Analysis of Health Data from A Health Facility in Effia-Kwesimintsim Area of Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana

Abstract

Data gathered by our health institutions in the course of their work are an important source of information on disease patterns and their spatial distribution. Such information could be crucial in planning our public health policy. This paper reports on an analysis carried out on four kinds of data: Monthly Outpatient Morbidity Data, Statement of Outpatients, Statement of Inpatients and the Monthly Bed State Data of a health facility in Takoradi, Ghana. The data spans the six-year period of 1997 to 2002.

The objectives of the study were to: (i) Identify the leading diseases reported to the health facility, (ii) Identify the patterns, if any, in the diseases reported to the health facility, (iii) Explore the data with the view to finding any unsuspected characteristics.

The analysis of the data relied on descriptive statistics and time series analysis.  Projected values of the number of cases of the diseases to be reported to the health facility,  particularly that of malaria in the years following the period under consideration were explored.

The results from the analysis showed that Malaria is the leading of the 13 most common diseases in the catchment area with an upward trend in the number of cases reported to the health facility for the period under consideration. It was also found that the number of cases of Pneumonia and Hypertension were on the ascendancy in the period under consideration while tuberculosis is the most prevalent of the ‘Six Child Killer Diseases’ - Diphtheria, Poliomyelitis, Tetanus, Measles, Whooping Cough, and Tuberculosis  -  in the catchment area. Further, Females and the age group  0 - 4  years are the subgroups in the population of the catchment area that require the most medical attention. A probable causal factor in the dramatic rise in the number of malaria cases in 2001 was identified to be the construction of the Takoradi-Agona Nkwanta section of the Trans-West Africa highway which runs through the catchment area of the health facility.

Keywords: Time series, Forecast, Health statistics