Health Care Delivery

Health delivery system in the district is still faced with many problems just as it pertains in most rural communities in Ghana. Prominent among the major issues to be discussed in the health delivery system in the district are prevalence of diseases, availability of health professionals, health infrastructure, status of the District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (DMHIS), access to health facilities and infant mortality rates.

Prevalence of Diseases

The top ten (10) diseases, which are prevalent in the district as at June 2009, are indicated in Table 1.15. There are other diseases that also featured prominently in the district. These are Gynaecological Disorders and Pneumonia.

With the exception of malaria which threatens the health of the people, the inhabitants of the district are relatively healthy as portrayed by the top ten diseases above. Like in the country, malaria is the number one cause of morbidity in the district.

Infant and Maternal Mortality

There are no available records on infant and maternal mortality in the district. This is because the Clinics/Health Centres in the district are not permitted to admit patients but rather detain them for only 24 hours for observation pending referral to any referral facility outside the district. This situation is even exacerbated due to the absence of a Births and Deaths Registry in the district to record such deaths. Lack of data on infant and maternal mortality affects policies in terms of putting measures to curb mortality among infants and mothers.

Status of the District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme

Until 2003, health delivery in the country was based on the "cash and carry" system. The National Health Insurance Scheme has come to replace this system.

Subsequently, the Nkwanta District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (NDMHIS) was instituted in 2004 to cater for the people of the two districts ( i.e Nkwanta North and Nkwanta). The scheme has a Board of trustees in place. The Secretariat at Nkwanta has the full complement of qualified core management staff.

Since the establishment of the scheme in 2004, over 50% of the people have registered with the schemfe as clients. Attempts to access the level of technical performance of the scheme proved futile. However, a good number of ID card bearing clients in the district testified that they benefit from the NDMHIS.

Meanwhile, the Nkwanta North District Assembly is making frantic efforts to establish its own scheme, thus breaking away from Nkwanta South. Health insurance scheme in the district will afford the majority of people to access quality health care.

Accessibility to Health Facilities

The geographical accessibility to health facilities by the people who are mostly farmers is low, as the inadequate health facilities in the district are located long distances from the already scattered communities.   

With the introduction of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) by the Government, OPD attendance has increased appreciably. This low accessibility to health care critically calls for establishment of more facilities.