Public sector health service provision is offered through a network of hospitals, clinics, health centres and maternity homes that are organised at five levels: community, sub district, district, regional and national. Community and sub district levels offer primary care while secondary services are provided by district and regional levels. At the moment, tertiary services are provided by two teaching hospitals in Accra and Kumasi. Lower level providers are supposed to refer to the level immediately above them but this is not always adhered to.

Preventive health care is also given prominence especially at the district and sub-district levels. There is a strong collaboration here between the Ministry of Health and other health related ministries and agencies such as water and sanitation, local government, agriculture, housing and environment.

The contribution of mission health facilities to Ghana's health care is also significant. This is channelled through the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG). Private clinics and hospitals also operate under the umbrella of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners Association of Ghana. Table 2 below presents a summary of numbers of existing facilities in both government and private sectors.

Table 2: Distribution of health facilities in Ghana

³ 2003 (unpublished)