Ghana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the City of Columbus, Ohio, to facilitate the recruitment and deployment of Ghanaian nurses and other health professionals to the United States.
The agreement, signed by the Ministries of Health and Labour, Jobs and Employment, follows months of technical discussions with the American side and provides the basis for arrangements for the ethical recruitment and deployment of Ghanaian health professionals, particularly nurses.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the agreement also builds on the existing Sister-City relationship between Accra and Columbus and the Ghana Labour Exchange Programme.
The Minister of Health, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, said the MoU went beyond recruitment and stressed the need to protect the rights, welfare and professional interests of Ghanaian health workers under any deployment arrangement.
He said the initiative formed part of the Ministry's efforts to secure decent international employment opportunities for Ghanaian health professionals in line with Ghana's Migration Policy and international standards.
Mr Akandoh said the Ministry would continue to pursue partnerships that create employment opportunities for Ghanaian health professionals abroad while protecting the welfare and professional rights of those recruited.
The Columbus agreement is the latest in a series of labour mobility arrangements the Ministry has pursued for nurses this year.
In July, the Ministry revealed that it expected to sign MoUs with the United States and the United Kingdom to facilitate the deployment of Ghanaian health professionals.
The move followed an existing arrangement with Jamaica, under which several Ghanaian health professionals had already been deployed in batches.
Ghana had also signed an agreement with Grenada to deploy 250 health professionals, including nurses, midwives, laboratory technicians and pharmacists, over a two-year period. Other arrangements were also under way with Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saudi Arabia.
Later in July, Mr Akandoh, speaking during a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, in Kumasi, said the Ministry was working with a number of countries to deploy some of Ghana's unemployed nurses abroad.
He indicated that more than 46 Memoranda of Understanding were under consideration at the time.
