Public health in twenty-first century Ghana is mired with several issues ranging from the inadequacy of
public health facilities, improper settlement planning, insanitary conditions, and the inadequacy of laws
and their implementation. This situation compared to the colonial era is a direct contradiction.
Development in the pre-colonial era to the colonial era sought to make the prevention of diseases a
priority in the colonial administration. This was begun with the establishment of the health branch in
1909 as a response to the bubonic plague that was fast spreading in the colony. From here public health
policies and strategies were enacted to help the diseases prevention cause. Various public health
boards, the medical research institute or the laboratory branch, the waste management department, the
use of preventive medicine and maintenance of good settlement planning and sanitation were public
health measures in the colonial era. This research seeks to analyse the public health system in the
colonial era so as to draw basic lessons for twenty-first century Ghana. Archival data and other
secondary sources are reviewed and analysed to help draw these lessons. Richard Rose’s lessondrawing approach was used to draw the lessons.