Abstract
Education and health care policies in Ghana since independence have been universalist in approach providing free universal health care and free basic and tertiary education until the early 1980s. Precipitated primarily by a severe drought, stagnant economic growth, mismanagement, and political instability, Ghana undertook major economic reforms with prodding from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in a bid to salvage the economy. These economic measures included cost recovery and cutback spending in education and health sectors. However, in recent years, purposive targeted interventions have been pursued to address inequalities in education and health care. These new programs include the Education Capitation Grant, school feeding program, and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which are propelling Ghana toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The prospects of these programs in addressing disparities in access to education and health care in the country and recommendations for improved delivery are discussed.
Highlights
Ghana is located in West Africa with Accra as its capital
Welfare policies are fundamental to the well-being of the citizenry and more so critical to the protection of the most vulnerable citizens
It is clear from our analysis that significant improvements have been made in the past two decades in education and health sectors, which offer some hope that Ghana could meet some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets on poverty reduction, education, and health by 2015
Summary
Ghana is located in West Africa with Accra as its capital. With a population of approximately 25 million (Ghana Statistical Service [GSS], 2012), the country is divided into 10 administrative regions. Ghana was 1 of 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa selected to implement a pilot school feeding program under the auspices of the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) as described in the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Pillar 3 (WFP, 2007). Consistent with the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II), the Ghana school feeding program was launched in 2005 as a pilot program in one district each of the 10 administrative regions to provide at least one hot nutritious meal a day in the poorest areas of the country (Jones et al, 2009). According to USAID-EQUIPI, the program resulted in school enrollment increase of 33%, and girls attendance increased by 85%. These programs made positive impacts, the food was imported from foreign countries with limited coverage. The government of Ghana launched its own school feeding program in 2005 using the concept of home-grown school feeding program (Ghana School Feeding Program, 2015; WFP, 2007)
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