Health opinion leaders in Ghana, roughly four percent of our 2009 Ghana survey respondents, were defined as those who said that other people come to them “very often” for opinions and advice about health topics. These appear to be relatively well-informed individuals, based on survey results showing that they are generally more active consumers of information than the general population (Chart 1).

Chart 1
       

This pattern largely holds true for specific public health topics (see Charts 2 and 3 above for the national averages for each topic/source), at least when it comes to media and technology sources. However, opinion leaders did not necessarily cite word-of-mouth (from friends and family, other people in the community, or experts) as a source about specific health topics more than other respondents. In fact, opinion leaders were slightly less likely than other respondents to say they had gotten information on any topic but TB from a medical doctor.

Health opinion leaders are demographically distinctive in ways beyond their information-gathering habits. As Table 1 shows, self-identified members of this group in both rural and urban settings were mostly male, relatively well off and well educated, and young to middle-aged. That said, the rural cohort has a notably higher number of health opinion leaders in the 60-plus age category. This may reflect a rural bias toward traditional systems of authority, which attribute more value to knowledge gained by senior members of the community. 

Table 1
         
 
 Development organizations might also like to know if there is any statistical link between one’s being a health opinion leader and being a relatively healthy individual. Apparently not, according to the data.  A larger share of opinion leaders than other respondents actually described their health status as “very bad” (Chart 2). Opinion leaders were also no more likely than others to say that they have the final word on common health decisions in their households.

Chart 2
          
AudienceScapes National Survey of Ghana, July 2009, n = 2051 adults (15+) 89 = Opinion Leaders, 1962 = All other respondents

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