Richmond Owusu

University of Ghana | Legon · Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management (HPPM)

Ghana introduced rotavirus vaccine (ROTARIX 1-dose presentation) into the routine national immunization program in 2012 and switched to a different product (ROTAVAC 5-dose presentation) in 2020. ROTAVAC has a lower price per dose (US$0.85 versus US$2.15 for ROTARIX) and smaller cold chain footprint but requires more doses per regimen (three versus...

Background Malaria remains a common course of morbidity in many sub-Saharan African countries. While treatment options have improved in recent times, inappropriate prescription seems conventional among providers, increasing the burden on patients and society. This study examined the cost of inappropriate prescriptions for uncomplicated malaria trea...

Introduction Diabetes remains one of the four major causes of morbidity and mortality globally among non-communicable diseases (NCDs. It is predicted to increase in sub–Saharan Africa by over 50% by 2045. The aim of this study is to identify, map and estimate the burden of diabetes in Ghana, which is essential for optimising NCD country policy and...

Introduction Coverage of childhood cancer treatment under the Ghanaian National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has been a policy discussion recently. To improve priority setting, Ghana introduced and used health technology assessment (HTA) processes to guide the resource allocation. To understand the role of stakeholders throughout the HTA lifecycl...

Background Many children in sub-Saharan Africa die from preventable deaths due to Burkitt’s lymphoma (BL), an aggressive but highly curable form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Delayed care seeking and treatment abandonment are common reasons for a relatively low overall survival (OS) in low-and middle-income countries when compared to OS in high income...

Background Malaria remains a common course of morbidity in many sub-Saharan African countries. While treatment options have improved in recent times, inappropriate prescription seems conventional among providers, increasing the burden on patients and society. This study examined the cost of inappropriate prescriptions for uncomplicated malaria trea...

Background This study estimated cost of COVID-19 vaccine introduction and deployment in Ghana. Methods Using the WHO-UNICEF COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction and deployment Costing (CVIC) tool Ghana’s Ministry of Health Technical Working Group for Health Technology Assessment (TWG-HTA) in collaboration with School of Public Health, University of Ghana...

Background Malaria remains a global public health challenge despite efforts that have significantly reduced its burden. In addition to prevention, effective treatment using the recommended medicines and approaches is essential to further minimize the burden., Yet, inappropriate prescription of anti-malarial medicines remains a challenge. Malaria pr...

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Introduction: In 2003, the Government of Ghana launched the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to enable all Ghanaian residents to have access to health services at the point of care without financial difficulty. However, the system has faced a number of challenges relating to delays in submission and reimbursement of claims. This study asses...

- The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine and campaign-based vaccination, potentially increasing the future vaccine-preventable disease burden and threatening to overwhelm health systems. - Vaccine-preventable diseases are transboundary problems that require global cooperation to achieve the best outcomes. - Investments, predominantly by rich...

Background This study seeks to compare the performance of HRP2 (First Response) and pLDH/HRP2 (Combo) RDTs for falciparum malaria against microscopy and PCR in acutely ill febrile children at presentation and follow-up. Methods This is an interventional study that recruited children < 5 years who reported to health facilities with a history of fev...

This study assessed the impact of Ghana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Akoben programme, a rating and disclosure tool which seeks to promote better environmental performance in the mining and manufacturing industries in Ghana. Using a case study approach, the Akoben audit report card for a mining company was analyzed over a three-year peri...

This paper presents a qualitative study on intra-organizational information sharing challenges in the implementation of e-government project. This study identifies the important organizational resources and structures for intra-organizational information sharing during electronic-government implementation. Specifically, the study focused on a semi-...

Abstract Background Malaria is one of the most challenging public health concerns in the developing world. To address its impact in endemic regions, several interventions are implemented by stakeholders. The Affordable Medicine Facility-malaria (AMFm) is an example of such interventions. Its activities include communication interventions to enhance...

Background The Affordable Medicine Facility-malaria (AMFm) was an innovative global financing mechanism for the provision of quality-assured artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) across both the private and public health sectors in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluated the effectiveness of AMFm subsidies in increasing ac...

Introduction: Social health insurance is a collective pooled risk-sharing mechanism for providing all citizenry with equal access to health care in Ghana. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of insurance on demand of healthcare in the context of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana. Methods: This study used three methodologic...