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"I tell you, getting data for this is hell"–Exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana
After several years of over concentration on communicable diseases, Ghana has finally made notable strides in the prevention of NCDs by introducing key policies and programmes. Evident shows that there is limited NCD-related data on mortality and risk factors to inform NCD policy, planning, and impl...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10449463/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37616207 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002308 |
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author | Owusu, Mark Fordjour Adu, Joseph Dortey, Benjamin Ansah |
author_facet | Owusu, Mark Fordjour Adu, Joseph Dortey, Benjamin Ansah |
author_sort | Owusu, Mark Fordjour |
collection | PubMed |
description | After several years of over concentration on communicable diseases, Ghana has finally made notable strides in the prevention of NCDs by introducing key policies and programmes. Evident shows that there is limited NCD-related data on mortality and risk factors to inform NCD policy, planning, and implementation in Ghana. We explored the evidence base for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana. A qualitative approach was adopted using key informant interviews and documents as data sources. An adaptation of the framework method for analysing qualitative data by Gale and colleagues’ (2013) was used to analyse data. Our findings show that effort has been made in terms of institutions and systems to provide evidence for the policy process with the creation of the Centre for Health Information Management and the District Health Information Management System. Although there is overreliance on routine facility data, policies have also been framed using surveys, burden of disease estimates, monitoring reports, and systematic reviews. There is little emphasis on content analysis, key informant interviews, case studies, and implementation science techniques in the policy process of Ghana. Inadequate and poor data quality are key challenges that confront policymakers. Ghana has improved its information infrastructure but access to quality noncommunicable disease data remains a daunting challenge. A broader framework for the integration of different sources of data such as verbal autopsies and natural experiments is needed while strengthening existing systems. This, however, requires greater investments in personnel and logistics at national and district levels. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10449463 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-104494632023-08-25 "I tell you, getting data for this is hell"–Exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana Owusu, Mark Fordjour Adu, Joseph Dortey, Benjamin Ansah PLOS Glob Public Health Research Article After several years of over concentration on communicable diseases, Ghana has finally made notable strides in the prevention of NCDs by introducing key policies and programmes. Evident shows that there is limited NCD-related data on mortality and risk factors to inform NCD policy, planning, and implementation in Ghana. We explored the evidence base for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana. A qualitative approach was adopted using key informant interviews and documents as data sources. An adaptation of the framework method for analysing qualitative data by Gale and colleagues’ (2013) was used to analyse data. Our findings show that effort has been made in terms of institutions and systems to provide evidence for the policy process with the creation of the Centre for Health Information Management and the District Health Information Management System. Although there is overreliance on routine facility data, policies have also been framed using surveys, burden of disease estimates, monitoring reports, and systematic reviews. There is little emphasis on content analysis, key informant interviews, case studies, and implementation science techniques in the policy process of Ghana. Inadequate and poor data quality are key challenges that confront policymakers. Ghana has improved its information infrastructure but access to quality noncommunicable disease data remains a daunting challenge. A broader framework for the integration of different sources of data such as verbal autopsies and natural experiments is needed while strengthening existing systems. This, however, requires greater investments in personnel and logistics at national and district levels. Public Library of Science 2023-08-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10449463/ /pubmed/37616207 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002308 Text en © 2023 Owusu et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Owusu, Mark Fordjour Adu, Joseph Dortey, Benjamin Ansah "I tell you, getting data for this is hell"–Exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana |
title | "I tell you, getting data for this is hell"–Exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana |
title_full | "I tell you, getting data for this is hell"–Exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana |
title_fullStr | "I tell you, getting data for this is hell"–Exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana |
title_full_unstemmed | "I tell you, getting data for this is hell"–Exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana |
title_short | "I tell you, getting data for this is hell"–Exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in Ghana |
title_sort | "i tell you, getting data for this is hell"–exploring the use of evidence for noncommunicable disease policies in ghana |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10449463/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37616207 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002308 |
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