Communications for Better Health (CBH) - Ghana

CBH is initiated within a hospital setting, university, or medical library. The site is often determined through contacts with a country's Ministry of Health and/or local NGOs. An assessment of the site's computer technology usually leads to provision, by DHF, of some computer hardware and software, such as CD-ROM technology and databases such as MEDLINE, PASCAL, and LILACS. Local users are trained to search these databases.

Two types of printed materials are produced as a result. First, current health information is disseminated through a locally prepared 'Ghana Health Digest'. The selection of abstracts (from MEDLINE, for example) takes into consideration local health conditions, and is adapted accordingly. The digest also contains relevant articles written by local health specialists (such as "A Guide to Malaria Prevention and Control"), summaries of findings from community health projects, personal health experiences, interviews, "Frequently asked Questions," "Questionnaires and Answers," and quizzes. 2500 copies of the digest are distributed quarterly to health professionals across the country (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and medical students) via hospitals, clinics, medical libraries, and the District Health Management Teams of the Ministry of Health. Through an order form in the digest, users may request full-text articles of abstracts or database searches on specific topics of health and medical interest.

Second, local databases are created by local health professionals and other interested parties, who, working together, select information from international resources and from in-country or regional colleagues. Solutions to common local health problems are also gleaned from local health professionals. The database of local health information is kept in each country's information centre (head office) in paper format (and often in electronic format, also). People call and visit the centres for local and international medical information.

A national version of this database, the African Index Medicus (AIM), is being developed. AIM provides an index of African health literature and information sources using CDS-ISIS software. AIM identifies bibliographic sources and includes databases on information experts and sources of research in health-related areas of African countries.

The public is reached through television and the newspaper. Highlights from the digest are read bi-weekly on the "National Morning Breakfast Show" on Ghana Television (GTV); the Daily Graphic Newspaper has featured several articles in its weekly health column. HFG is also negotiating with Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to broadcast information from the digest on the radio.

Basic health information on topics covered includes: typhoid fever, meningococcal disease, water borne diseases, diarrhoea, worm infestation, epilepsy, cardio-vascular diseases, HIV/AIDS, maternal health, infertility, teenage pregnancy, jaundice in infants, drugs, immunisations, CPR, and stress. All content is collected, organised, and adapted by HFG staff, and is then reviewed and edited by the local editorial board, which is composed of faculty from the University of Ghana Medical School and Ghanaian doctors.

Health.

Programme organisers were motivated by the observation that health information in Ghana is limited. In urban areas, the high cost of books and journals is prohibitive; library collections are often outdated, irregular, and incomplete. In rural areas, poverty and lack of telecommunication services make access to this information difficult.

As of 2002, there are fifteen CBH sites.