Community Health Services, Market Access, and Food Insecurity: Evidence From Ghana

Abstract

The role of community interventions such as market infrastructure and health campaigns on household welfare are increasingly gaining attention of policymakers as they seek to identify pathways to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) one, two, and three. This study assessed the association between functional community health services and community market on household food insecurity and share of food consumption using the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS). Using the multinomial endogenous switching regression (MESR) and accounting for unobserved heterogeneities, we find that the interventions significantly reduce food insecurity. However, we find evidence of a differential association of the interventions on the outcomes. Comparatively, community health service delivery was highly associated with a reduction in food insecurity compared to the community market. The implication of the study findings highlights the need for development practitioners and policymakers to prioritise and improve access to institutional services delivery and market infrastructure as strategies to address food insecurity.