Ghana's commitment to Abuja Declaration inadequate - World Vision

World Vision Ghana (WVG) has appealed to the Government to endeavour to accede to the Abuja Declaration of 2001 which commits governments in the sub-region to spend at least 15% of their total national budgets on health.

Data available to the WVG indicates that Ghana only achieved the 15% benchmark of general expenditure on health on three occasions, namely in 2005, 2007 and 2013.

This was disclosed by Mr Hubert Charles, National Director of WVG during a press conference on tracking Government’s budget as far as the health sector was concerned.

He also called for the full implementation of the commitment by Government to double the number of CHPS compounds from 1,600 to about 3,200 to meet the health needs of the under-served rural communities.

“We will also appeal to Government to declare progress made regarding the implementation of the voluntary 10% pay cut by the President and his Cabinet, as well as government appointees to support the health sector”, he added.

Mr Charles urged Government to address the chronic problem of delays in the disbursement of funds to make the 2015 Health Budget relevant to improving the health status of every child, mother and all citizens.

He intimated that although Ghana had made some progress as far as the MDGS were concerned, it was still not likely to meet MDGs 4 and 5 on the combating of maternal and child mortality.

He pointed out that more children and mothers could die from preventable diseases if Government did not invest more into the health sector, particularly in Primary Health Care (PHC).

“It is sad to note that in 2015 for instance, Government allocated only 9.47% of the total government proposed spending on the health sector which was contrary to the Abuja Declaration of committing 15%”, he said.

He expressed his appreciation to the Governments of Rwanda, Malawi and Ethiopia for achieving the 15% benchmark per the Abuja Declaration.

Mrs Gifty Appiah, Quality and Strategy Director, WVG, expressed the commitment of WVG towards working to raise the quality of life for every child in their countries of operation.

“We want all children regardless of their race, creed or circumstance to achieve their full potential”, she said.

She noted that WVG in its strive to be the leading advocacy organization, decided to launch the “Child Health Now” campaign which seeks to contribute to the goal of reducing maternal and child deaths.

“The Child Health Now Campaign has joined existing coalitions to engage policy makers for increase in annual budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Health towards the Abuja Target by 2015”, she added.

Mrs Appiah said the “Child Health Now Campaign” had contributed to major policy shift and influence including the most recent Newborn Strategy and Action Plan launched by the Minister of Health.

She pointed out that continuous engagements and collaboration with the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health had also built good platform with decision-making bodies in the country to prioritize and consider issues of maternal and child health