Second Health Summit opens

Accra, Nov 23, GNA - The Health Minister, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, has called for a major shift from the usual box of approaching health sector outcomes to other alternatives that are more practical. He said with nearly five years to reach the set date of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there was the need to redouble efforts and make the quick jumps needed to meet the set goals. Coming out of the usual box of stiff policies and programmes for practical methods, therefore, could push Ghana towards greater achievements in its health care delivery system, he added.

He noted that though there had been some level of achievements as far as health sector targets were concerned, it was noted that applying the usual interventions over the past 20 years to address the numerous health challenges had not worked faster enough to enable Ghana to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015. Dr Kunbuor made the call in an address at the opening of a five-day Health Summit in Accra on Monday.

The Summit which has as its theme; "Going Beyond Strategy of Action: Accelerating Activities Towards Meeting The millennium Development Goals," offers the occasion for the Ministry of Health (MOH) to present the Sector's Programme of Work (POW) for the year 2011. The Ministry would also make series of presentations outlining policies to be implemented in achieving the sector objectives to representatives of all agencies under the sector, stakeholders as well as health partners and allow participants to also offer valuable feedback and comments on health policies.

Dr Kunbuor stressed on closer collaboration and partnerships among all sectors of the country, saying it was critical for all sectors in the country to note that no MDG goal could be achieved in isolation, arguing that all the goals were inter-related and therefore must be worked on with coordinated efforts.

He indicated that the sector needed to make a quick move from identified challenges which included poor healthcare delivery resulting from non-professional behavior of health personnel and fragmentation of interventions leading to poor outcomes.

The Health Minister said the 2011 POW would give priority to areas such as the strengthening of maternal and reproductive health care, as well as child health services, strengthen primary health care through the Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) programme, and completing existing infrastructural contracts to ensure the expansion of health care services to all areas of the country. He also said the control of communicable diseases such as malaria would continue with a multi-pronged approach, with the vector control programme being stepped up alongside the expansion of the use of Insecticide Treated Bed Nets (ITNs) and also focus on diseases including tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS, and other diseases of public health importance to ensure that at least the gains made over the years were protected.

Dr Kunbuor said the President together with his Cabinet remained committed to their campaign promise of ensuring a One-Stop-Premium Payment regime of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), saying mechanisms were being put in place to ensure its fruition.

Mr Fidelis George Dakpallah, Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the MOH, presenting the health Sector POW and the 2011 budget, further indicated that some resources would be devoted to building data on cancer and further undertake surveys to understand the current disease burden faced by the country.

He also mentioned that mental health would be given the needed attention to ensure that the structures required for a better level of service were put in place.

Other areas to receive rapid interventions include the provision of emergency and essential obstetric care equipment and the continued expansion of ambulance fleets to respond to the emergency needs of the nation. Mr Dakpallah stressed that the 2011 POW will also place emphasis on health systems and financial management strengthening to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the sector with public private partnership and improvements in relationships with the local government structures at the district level. He noted that government also had neither the resources nor skills to undertake all the health initiatives required to make the quick jumps needed if Ghana was to meet the MDGs and therefore the need to move to the stage where all agencies will see their role in health and make health part of their performance agenda. He said government would lead in the crusade to revamp the health infrastructure and as part of the 2011 plan commit resources to complete some of the large number of uncompleted projects and entreated all health sector partners to continue lending their unflinching support to the programmes to produce better health for a better Ghana. Dr Daniel Kertesz, Country Representative, World Health Organisation (WHO) lauded the move to prioritise maternal and child care in Ghana and strengthening of the health systems through the primary health care system, using the CHPS intervention project to improve community participation. He pledged the continued support of health partners to ensure that Ghana met the set MDG target by the year 2015. 23 Nov. 10