The Cross Continental Experience Blog by Clayton Richardson, CCMPH Student
In the past few weeks students of NYU’s CCMPH program had the opportunity to visit two government institutions that work in the field of health research, Dodowa Research Centre and The Ga East District Health Centre. At Dodowa Research Centre the students met with the staff and had a brief lecture that described the center’s work and how they are advancing health surveillance in the southern part of Ghana. The center sends field workers door to door collecting health data on the inhabitants of every household in a given neighborhood and updates are done every 6 months. After the lecture students went with one of the field researchers to see how this work is accomplished. The center has made large advances in mobile data recording technology. The field workers now each carry a smartphone that sends real-time updates to the main office as they collect data in each neighborhood.
Next, at Ga East District Health Centre the students met with the district director of health, who described for us the challenges the district faces in insuring the wellness of its constituents. After our talk we traveled to one of the districts clinics where we learned about their vaccine program, boasting a 95% vaccination rate, as well as their family planning progress. They had just finished a large-scale program allowing women in the district to receive the family planning procedure of their choice for the American equivalent of 20 cents. This program had huge success in promoting family planning throughout the district.
