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research-article |
The Role of Health Survey Research in Maternal and Child Health/Family Planning Programmes: Danfa Project, Ghana
Department of Community Health, University of Ghana Medical School and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health
Department of Community Health, University of Ghana Medical School
Department of Community Health, University of Ghana Medical School and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health
Department of Community Health, University of Ghana Medical School
Accurate information about the health status of rural populations in less developed countries is needed to plan adequate, relevant and cost effective health services. This information is particularly important in integrated programmes of maternal and child health and family planning services which are based on the rationale that family planning acceptance is, to a great extent, dependent on reduced morbidity and mortality rates.
Two health assessment instruments—the morbidity questionnaire and accompanying physical examination—are being used in the Danfa Comprehensive Rural Health and Family Planning Project, Ghana, to help provide information about Ghanaian villagers and thereby relate health services to needs. In the initial Village Health Survey in early 1973, over 3,700 men, women and children in the project's research area were randomly selected and examined by project staff. Already, preliminary results of the survey have helped to direct the attention of health planners and health educators. Additional studies in this survey will relate parity, birth interval and family size to family health in an effort to delineate the relationship between family planning and improved maternal and child health.