A recent study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) highlights the tremendous impact Health 2 Go, located in Kpong, Ghana and hosted by ASPPH member Ensign Global University, has had on public health throughout the African nation. Specifically, rural communities in Ghana that had an exposure to Health-2-Go and its services experienced a 67% reduction in the risk of death among children five years old and younger. The comprehensive study, which examined data over a span of 10 years, found that through education and implementation of basic hygiene and healthcare best practices, significant diminution of disease and childhood mortality is possible.

Health 2 Go is a distributive health system that brings clinical services to rural communities in Ghana through integration with national health systems as guided by the Ghanaian Ministry of Heath. Since its inception in 2016, Health 2 Go has been able to positively affect healthcare across Ghana by creating clusters of clinics, training community-based agents (CBAs), and extending medical resources into rural areas. The work of Health 2 Go aligns closely with the nature of healthcare practice and strategies being deployed across Ghana to improve current systems. While increasing access to healthcare for vulnerable populations as well as promoting hygiene and literacy skills, Health 2 Go has at the same time been able to eliminate an overreliance on local services through educational efforts, particularly in regard to the prevention and treatment of malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia. With improved resources and enhanced education, rural communities have seen a reduction in clinical visits by up to 80%.

With its headquarters located on the campus of Ensign Global University (EGU), Health 2 Go is a collaborative effort between EGU, the Ghanaian Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Services, and public health organizations such as Cast a Pebble, that seeks to empower traditionally underserved populations across Ghana. In the future, Health 2 Go plans to extend to all regions of the country and even globally to nations with similar rural health care needs. These efforts directly align with U.N Sustainable Development Goal 3.2: to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1000 live births.

Note: Authors of the BMJ study on Health 2 Go have affiliations with the Department of Community Health at Ensign Global University, Kpong, Eastern Region, Ghana; the Department of Health Policy and Management, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; the Ghana Health Service Barekese Sub-District Health Center, Barekese, Atwima Nwabiagya North District, Ghana; and the Center for Business, Health, and Prosperity at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, US. At publication, the current Director for Health 2 Go, Mozelle Brown, is a graduate of Ensign Global University’s Master of Public Health Program (MPH), the first in-person, CEPH-accredited MPH program on the African Continent.