By Harry Akligoh

1. The Role of Citizen
Health In Solving Africa’s
Healthcare and Infection
Challenges Challenges
Harry Akligoh

2. •Profile
•General overview of healthcare systems in
Ghana/Africa
•Infection challenges in Ghana and Africa
•4. How citizen health can be leveraged to solving
the healthcare and infection challenge. (My
perspectives*)

3. Professional life
and work in Open
Science Initiative

4. The Ghana Healthcare System

5. •The Ghanaian healthcare system dates back to the 16th
century where
traditional village healers and clerics offered most treatment remedies. The story
changed during the colonization era when orthodox drugs were introduced by
Christian missionaries.
•In Ghana most healthcare is provided by the government is largely administered
by the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service.
•The healthcare system has five levels of providers: health posts, health centers
and clinics, district hospitals, regional hospitals and tertiary hospitals.
•NB: The Ghanaian healthcare system can be said to be analogous to other
healthcare systems in Africa.

6. Infection Challenges in
Ghana and Africa

7. •Common infection disease burden
challenges in Ghana include, Malaria,
Cholera, HIV, Hepatitis B and C viral
infections, Syphilis and recently Lassa
virus infection.
•The story of the reemergence of the
Ebola virus plaguing the continent and
causing the lives of dozen of millions.
•The gaps in the healthcare systems in
Africa inevitably leaves us to lots of
infectious disease burden challenges.
•How can the gaps be closed or bridged?

8. •Lack of design centered health
research
•Inappropriate diagnosis and high
cost of medical diagnostics tools
•High cost of healthcare
•Underutilization/non-utilization of
health and medical data (Big
Data)
Gaps in the healthcare delivery system

9. The way forward, Citizen research approach
•The democratization of health
been the core of citizen
research is the first step in
solving Africa’s infection
challenge.
•How can this be achieved?
1.Making individuals understand that
their health needs are a basic human
right that they must enjoy.
2.Investing heavily in
multidisciplinary health research
outside of formalized university
environments.

10. Healthcare is a basic human right hence the need for its
democratization

11. Conclusion
Africa’s healthcare and infection challenges can be solved by adopting the Citizen
research framework.
THANK YOU