Public Transport And The Spread Of Infectious Diseases; A Case Of Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA)

ABSTRACT

Many are the challenges facing Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in the developing world including Sub-Saharan Africa. These challenges include insufficient resources in terms of vehicles (the ambulance itself), limited staff and equipment, poor communication and transportation network, just to mention a few. As a result, people resort to private and public transport (Taxis) in times of emergency health situations. It is however not certain that these public and private vehicles employ the standard protocols of disinfection afterwards, as infectious patients (passengers) may exude certain pathogens in the vehicle. This may leave other people (passengers) including the drivers exposed to the risk of contracting infectious diseases. This study, inspired by the philosophical underpinning of pragmatism, used the mixed method approach to examine and analyze public transport and the spread of infectious diseases in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA). The environmental health hazard pathway by Corvalan and Kjellstrom (1995) was adapted and developed as an interpretative guide in analyzing the spread of infectious diseases through vehicles. Respondents were selected from households and health facilities in the High Income, Middle Income, and Low Income areas in GAMA. Respondents also included drivers who are dispersed across GAMA. The findings indicate that taxis are mostly used during emergency health situations, however drivers do not employ the right cleaning method after transporting patients, leaving passengers at risk as most people patronize public transport for their mobility. The study revealsthat, there is a risk knowledge and awareness on public transport and infectious diseases among residents of GAMA, meanwhile both the people and authorities have come to live with it as an “acceptable risk” due to the ineffectiveness of emergency medical transport system delivery (Ambulance Service) in Ghana. Both short term and long term recommendations were made to help reduce this everyday risk while ensuring the effectiveness of the Ghana Ambulance Service (GAS).