1 Addressing educational needs of health workers in Ghana using distance education Authors names: Joseph A. Mensah adiajoe@yahoo.com Edward Badu (Prof) Collins Osei (Dr.) Centre for Distance and Continuing Education Institute of Distance Learning Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi-Ghana ABSTRACT Most African countries experience new challenges. One such challenge is scarcity of health workers as a result of low salaries, poor conditions of service, lack of professional updating and migration to richer countries etc. Ghana is no exception to this problem. To solve it, the government improved their salaries and allowance, and provided other incentives such as cars in order to retain those already in the system, and employed some youth, under the Youth Employment Programme, in the health sector. These have not solved the problem completely as some health workers leave for school and create vacancies at their work place. In order to increase access to quality education and training, the distance education scheme can be used. The paper seeks to analyze the import of distance education for promotion of proficiency skills in the health sector and review ongoing professional development programmes for health workers in Ghana, and come out with strategies to offer training avenues leading to the professional growth of the individuals and economic growth of the country. INTRODUCTION Most African countries experience new problems and different challenges. One such problem is scarcity of health workers as a result of low salaries, poor conditions of service, lack of professional updating and migration to richer countries among others. Ghana is no exception to this problem. To solve it, the government of Ghana increased the salaries and allowances of the health workers and provided other incentives such as cars, in order to retain those already in the system. Further, under the Youth Employment Program, some youth were employed in the health sector. These have not solved the problem completely as some health workers leave for school thus creating vacancies at where they were working. Health workers are the most important asset of any healthcare system. However, they need to continually learn and apply new skills and knowledge. Without such learning opportunities, health care workers, particularly those in rural or remote areas, will experience a decline in skills and knowledge, professional dissatisfaction, low morale, disillusion, lack of commitment, and reduced interest in their work. They miss opportunities for career advancement and they frequently look to urban areas for work. Landon et al (2004), in a study on access to basic training, concluded that improving access to training was an important element of improving retention. Investing in education is the most sustainable way to increase the number of health workers because, more educational opportunities for health workers at all levels, will ensure that there is a long-term strategy to address high attrition rates. The health workforce in Ghana has been significantly depleted in recent years through increased attrition rates. In addition, failure to invest in health systems or in improving education for health professions, coupled with a paucity of continuous professional development for health staff have weakened the effectiveness of the health workforce. Aiga and Kuroiwa (2006) found that in Ghana, the qualities of continuing education opportunities are unequally distributed. They found that, the total continuing professional education opportunities were greater than the target of the Ministry of Health, but fewer than