Bridging the gap between evidence-based innovation and national health-sector reform in Ghana.
Although experimental trials often identify optimal strategies for improving community health, transferring operational innovation from well-funded research programs to resource-constrained settings often languishes. Because research initiatives are based in institutions equipped with unique resources and staff capabilities, results are often dismissed by decisionmakers as irrelevant to large-scale operations and national health policy. This article describes an initiative undertaken in Nkwanta District, Ghana, focusing on this problem. The Nkwanta District initiative is a critical link between the experimental study conducted in Navrongo, Ghana, and a national effort to scale up the innovations developed in that study. A 2002 Nkwanta district-level survey provides the basis for assessing the likelihood that the Navrongo model is replicable elsewhere in Ghana. The effect of community-based health planning and services exposure on family planning and safe-motherhood indicators supports the hypothesis that Navrongo effects are transferable to impoverished rural settings elsewhere, confirming the need for strategies to bridge the gap between Navrongo evidence-based innovation and national health-sector reform.
Awoonor-Williams
John Koku
JK
Nkwanta District, Nkwanta Health Development Centre, Ghana Health Service, Volta Region.
Feinglass
Ellie S
ES
Tobey
Rachel
R
Vaughan-Smith
Maya N
MN
Nyonator
Frank K
FK
Jones
Tanya C
TC
D000367:Age Factors; D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors