2014 GDHS generates decisions for planning, monitoring

The 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS), which was released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in Accra recently, provides data and information essential for making informed policy decisions.

These decisions are for planning, monitoring and evaluating programmes related to health in general and reproductive health in particular, at both the national and regional levels.

The launch of the 2014 GDHS Report and a national dissemination seminar on the report were designed to provide up-to-date estimate of basic demographic and health indicators.

Recent and reliable information

In addition to generating recent and reliable information on fertility, family planning, infant and child mortality, maternal and child health and nutrition, the survey collected information on malaria treatment, prevention, and prevalence among children age 6-59 months; blood pressure among adults; anaemia among women and children; and HIV prevalence among adults.

The 2014 GDHS shows improvement in a number of key health indicators, namely, a decline in childhood deaths, more pregnant women receiving antenatal care and improved delivery services from skilled providers and successes in malaria prevention.

Others are breastfeeding practices, nutrition, childhood mortality, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, malaria treatment and prevention, estimates of anaemia among children and women, and other health issues including smoking, tuberculosis and blood pressure among adults.

The report highlights the key findings of a nationally representative sample of 9,396 women age 15-49 in all selected households, and 4,388 men age 15-59 in half of the selected households, who were interviewed.

Overall fertility

The survey indicated that currently women in Ghana had an average of 4.2 children, meaning that overall fertility in Ghana had decreased from 6.4 per woman in 1988 to 4.2 births per women.

According to the report, fertility varied by residence and region, indicating that women in urban areas had 3.4 children on average, compared to 5.1 children per woman in rural areas.

Fertility is lowest in Greater Accra, where women have an average of 2.8 children, and highest in Northern Region, where women have an average of 6.6 children.

The report also indicated that fertility varies with education and economic status, showing that, women with no education had 3.6 children more than women with secondary education and above (6.2 versus 2.6)

Poorest households

Women living in the poorest households, in general, have 3.5 more children than women who live in the wealthiest households (6.3 versus 2.8).

The report also established that teenagers from the poorest households (15 peer cent) were more than twice as likely to have begun childbearing than those from the wealthiest households (six per cent).

It said, overall, 14 per cent of adolescent women age 15-19 are already mothers or pregnant with their first child, indicating that, young motherhood is more common in rural areas than in urban areas (17 per cent and 12 per cent respectively).

Unmet need for family planning

The unmet need for family planning was also captured by the 2014 GDHS, which reveals that, three in 10 married women have an unmet need for family planning, with the condition higher among younger women age 15-19 (51 per cent), than among older women age 45-49 (14 per cent).

Unmet need for family planning is defined as the percentage of married women who want to space their next birth or stop childbearing entirely, but are not using contraception.

The 2014 GDHS is the sixth in a series of population and health surveys conducted in Ghana as part of the global Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Programme, since 1988, and with the exception of the current survey, GDHSs have been undertaken in Ghana within a five-year interval;1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2014.

The survey was implemented by the Ghana Statistical Service in collaboration with the National Public Health and Reference Laboratory and the Ghana Health Service.

Financing agencies

Financial support for the survey was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Global Fund, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the Government of Ghana. ICF International provided technical assistance through the DHS Programme, a USAID-funded project.

The information collected through the GDHS is intended to assist policymakers and programme managers in evaluating and designing programmes and strategies for improving the health of Ghana’s population.