Global Public Health
Volume 9, Issue 3, 2014
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rgph20/current#.Uq0DgeKy-F9

Political commitment to tuberculosis control in Ghana
Joshua Amo-Adjei
pages 299-311
DOI:10.1080/17441692.2014.880500
Published online: 13 Feb 2014

Abstract
As part of expanding and sustaining tuberculosis (TB) control, the Stop TB Partnership of the World Health Organization initiative has called for strong political commitment to TB control, particularly in developing countries. Framing political commitment within the theoretical imperatives of the political economy of health, this study explores the existing and the expected dimensions of political commitment to TB control in Ghana. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 purposively selected staff members of the Ghana Health Service and some political officeholders. In addition, the study analysed laws, policies and regulations relevant to TB control. Four dimensions of political commitment emerged from the interviews: provision of adequate resources (financial, human and infrastructural); political authorities’ participation in advocacy for TB; laws and policies’ promulgation and social protection interventions. Particularly in respect to financial resources, donors such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria presently give more than 60% of the working budget of the programme. The documentary review showed that laws, policies and regulations existed that were relevant to TB control, albeit they were not clearly linked.