Journal of African Studies

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In northern Ghana, subsistence-oriented agriculture has begun to change in recent years under the influence of market liberalization. Some of family members consisting of a compound have managed cash crop farming. Based on the panel data collected from two villages between 2005 and 2011, this study analyzes the change in the role of individual in the compound and in the farming system under the new socio-economic environment.
Fragmentation of land due to population growth and new economic environment under liberalization were the two main factors that contributed to the changing role of family members in the compound. Some members in the compounds have promoted specialization in the crop production for consumption, while other members focused on gaining cash from farming. Household heads and elderly farmers tended to maintain agriculture for the purpose of providing food for consumption. Under the changing economic environment, farmers incorporated market economy by flexibly changing the roles of family members and by promoting individual farming. At the same time, family members continued to give priority to farming for household consumption. Changes in farming structures within the compound due to the effect of market liberalization did not show the direction of individualization, and the compound continued to be a basic unit of life in northern Ghana.

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The lack of health care provision in East African pastoral societies is related to geographical distance from medical facilities and high mobility of pastoral livelihoods. It is also related to the risk of disease infectionand aggravation. Under conditions with limited access to health care, pastoralists seek to improve a patient's condition by looking for a particular treatment among the options available. This strenuous effort creates a treatment-episode that involves pluralistic medical behavior across distinct medical realms. The need for health care both motivates active searching for treatment and creates a fresh approach for sustainable health care by creating a medical environment that combines "traditional" and etic approaches through collaboration between traditional healers and medical professionals. To date, consideration has been limited to two alternatives for improving access to health care: mobile clinics or fixed medical facilities at strategic locations. However, the attention should be focused on the efforts of the pastoralists themselves, which have the latent possibility of a health-equity-creating locality that secures sustainable provision of medical services to pastoralists.

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