By Gloria Edinam Afful
The Executive Director of Women, Media and Change, WOMEC, Dr. Charity Binka, has urged journalists to take a keen interest in urban health reporting so as to educate the public and bring to their attention health issues of concern for proper redress.
In an interview with a GBC News reporter, Dr. Binka said the increase in the number of people in the urban areas poses a serious threat to their health as well as health facilities making it a critical area for journalists to be interested in. She explained some key elements to note in urban health reporting.
A Lecturer at the School of Public Health at the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Ada Nwameme, said statistics from the World Health Organization indicate that over 55 percent of the world’s population live in urban areas and this is set to rise to 68 percent by 2050. Almost 40 percent of urban dwellers have no access to safely managed sanitation services and many lack access to adequate drinking water.
She indicated that health is an individual right that must be well catered for and explained the importance of social determinants of health. They include impacting on people’s health, predicting inequalities in the health system, and structuring behaviours. Health inequalities in urban areas according to Dr. Nwameme continue to grow yet the focus on urban health has not increased at a commensurate rate.
She indicated that the Community-Led Responsive and Effective Urban Health Systems, CHORUS Ghana, is undertaking a six-year research project to look at challenges in the health system in two communities in Ghana.
The CHORUS project which began in 2020 to 2026, is a multi-country Research Programme Consortium focusing on building resilient urban health systems with funding from United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
