Reconciling Primary Healthcare Delivery with Social Media: A case study of Cape Coast, Ghana

In bringing healthcare closer to individuals in their natural environment, Ghana rolled out the Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) with a corresponding increase in the training and deployment of qualified community health officers (CHOs) to provide primary healthcare at community level. Objectives. Since primary healthcare thrives on the active engagement/participation of key stakeholders within the community and coupled with the increasing adoption of technologies in health, the study examines how technological platforms like social media are incorporated in healthcare delivery at the community level regarding the trends, institutional framework, opportunities, and challenges. Design. Using the case study approach, a semi-structured interview is used to engage six community health nurses of four CHPS zones in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana. Results. A thematic analysis of the data reveals that WhatsApp is highly useful for informing users either on one-on-one basis or as a participatory group platform. However, since there is no policy backing the use of social media for health delivery at this level, the practice tends to be at the discretion of CHOs, thus exposing such initiatives to some ethical concerns. Conclusions. With no formal policy in existence, the CHPS initiative are missing out on the inherent opportunities provided by social media to deepen primary healthcare at the community level. Accordingly, the study recommends formal policy guidelines, as well as on-the-job training and incorporating social media skills in the curriculum for community health training institutions to respond to the demands and trends of this contemporary era.