Denmark stops health sector support in Ghana

The Danish Embassy has announced the end to its support for the country’s health sector after 22 years of technical and financial assistance.

The last phase of the partnership between the Danish and Ghanaian governments as well as other health agencies comes to an end in 2016.

The cooperation between the two countries which was aimed at providing better and quality healthcare to Ghanaians, especially in the remote areas over the years, has resulted in some remarkable health outcomes.

This was made known at the launch of a documentation study ‘A Healthy Partnership’ which highlights the achievements of the Danish Embassy-sponsored activities in the health sector.

The document gives account of the 22 years of life-saving cooperation in the health sector, including halving under five mortality, maternal mortality and prevalence of underweight among children under five.

Also through the partnership, Denmark has helped to strengthen the competence in the health sector in the form of numerous short courses in Denmark and Ghana, including 71 Ghanaian Master of International Health students trained in Denmark from 1989 to 2013.

Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Tove Degnbol, making a statement at the launch of the document that had in attendance the minister of health and other partners in the health sector, disclosed that Ghana has seen much progress in the health sector, adding that the Danish government is confident that the system is strong enough to carry on and gradually improve.

She, however, pointed out that despite being no longer a donor partner, Denmark still wants to keep in close contact with activities in the sector.

“Our partnership will continue in research … we further expect to see an increasing commercial cooperation in the health sector between Ghana and Denmark,” Madam Degnbol said.

Minister of Health Alex Segbefia expressed his thanks to the people of Denmark for the support they have given the health sector over the past 22 years.

He said the change in the economic status of the country from a lower income country to a lower middle income country places a lot of responsibilities on authorities to let citizen know what is expected of them in terms of contributing to the development of the country and what they should in turn expect from government.

Mr Segbefia was optimistic the investment made into the health sector would be sustained through their utilisation.