Ghana Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Initiative: Fostering Evidence-Based Organizational Change and Development in a Resource-Constrained Setting

Research projects demonstrating ways to improve health services often fail to have an impact on what national health programmes actually do. An approach to evidence-based policy development has been launched in Ghana which bridges the gap between research and programme implementation. The Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Initiative has employed strategies tested in the successful Navrongo experiment to guide national health reforms that mobilize volunteerism, resources, and cultural institutions for supporting community-based primary health care. Over a two-year period, 87 out of the 110 districts in Ghana started CHPS. This paper reviews features of the CHPS initiative that build experience from experimental research and disseminate lessons learned through field exchanges and staff conferences. Limitations of the CHPS program that constrain organizational change are also reviewed. The CHPS approach to health care development may be relevant to resource-deprived health programmes elsewhere in Africa. [abstract]