Health sector reviews 2014 performance
Development partners of the Ministry of Health (MoH) have called on stakeholders in the health sector to shift from the old ways of controlling cholera and implement innovations to successfully break its transmission in the country.
Advertisement
It expressed worry over the re-emergence of the cholera pandemic on an annual basis, describing the 2014 cholera outbreak as the worst to be recorded in the country.
Between June 2014 and February 2015, 30,000 cholera cases were reported, out of which 300 people died.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Ghana, Dr Magda Robalo, made the call on behalf of the development partners at the opening of the 2015 Health Summit in Accra Monday.
The summit, the 18th to be organised by the MoH, brought together health experts, professionals and development partners to review the performance of the health sector in 2014.
The theme for the five-day summit is: “Working together towards universal health coverage: Accelerating the momentum for attaining health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”.
Dr Robalo said factors leading to the recurrence of the cholera pandemic, including poor sanitation, were beyond the scope of the health sector.
She, therefore, called on the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to facilitate the intensification of an inter-sectoral collaboration among the MoH and other ministries whose activities could minimise the recurrence of the disease.
Other Trending Stories
She also recommended that Ghana should build on its preparedness activities for Ebola to strengthen the public health system required to early detect, effectively and timely respond to outbreaks and disasters in a sustainable manner, in line with international health regulations.
Dr Robalo commended President John Mahama for the efforts he made to facilitate the control of Ebola in West Africa, including agreeing to make Ghana the headquarters of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, aside from lobbying to ensure that the affected countries received the requisite support from ECOWAS, the African Union (AU) and the international community.
Other issues raised
She said the development partners were still waiting for the report on investigations into the fire outbreak at the Central Medical Stores in Tema in January 2015, as promised by the immediate past Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah.
On the MDGs, she said: “Less than five years ago, we all saw the MDGs Accelerated Framework (MAF), a flagship programme to enable us to attain MDGs four and five. Sadly, we have a much different story to tell today, as its implementation has been very slow over the past two years for a number of reasons.”
Dr Robalo said after a long period of inactivity, there seemed to be retrogression and, therefore, urged all stakeholders to act promptly.
For his part, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, said despite the current challenges, the government was committed to the creation of a universal healthcare system which would ensure access to health care for all in the country.
“This commitment is born out of the belief that a better Ghana agenda can only be released if we can guarantee quality and affordable health services to all Ghanaians,” he said.