title: Women, religion, and maternal health care in Ghana, 1945-2000.
abstract: This article documents the historical factors that led to shifts in mission work toward a greater emphasis on community health for the poor and most vulnerable of society in sub-Saharan Africa after 1945. Using the example of the Medical Mission Sisters from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and their work in Ghana, we challenge the conventional narrative of medical missions as agents of imperialism. We assert that missions-particularly those run by Catholic sister physicians, nurses, and midwives-have changed over time and that those changes have been beneficial to the expansion of community health, particularly in the area of improvement of maternal care.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Barbra Mann
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Wall
mesh_terms: D057191:Capacity Building; D002410:Catholicism; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000266:history* / Q000458:organization & administration; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000379:methods; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D008921:Religious Missions / Q000266:history*; D012579:Schools, Nursing; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D014931:Women, Working