Political commitment to tuberculosis control in Ghana

Abstract

As part of expanding and sustaining tuberculosis (TB) control, the Stop TB Partnership of the World Health Organization initiative has called for strong political commitment to TB control, particularly in developing countries. Framing political commitment within the theoretical imperatives of the political economy of health, this study explores the existing and the expected dimensions of political commitment to TB control in Ghana. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 purposively selected staff members of the Ghana Health Service and some political officeholders. In addition, the study analysed laws, policies and regulations relevant to TB control. Four dimensions of political commitment emerged from the interviews: provision of adequate resources (financial, human and infrastructural); political authorities' participation in advocacy for TB; laws and policies' promulgation and social protection interventions. Particularly in respect to financial resources, donors such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria presently give more than 60% of the working budget of the programme. The documentary review showed that laws, policies and regulations existed that were relevant to TB control, albeit they were not clearly linked.

Keywords:

• tuberculosis
• political
• sustainability
• Ghana
• Africa

Acknowledgements

Financial assistance provided by the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, through the Training and Development Office is deeply acknowledged. I am also profoundly grateful to Professor Gill Walt of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for her insightful comments on an initial draft of this study. The two anonymous reviewers are also appreciated for the useful suggestions.

Notes

1. A girl in various traditional European fairy tales and in the version of Charles Perrault, she is exploited as a servant by her family but enabled by a fairy godmother to attend a royal ball. She meets and captivates the Prince Charming but has to flee at midnight, leaving her prince to identify her by the glass that she leaves behind.