Health in Ghana

Physicians at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH)
Health indicators
Life expectancy	66
Infant mortality	39
Fertility	2.12
Sanitation	14% (2010)
Smoker	1%
Obesity female	7%
Obesity male	2%
Malnutrition	1%
HIV	0.7%

In precolonial Ghana, infectious diseases were the main cause of morbidity and mortality.^[1] The modern history of health in Ghana was heavily influenced by international actors such as Christian missionaries, European colonists, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.^[2] In addition, the democratic shift in Ghana spurred healthcare reforms in an attempt to address the presence of infectious and noncommunicable diseases eventually resulting in the formation of the National Health insurance Scheme in place today.^[1][3]

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative^[4] finds that Ghana is fulfilling 67.1% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income.^[5] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Ghana achieves 89.3% of what is expected based on its current income.^[6] In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 78.0% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. ^[7] Ghana falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling only 34.1% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.^[8]