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For over forty years there's been a trickle of Ghanaian nurses to the English-speaking developed world. One widely quoted source says almost two thousand nurses left the country between 1995 and 2002. The exodus is set to continue as nurses opt to leave a crumbling health system to earn more abroad. In the UK, some nurses can earn more in a day than they could in a month back home.
Spending on health in Ghana has gone up but its value has declined. In 1990 it was $4.5 dollars per person per year. In 2004 the figure was $13.4 dollars. However, inflation means that Ghana is spending less in real terms per person. Most of that money goes to wages. For almost everything else, patients have to pay because the health service operates on a 'user pays' principle, the so-called 'cash and carry' system. The stresses of this system is one reason health workers leave.
'The visual impact of the gripping documentaries in the Life 5 series make them extremely powerful teaching tools for university, and indeed, other classrooms. In succinct episodes they raise and contextualise some of the most critical issues in the world today. These episodes are produced in an extremely objective manner and allow an audience easily to come to grips with an array of complex problems. They ought to be an indispensable part of the teaching curriculum.' Dr. Jeremy Sarkin, Visiting Professor of International Human Rights, Tufts University
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Citation
Main credits
Hopkins, Kim (film director)
Malde, Smita (editor of moving image work)
Kelly, Brenda (film producer)
Bower, Dick (film producer)
Andoh, Adjoa (narrator)
Other credits
Editor, Smita Malde; executive producer, Brenda Kelly; series producer, Dick Bower.
African Studies; Anthropology; Developing World; Economics; Geography; Globalization; Health; Humanities; Millennium Development Goals; Sociology; United Nations
Keywords
brain drain, doctors, nurses, Ghana, Ghanaian nurses, nursing, inflation, developing countries, health service, inflation, health workers, cash and carry; "The Great Health Service Swindle"; Bullfrog Films
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 26 minutes
Date: 2006
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: 7-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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