Suchergebnisse

English
Despite more than a decade of the Safe Motherhood Initiative in Ghana, access and utilisation levels of modern healthcare services by expecting mothers remain very low, even though considerable progress has been made over time. Using Andersen's behavioural model (1968, 1995) as the conceptual framework, the study examines, with data from Ghana DHS (GSS and MI, 1999), user-related social, economic and demographic factors that influence access and utilisation of safe motherhood services. The bivariate and multivariate analyses reveal that education of mother and spouse, regional location of residence and socioeconomic status exert the strongest impact and are significant in predicting the use of safe motherhood services and thus differentials in health among expecting mothers. The implications of these results for improved maternal healthcare are discussed.

Between 1987 and 1999, Ghana's privatisation programme generated revenues for the government equivalent to about 14 per cent of GDP from a moribund public sector which had previously been dependent on state subventions, and thus succeeded in fulfilling a key role in easing the fiscal crisis and in fostering the Structural Adjustment Programme. The big question remained, however, whether the privatisation process would help the growth of Ghana's economy and help maximise political gains. This article reviews the experience of Ghana in privatising public enterprises, and assesses the impact of the ongoing privatisation programme on the Ghanaian economy. It suggests that, in spite of the high proceeds, the net direct revenues from privatisation have been relatively modest, due to the high outstanding credit sales, the high costs of divestiture and high outstanding liabilities of privatised firms. It also appears that the programme has placed too much emphasis on public finance rationalisation and faith in the market system, and too little on sociopolitical and regulatory issues. Equally, the inadequate attention given to post-privatisation regulation of privatised businesses, and the use of the divestiture programme as a political patronage instrument to reward the regime's friends and political insiders, has conferred limited success for privatisation in achieving its goal of enhancing efficiency, private sector investment and employment.