The United States government has announced a $5 million partnership funding for Ghana’s health insurance system.
According to a press release from the US Embassy in Accra, the US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, announced $5 million in new funding to improve the performance of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and ensure quality of health services in Ghana.
The funding, the release indicated, will support the digitization of National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) processes, make available the Scheme’s performance data, and ensure that health services delivery is safe and effective.
“The health sector is at the core of Ghana’s development. It is essential for the wellbeing of all Ghanaians that funding for health is prioritized. A healthy population is the basis for a prosperous population.”
Virginia Palmer
Improving NHIA’s Capacity to Digitalize
The partnership between the NHIA-USAID aims to improve the NHIA’s capacity to digitalize all its information systems.
“Digitalization will make data available to NHIA to better communicate the Scheme’s financial and programmatic status to stakeholders. The partnership will also focus on building NHIA systems to monitor clinical quality of health care services. This actionable clinical data will help NHIA advocate for improved quality of care across public, faith-based and private health care facilities contributing to improved health outcomes across Ghana.”
Virginia Palmer
The statement further noted that the USAID’s integrated health programming supports the Government of Ghana in the areas of health system strengthening, maternal, reproductive, newborn and child health, as well as malaria, HIV, social protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, global health security, and COVID-19. USAID supports the Government of Ghana to build a more resilient health system and prepare Ghana to face future health emergencies, it added.
Recently, the United States Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a new five-year $29 million partnership with the Ghana Health Service to support the widespread adoption of life-saving health behaviors across Ghana.
The five-year award was meant to support the GHS’s Health Promotion Division, Regional Directorates in northern Ghana, civil society, and the private sector to increase and sustain the adoption of healthy behaviors and practices that improve health outcomes.
This partnership focussed on women of reproductive age, newborns, and children under five years old to save lives through common practices such as sleeping under a treated bed net, delivering babies at health facilities, encouraging breastfeeding, and adoption of family planning.
The USAID in addition, launched Accelerating Social and Behavior Change (ASBC) project to support the Ghana Health Service Health Promotion Division (GHS/HPD) in using tested mass media and community engagement tools to accelerate the wide scale adoption of key life-saving health behaviors. The project targeted women of reproductive age, youth and children under five. Messaging will encourage timely use of health services and products such as bed nets. The project will work nationally with additional focus on northern Ghana.
USAID is the lead U.S. Government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential. USAID’s activities and strategic partnerships support Ghana to advance an integrated approach to development. It promotes accountability, sustainable systems, and inclusive development.
