Seventy-three percent of rural residential clusters nationwide do not have a facility providing health services.
This is according to a report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The report also disclosed that 73 percent of residential clusters in rural areas nationwide do not have all the three required levels of basic education, that is pre-primary, primary, and junior high school.
Nearly one-third of rural residential clusters nationwide and 6% of urban clusters nationwide do not have any facility providing education services, according to the report.
The report also pointed out that the Savannah Region has the largest percentage of residential structures living farthest from education and health services ranking last for all six facilities providing these essential services analysed.
“Greater Accra Region has the lowest percent of residential structures living farthest from education and health services ranking first for five out of the six facilities providing essential services analysed. The exception is residential proximity to health facilities where Greater Accra ranks second after Upper East. Stark inter-regional and intra-regional disparities exist in the proximity to essential services,” the report added.
This report is designed to be a policy-making tool to identify potentially underserved areas for targeted interventions.
The disaggregated statistics presented in the report will aid with the implementation and tracking of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 to reduce inequality within and among countries.