DANFA RURAL HEALTH/FAMILY PLANNING

The project will be implemented through an institutional development agreement with the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). The project will have four basic activities. First, it will investigate factors that are associated with health and family planning by analyzing records at the Danfa Rural Health Center and at health posts, studying community participation in health programs, and conducting KAP surveys and longitudinal studies of relationships between health and the physical and social environment. Second, it will strengthen the capacity of Ghana Medical School, which will be responsible for training medical students, doctors, other health professionals, and paramedicals in the special problems of rural health care and family planning. Doctors will also be trained in the management of rural health districts. New curricula will be developed in support of the training. Third, the project will demonstrate several cost-effective health care/family planning systems. Activities will include developing new methods of expanding family planning services and conducting evaluations of the satellite clinic concept, of community-based and mass approaches to health delivery, and of the use of volunteer and traditional health workers. The project will also conduct various educational activities to increase community involvement in planning and providing health services, will analyze the costs of alternative delivery mechanisms, and seek to simplify health-related procedures where possible. Finally, the project will transfer its research findings to Ghana"s official health and family planning organizations by establishing linkages, conducting workshops, and publishing a wide variety of papers and articles.