Characteristics of Inpatient Hypertension Cases and Factors Associated with Admission Outcomes in Ashanti Region, Ghana: An Analytic Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Hypertension remains a cause of morbidity and mortality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It has been featured in the top ten causes of OPD attendance, admissions, and deaths since 2012. We investigated the sociodemographic characteristics and spatial distribution of inpatient hypertensives and factors associated with their admission outcomes.

'Some patients are more equal than others': Patient-centred care differential in two-tier inpatient ward hospitals in Ghana.

Objective: To examine differences in patient-centred care among private and public inpatients in public hospitals and whether satisfaction with patient-centred care differ between the patient groups.

Method: Cross-sectional data collected from inpatients in private wards (n=300) and public wards (n=520) in Ghana, using a structured questionnaire modelled on four dimensions of patient-centred care: respect and dignity, emotional support, interpersonal relations and information sharing.

Results: Patient-centred care differed significantly among private and public patients (p<0.

Evaluation of facilitative supervision visits in primary health care service delivery in Northern Ghana.

Background: In Ghana's health delivery services, facilitative supervisory visit (FSV) as a system of management is new. This paper presents the standard evaluation results of FSV, which formed an integral part of the community-based health planning services (CHPS) initiative.

Methods: The study was conducted in the Upper West Region of Ghana.

Progress with the implementation of kangaroo mother care in four regions in Ghana.

Aim: To measure progress with the implementation of kangaroo mother care (KMC) for low birth-weight (LBW) infants at a health systems level.

Design: Action research design, with district and regional hospitals as the unit of analysis.

Setting: Four regions in Ghana, identified by the Ghana Health Service and UNICEF.

A nationwide quality improvement project to accelerate Ghana's progress toward Millennium Development Goal Four: design and implementation progress.

Quality Problem: The gap between evidence-based guidelines and practice of care is reflected, in low- and middle-income countries, by high rates of maternal and child mortality and limited effectiveness of large-scale programing to decrease those rates.

Choice Of Solution: We designed a phased, rapid, national scale-up quality improvement (QI) intervention to accelerate the achievement of Millennium Development Goal Four in Ghana. Our intervention promoted systems thinking, active participation of managers and frontline providers, generation and testing of local change ideas using iterative learning from transparent district and local data, local ownership and sustainability.