Table 1. Overview of Ghana and its health care system.
| Socio-economic and demographic characteristics |
| • Land area: 239,000sq.km |
| • Administrative regions: 10 |
| • Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs): 216 |
| • Total Ghanaian population1: 26.9 million (51% females & 49% males) |
| • Population density1: 109 persons per sq.km |
| • Rural-urban distribution1: 70% lives in urban/peri-urban areas & 30% lives in rural areas |
| • Gross Domestic Product (GDP)2: 7.6% |
| • Dependency ratio3: 0.72 per productive member |
| • Gross national income per capita (as at 2013): US$1,770 |
| • Percentage of population working in informal sector: 67% |
| Health indicators4 |
| • Government of Ghana (GoG) budget allocation to health (as at 2013): 10.6% |
| • Live expectancy at birth (as at 2013): 62 years |
| • Doctor: population ratio (as at 2012): 1: 10,452 |
| • Nurse: population ratio (as at 2012): 1: 1,251 |
| • Number of public and private health care facilities (all levels): Over 5,000 |
| The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana5 |
| • NHIS implementation started: 2004 |
| • Legislation: parliamentary Act 650 & amended Act: 852 |
| • NHIA Funding sources: |
| ▪ National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL): approximately 70% |
| ▪ Social security and national insurance trust (SSNIT): approximately 17% |
| ▪ Premiums: approximately 4% |
| ▪ Other source: approximately 8% |
| • Active membership by category |
| ▪ Persons aged 70+ years: 4.5% |
| ▪ Indigents: 4.4% |
| ▪ Informal workers: 35.5% |
| ▪ SSNIT contributors: 4.2% |
| ▪ SSNIT pensioners: 0.3% |
| ▪ Persons under 18 years: 51.2% |
| • Coverage |
| ▪ About 40% of Ghanaians are registered with the NHIS as active members ▪ Free NHIS services to pregnant women registered with the scheme |
Source: Information aggregated by authors based on reviewed literature
Legend: NHIS (National Health Insurance Authority); SNNIT (Social Security and National Insurance Trust); NHIL (National Health Insurance Levy); NHIA (National Health Insurance Authority); GoG (Government of Ghana); MMDAs (Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies); GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
1Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). Population and Housing Census Report: Millennium Development Goals in Ghana, GSS, Accra Ghana, 2015
2World Development Index (WDI). Education Statistics. World Bank Data. Washington, DC, 2015
3World Bank. Ghana overview: recent economic developments. World Bank Official Website, 2015
4Ministry of Health (MoH). Wholistic Assessment of the Health Sector Programme of Work. MoH Official Website, Accra Ghana, 2014
5Tweneboa NA. National Health Insurance Accreditation in Ghana, Presentation, Conference Presentation. Cape Town, South Africa, 2011.