School-based Health Service Delivery in Ghana: The Actualities of an Observation

Abstract

There is no argument over the importance of students’ health in relation to the attainment of set goals for education. To this end, the study aimed at assessing the state of school-based health service delivery in public senior high/technical schools in Ghana. Focus was on the public senior high/technical schools in the Eastern, Western and Central regions of Ghana. All the 210 public senior high/technical school in the three regions were selected for thestudy. The descriptive cross-sectional census survey was adopted for the study. Data was collected with a structured observation guide (0.78, Cronbach Alpha coefficient) that consisted of three sections and 20 items that looked at the availability and non-availability of indicators of school-based health services delivery. Data collected was analysed with Microsoft Excel (v.2018). Results from the data analysis signposted, among others, that almost half (n=103, 49%) of the 210 public senior high/technical schools in the Eastern, Western and Central regions of Ghana do not have school-based health delivery facility (Sickbay). Also, only 63 (30%) of the 210 schools had a health professional, with only 33 (16%) of these schools having a Medical Doctor visiting once every two weeks. It was recommended, among others, that Government revisits the rationale behind School Health Education Programme (SHEP) to revive the need for health promotion and delivery and also reignite the supposed collaboration betweenthe Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health towards that direction.