Zambian team to study Ghana's health reforms

Accra, Sept. 15, GNA - Dr. (Mrs) Gladys Norley Ashitey, Deputy Minister of Health, on Monday said the belief that development assistance was only cost effective when focused on prevention rather than treatment was no longer tenable. She said recent development about a number of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria show that prevention and treatment were integrally linked.

She said this when she met a nine-member delegation from Zambia which is in the country to study Ghana's heath reforms in access to medicine to help them incorporate it into their Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The five-day study tour will also see the team studying the coordination mechanism between the various ministries, department and agencies in the area of access to medicines. The Deputy Minister noted that essential medicines can save lives and improve health only when they were available, affordable and properly used, adding that, it was part of a progressive fulfilment of the fundamental right to health. She said to make essential medicines available and affordable for all, Ghana established an access to medicines initiative, which was making a comprehensive examination to identify strategic priority options to enhance access.

"Essential medicines should be available at all times in adequate amounts, in the appropriate quantity and at the dose and price that individual and the community can afford," she told the delegation. Mrs. Ashitey said new international agreements, including World Trade Organization TRIPS Agreement on technical barriers to trade had affected access to medicines in developing countries. She encouraged the team to visit the country's insurance schemes and facilities to study how policies were translating to improved health for Ghanaians.

The leader of the Zambian delegation, Mr Justin Chilambwe of the Trade and Markets, Patents and Companies Registration Office, said Ghana was chosen for the exercise because of its immense experience in access to medicine.