In Ghana, tariff of utilities including water is put below cost recovery levels such that government is unable to cope with the challenges in water supply. As such, the government resorts to private partnership to fund the gaps in the urban water supply in the country. The study adopted an integrative multi-stage critical review of relevant literature on public-private partnership in urban water supply. As such articles published between 2006 and 2017 were selected by specific inclusion criteria. Relevant articles on the topic were identified through references and citations. The paper examines the status and trend of water supply, reforms and management of urban water supply in Ghana. The study found problems like poor water supply system, inadequate human and economic resources as well as poor resource allocations and urban water management.

Background The Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) is a national health reform programme that provides healthcare at the doorsteps of rural community members, particularly, women and children. It seeks to reduce health inequalities and promote equity of health outcomes. The study explored challenges of the CHPS utilization following reports by the Ghana Statistical Service of poor clinic attendance and high maternal and child morbidities and mortalities in the Northern Region of Ghana. Methods This observational study employed qualitative methods to interview key informants covering relevant stakeholders. The study was guided by the systems theory. In all, 30 in-depth interviews were conducted involving 8 community health officers, 8 community volunteers, and 14 women receiving postnatal care in four (4) CHPS zones in the Yendi Municipality. The data were thematically analysed using Atlas.ti.v.7 software and manual coding system. 2 Results The study found poor clinical attendance in the form of delays in seeking health care, low antenatal and postnatal care visits, barriers affecting the utilization of the CHPS compounds to include lack of transportation and poor road network, cultural beliefs such as taboos of certain foods and proof for women's faithfulness to their husbands as challenges of health facility utilization. Besides, the absence of health workers at the CHPS compounds such as the CHOs, poor communication networks during emergencies when the ambulance service becomes inaccessible and lack of capacity by CHPS compound to sterilize some equipment. Furthermore, lack of incentives and adequate infrastructures like potable water and electricity, poor coordination of healthcare interventions and practices, lack of specialists and equipment as well as poor community engagement are major setbacks to the progress of the CHPS policy. Conclusions On clinical attendance, timing and number of antenatal and postnatal care visits, remain major concerns for the CHPS programme in the study setting. The barriers accounting for the low utilization of CHPS compounds are cost of referrals and cultural beliefs. There is an urgent need to address these challenges to improve the utilization of CHPS compounds and to contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals.