Social, Economic and Political Influences on Risk Factors of Non-Communicable Diseases in Ghana.

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2018-12

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University of Ghana

Abstract

Poor health, especially in developing countries like Ghana, remains a major developmental challenge. This has resulted not only due to lack of resources but also due to poor governance and misplaced priorities. Many studies have looked at the occurrence of diseases in Ghana and note that, non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, strokes, cancers and chronic kidney conditions have caused disabilities and also hold back economic development. Even though research findings show the need to reduce the occurrence of non-communicable diseases, not much has been achieved because, a greater part of the efforts are clinical and curative based rather than preventive. For example, the differences in social, economic and political influences on the risk factors for non-ccommunicable diseases have not been given the necessary attention. Differences in occupational hazards, stress, places of residence, educational status, poverty, income levels, government regulations, health care system, access to media, social protection practices and host of others influence the occurrence of noncommunicable diseases within the population. It is in line with this gap in the literature that this study investigated the social, economic and political influences on risk factors for non-communicable diseases in Ghana. It was a cross-sectional study with mixed method approach. The study employed three separate data sets: hospital databases of 6,422,865 patients’ records, the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, 2014 with a survey sample of 12,831 but filtered to obtain a sample of 4,122 for the current study and a qualitative data of 32 interviews. The qualitative data in 4 Regions in Ghana were conducted by taking life histories of people living with noncommunicbale diseases (In-depth interviews), key informant interviews were done with Health Care Professionals and Health Policy Makers, and 6 focus group discussions were conducted. Trend analysis was employed to ascertain a 5-year trend of non-communicable diseases using hospitals based data. Descriptive statistics were generated from both the hospital databases and the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, 2014. Probit regression analyses were also employed with a common alpha value (p = 0.05) and the differences in social, economic and political influences were discussed. Thematic analyses were also used as explanatory model on the differences in social, economic and political influences as well as the social protection practices to further explain the quantitative data. Concentration curves models were employed to assess the degree of distribution of social, economic and political influences on non-communicable diseases risk factors of alcohol consumption, tobacco use, dietary practices and physical inactivity.The study found that, not all the differences in social, economic and political influences were significant to the risk factors of non-communicable diseases. Among the significant associations, the study found statistically significant relationship between differences in educational status and alcohol consumption (p=0.009), differences in places of residence and tobacco use (p=0.000), differences in places of residence and physical activities (p=0.000), Differences in occupational status and alcohol consumption (p=0.000), differences in occupational status and tobacco use (p=0.000), wealth quintiles and alcohol consumption (p=0.007) and differences in access to media and dietary practices (0.009). The study noted that, poverty status was the greatest influence on all the risk factors of non-communicable diseases. Again, the study found out of the concentration curve models that, there was near equal distribution of unhealthy dietary practices among the rich and poor in Ghana with the rich more inclined to do so than the poor. Moreover, the concentration curve model revealed that, 40% of the rich performs 20% of physical activities and thereby implying that, physical activities are disproportionately concnentrated among the rich. The study noted that, there was a bit of concentration of alcohol consumption among the middle to upper weath quintiles. However, it was found that, wealth quintles and tobacco consumption were equally distributed implyimg that, wealth quintiles does not influence tobacco use. Again, the major social protection for the people living with non-communicable diseases was National Health Insurance scheme followed by remittances. In conclusion, the study found that, even though noncommunicable diseases are the leading cause of hospitals admissions and deaths in Ghana, the reported cases decreased especially from 2013 to 2015 due to some initial policies taken to address non-communicable diseases occurrence by stakeholders. Key words: Social, Economic, Political, Influences, Risk Factors, Non Communicable Diseases, Ghana

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Non-Communicable Diseases, Ghana

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