Media for Health Information Dissemination to Rural Communities by the Ghana Health Service. A Study of the Shai Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating media for disseminating health information to rural communities by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Shai Osudoku district of the greater Accra region. Among the objectives of the study were to identify the media used by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to deliver health information to the people in the district and to unravel the challenges encountered in provision and access to health information using media. A case study approach using the convenient and purposive sampling techniques was used to sample 210 community members within Shai Osudoku district, two directors with the Ghana health service and four community health workers. Descriptive and cross tabulation techniques were used to analyse the quantitative data while qualitative thematic content analysis method was used to analyse the interview data from Ghana health service staff. The outcome of the study revealed that, the Ghana health service mostly relied on print media namely leaflets, posters, billboard etc. and interpersonal channels like doctors, community health workers, family, friends, town cries, group discussions etc. The study also discovered that mobile technology for community health (MoTech) and telehealth are some of the emerging technologies being piloted and used in disseminating health information via the mobile phone to rural communities in the district. Challenges in disseminating health information to communities of the Shai-Osudoku included network connectivity, poor infrastructure, training and sensitization among others. The results of the study suggest that the GHS can enhance its role of disseminating health information by compensating the use of traditional media with the overwhelming advantages of using the new modes or mediums of media such as mobile phones to disseminate health information to rural communities. The study also recommends that future research focus on exploring potential mechanisms for monitoring the quality of health communication using social media.