Ministry of Health/Partners signs Aide Memoire for 2018 Health Summit
Mr Niyi Ojuolape, the UNFPA Country Director, on Tuesday, led a team of health partners to sign an Aide Memoire containing the recommendations from the 2018 Health Summit held in Accra.
The document, which was signed between the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the partners, reflected all the key discussions and conclusions from the business of the Summit, and contained resolutions, re-affirmations and commitments of the partners towards the sector’s goals of providing quality healthcare for Ghanaians.
Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minister of Health signed on behalf of the Government of Ghana, while Mr Ojuolape represented the Development Partners.
In an address, Mr Agyeman-Manu, said the document would assist the health sector with interventions to address the challenges identified for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He commended the entire health sector and its Agencies for a well organised, productive and successful Summit, which was on the theme: “Achieving Universal Health Coverage-Using Innovative Approaches”.
He further acknowledged the commitment and active participation of the partners in the Summit and towards the finalisation of the Aide Memoire.
The Summit, he said, presented the health sector and its partners, stakeholders and civil society an opportunity to review the sector’s performance over last year and assess whether the levels of performance conformed to the levels of investment made over the period or not.
The Health Minister however said the timing of the signing of the document did not align very well with the Ministry’s budget cycle, and would therefore pose challenges when it came to implementing the recommendations.
The Health Minister indicated that to get some of the action points in the aide memoire implemented would require extra budgetary resources, and promised to put forward a proposal for implementing aspects of the action points at the Ministry’s next meeting for consideration and support.
Mr Agyeman-Manu however announced that the Ministry currently, intended to pursue measures that would improve staff productivity by reducing pragmatic inefficiencies, tackle inequalities in staff distribution and improve its financing arrangements, to ensure optimal benefit from its investments.
To ensure these, the Ministry has met with its Heads of Agencies, to review recommendations of the Cross Programmatic Efficiency Study, which was carried out with the support of the WHO, he said.
He said the vision was therefore to develop a roadmap for the implementation of the recommendations of the Study within the short to medium term.
He however assured the partners that the Ministry would implement all the recommendations contained in the aide memoire, and work with all stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the Supply Chain Master Plan, ensure data quality and provide leadership in the implementation of appropriate interventions that would ensure the attainment of the Universal Health Coverage in Ghana.
He urged all partners to sustain their partnership with the Ministry to assiduously implement all the recommendations in the Aide Memoire and other priority programmes of the health sector.
Mr Ojuolape also acknowledged the spirit of collaboration between the various government sectors and development partners and expressed his gratitude for that.
He said the Aide Memoire was also a symbol of their commitment as partners, and they were happy with the outcome of the Summit.
GNA