Table 2.

Trends in the performance of the Ghanaian health system

Indicator	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Health status indicators:
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)	61.56	61.86	62.15	62.45	62.74	63.03	63.4
Death rate, crude (per 1000 people)	8.8	8.7	8.4	8.3	8.1	8.0	–
Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births)	29	28	27	26	25.1	24.2	–
Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births)	44.8	42.8	40.7	38.9	37.2	35.7	–
Under-5 mortality rate (per 1000 live births)	65.2	61.5	58	54.7	51.8	49.3	–
Prevalence of HIV, total (% of population ages 15–49)	1.9	1.8	1.8	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7
Malaria under-5 case fatality rate	0.76	0.69	0.54	0.51	0.32	0.2	0.16
Tuberculosis treatment success rate	84	85	87	85	86	87	86
DALY rate per 100,000 individuals	52,138.7	50,693.7	49,503.3	48,514.9	47,401.8	45,910.5	–
Health workforce indicators:
Physician to population ratio	1:11,515	1;10,170	1:9043	1:8934	1:8301	1:8100	1:7196
Nurse to population ratio	1:1362	1:1084	1:959	1:865	1:834	1:799	1:839
Midwife to women in fertility age ratio	1:1611	1:1525	1:1374	1:1216	1:943	1:746	1:689
Health financing indicators:
Total health expenditure as a % of GDP	5.5	6.1	5.6	6.1	4.4	–	–
Health expenditure as a % of government expenditure	7.6	9.3	10.6	7.0	6.8	6.5	–
Out-of-pocket expenditure (% of current health expenditure)	39.8	38.9	45.1	35.8	37.8	–	–
Per capita expenditure on health (US$)	89.85	111.04	81.52	82.41	67.51	–	–
Health services utilization:
Outpatient services utilization per capita	1.17	1.16	1.15	1.08	1.06	0.98	1.05

DALY Disability Adjusted Life Years.

Data sources: Ministry of Health Ghana Holistic Assessment Report, 2014–2018; The World Bank; National Health Account of Ghana, 2015; Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, 2014.