Ghana’s healthcare system has made significant progress in improving access to healthcare for its citizens.
However, researchers at this year’s Health Research Dissemination Forum have noted that emerging trends pose new challenges that require the integration of preventive care and screening of NCD’s into the country’s primary healthcare system rather than focusing on curative care.
Non-communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and obesity are increasingly becoming a major public health concern in Ghana. And despite efforts to tackle these issues, Ghana’s primary healthcare system still lags behind in integrating preventive care and screenings for diseases like cancers.
According to researchers at the 2025 Health Research Dissemination Forum, finances remain a significant barrier to healthcare access, and implementing universal health coverage requires a system that can effectively address these challenges.
While geographical accessibility has improved with CHPS compounds across the country, the quality of care remains a pressing issue the primary healthcare system must respond to.
Dean of the Binka School of Public Health at UHAS, Prof. Frank Baiden, suggested integration of preventive care into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to incentivize preventive care.
‘‘By prioritizing preventive care, improving quality of care, and integrating health impact assessments into development projects, we can take significant steps towards achieving universal health coverage. Another issue is finances. You remember the Mahama Cares seeks to address the financial gap that hinders people access to treat some catastrophic health complications.
And if we are talking about universal health coverage then we need a system that will address that. There is need to look at the major driver of care which is the NHIS. This could help reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases and improve health outcomes.’’ He said.
Deputy Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Caroline Reindorf Amissah, assured government’s commitment to integrating the research recommendations by the researchers to improve upon primary health care in the country to achieve universal health coverage.
‘‘Government has always been committed to improving service delivery for Ghanaians as we strive to achieve the Universal Health Coverage. Primary healthcare is very crucial hence the essence of such research disseminations to improve upon what we are already doing.’’ She said.
The Health Research Dissemination Forum is a national platform which spotlights the ideas and innovations to shape the future of Universal Health Coverage.
Source:3news.com
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