REACH Ghana stands for the Representatives of Equal Access to Community Health-care in Ghana. The organization came into being after a discussion at the first ever BarCamp Diaspora, held in Washington DC in July 2009. Perhaps prompted by the ongoing analysis of US health-care, a group of young Ghanaians expressed concern about the state of the country’s health status. While much of the discussion focused on problems with the quality of and access to health-care in Ghana, the group went beyond and came up with solutions that they perceived to be feasible and immediately implementable. A few of the participants later got together to begin working towards some of the broader solutions discussed and thus was born the founding Executive Board of REACH Ghana.
REACH is committed to improving the health-care system in Ghana and promoting equal access to quality health-care for all by:
- supplementing health-care resources
- engaging and empowering members of the community, and
- advocating for, and helping to develop sustainable approaches to health-care delivery.
Our functions include:
Research
- To establish and maintain a resource bank and information exchange system between health professionals and students in Ghana and abroad
- To act as a clearinghouse: collecting, storing, and disseminating information, data and meta-data on health-care in Ghana and serving as a resource for individuals and groups with interests related to health-care in Ghana
Education
- To facilitate the education of health-care professionals in Ghana by providing resources such as books and scholarships.
- To provide opportunities for continuing education programs for professionals in the health-care industry.
- To provide volunteer and internship opportunities for foreign and local students to impact the Ghana health-care system.
Community based initiatives
- To deliver medicine, equipment and funds to under-served communities.
- To carry out regular campaigns to provide health-care services such as diagnostic tests, vaccinations and counseling.
- To establish permanent health-care centers where such services will be provided for free or at a subsidized cost.
- To support and collaborate with other health-care organizations in Ghana.
- To build a business model for providing sustainable, cost effective health-care in Ghana by creating avenues for small-scale enterprise.
