Medical care

With a population of almost twenty-five million, roughly seventy to seventy-five per cent live rurally as subsistence farmers or fishermen. Someone born in such a village may live their entire life without access to medical care.

The healthcare system has five levels: health posts, health centres and clinics, district hospitals, regional hospitals and tertiary hospitals. Urban centres are well served and hold the majority of the country's hospitals, clinics and pharmacies. Rural areas often have no modern healthcare at all — patients rely on traditional medicine, or travel great distances if they can afford to.

Ghana has made real progress, but still faces malaria, HIV/AIDS, maternal and infant mortality, and a crippling shortage of health professionals — all of which widen the gap between urban and rural, rich and poor.

What we treat

Malaria and malaria-treated mosquito nets. Malnutrition. Pre-natal care. Musculoskeletal pain and ergonomic injury. Respiratory infection. And the illnesses that come from drinking contaminated water — which is why the wells and the clinics are the same programme.

How an outreach works

Since 2007, Meaningful Life International has sent mobile medical clinics, with teams of doctors and nurses, to the doorsteps of deprived communities. Treatment and medication are free, and serious cases are referred on for the care they need. In many of these villages medical care is a privilege rather than a right: there is no hospital, clinic or health centre, and the few who could reach one cannot pay the bill.