Strengthening Community Participation in Health Service Delivery: A Case Study of Potrepo Community Based Health Planning and Services in the Volta Region

ABSTRACT

 Community participation in health is seen as a very effective but challenging implementation approach to health service delivery and has been of great interest among health care policy planners and implementers. It is a system approach that aims at enhancing accessibility and the utilization of health services at the community level. Whilst the beginning of the idea and conceptual development of community participation are fundamentally attributed to large multinational health institutions, particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), its implementation is the ultimate responsibility of local health programme initiators. Even though Ghana‟s Community based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) has been viewed as an effective strategy that mobilized community participation for making primary health care to all in Ghana, many people continue to have minimal or no access to primary health services. This study assessed the factors that influence community participation in the Community Health, Planning and Services program and the level of community participation in the processes involved in service delivery at the CHPS level. Method: Qualitative data were collected from thirteen individual in-depth interviews, two focus group discussions and a community conversation with all the major actors at the community. The various actors collectively evaluated community participation in the CHPS programme and drew up a spider-gram during the community conversation. Results: The findings from the thematic analysis show that the community participated in some stages of the planning and implementation process by providing resources such as land, labour, fetching of water among others. However majority of v the informants indicated that they were not consulted about their specific health needs before the facility was established. Conclusion: The study concludes that communities should be capacitated and encouraged to participate in health interventions at the community level.