2003) Ghana-Second Health Program Support Project. Project Appraisal Document. Project # 24842-GH, Washington D.C.
Woodward D (1992) Debt, adjustment and poverty in developing countries. Frances Pinter in association with Save the Children, London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights 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)