A new report released by the Overseas Development Institute\u00a0 has revealed that Ghanaians are becoming healthier, better educated, more politically enfranchised and freer to express their views than any other country in Africa.<\/p>\n
The report, titled \u201cGhana, the rising star,\u201d attributed the developments in the country to the \u201crobust and responsive democracy, including a sharp increase in child immunization rates, huge advances in pre-primary education and Ghana\u2019s status as one of only a handful of non-OECD nations to provide free and universal health coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report, which was launched at a forum in Accra on Thursday said \u201cThe acceleration of human development in Ghana over the last 10 years also suggests that increased voice can indeed contribute to improved provision of health and education services. Although the country still faces major challenges, including limited improvements in the quality of basic services and rising inequalities, its progress across multiple dimensions of well-being has been outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ghana\u2019s \u2018golden age\u2019 of political voice<\/strong><\/p>\n Ghana\u2019s \u2018golden age\u2019 of political voice Ghana has experienced a remarkable transition from an authoritarian and repressive military dictatorship to a democratic system, making it one of the few countries in the developing world where democracy has taken root \u2013 an achievement that has proven challenging in many multi-ethnic settings. Although progress in political voice is particularly difficult to measure, given its multifaceted and process-based nature, Ghana\u2019s notable performance across a range of indices is a testament to its progress.3\u00a0 The country was once among the lowest 40% of countries in terms of \u2018voice and accountability\u2019 according to the World Bank\u2019s Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), but has moved up to join the countries in the top 40% . This marks one of the largest improvements achieved in this area worldwide.<\/p>\n Progress in education in Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n Ghana has also seen impressive achievements in increased access to education at pre-primary, primary and secondary levels. Here, Ghana stands out not only among sub-Saharan countries, but also among MICs worldwide, a commendable achievement considering how recently Ghana joined this income group. While Ghana has made outstanding strides in access of education, the quality of basic education is very low, despite improvements in recent years.<\/p>\n The report also added that \u201cPre-primary education has perhaps seen the most significant change. The number of kindergartens more than doubled from 6,321 to 13,263 between 2001\/02 and 2010\/11. In 1980, just 28% of children were enrolled in pre-primary education, and despite a fair amount of fluctuation, this percentage gradually increased to 50% by 2000. It is in the past decade, however, that the most massive jumps in pre-primary enrolment have been seen, and universal pre-primary enrolment was achieved in 2011 (World Bank, 2013). This achievement has been driven by Ghana\u2019s decision to make pre-primary education compulsory \u2013 the first country in sub-Saharan African country to do so. Legislation in 2007\/08 reduced the starting age for compulsory education to 4 and extended both capitation grants from primary school to include kindergartens and the necessary teacher training programmes (UNESCO, 2012).<\/p>\n National health insurance<\/strong><\/p>\n A major achievement in the health sector in Ghana has been the creation of a country-wide national health insurance scheme. Ghana is one of only a handful of countries worldwide with established universal health coverage and is among the very few non-OECD countries to have such a scheme. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was introduced in 2003 to replace a \u2018cash-and-carry\u2019 system in which patients were required to pay a user fee with a new approach based on low premiums and exemptions for vulnerable populations. Many interviewees for this case study credited the introduction of this scheme with having had the biggest impact on health-service access of any policy, and the accompanying increase in health infrastructure and trained medical staff to accommodate more patients and cover remote areas has been instrumental in translating this policy into improved health outcomes. The introduction of the NHIS has also had an equalising effect on access to health services through its fee exemptions for vulnerable groups and the expansion of health clinics into more remote rural areas. To ensure the affordability of care, the NHIS provides heavy subsidies for vulnerable populations. It also set up accreditation to ensure an improvement in quality.<\/p>\n