The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has underscored the need for an effective, responsive and well-managed health system in the country.
He said an evidence-driven health promotion and behaviour change interventions, especially at the community level, would help improve the healthcare delivery in the country.
Mr Agyeman-Manudisclosed these during the opening of the Senior Managers Meeting, in Accra, on Wednesday under the theme: “Promoting healthcare, planning for healthy lives: where healthcare systems meet healthy behaviours.”
The meeting sought to discuss performance of the health sector over the past year and enhance effort to deliver quality health care services, by promoting positive health behaviours in line with the Universal Health Care (UHC) Roadmap.
Mr Agyeman-Manu said even though government appreciated the dynamics of healthcare delivery and behaviour change, there was the need “to look into all the two to ensure that they were both working seamlessly together.”
He said“A shortfall in any thematic areas of the health system are largely dependent on effective planning of healthcare delivery, which is why I consider this Senior Managers’ meeting pivotal to the promotion of healthy lifestyles and a strong and responsive health care system, and ultimately, the extent to which we as a country achieve UHC and the Sustainable Development Goal targets on health.”
The Director General of Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said despite efforts being made to tackle the global COVID-19 pandemic, provide quality healthcare and promote healthy behaviours, there was still much work to be done to develop a resilient health system.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye said a healthy population required health care planning, service delivery, generation demand and health promotion.
He added that “These are the four pillars of a responsive, quality-driven health care system and service that must be strengthened and expanded to fulfil the goals indicated in the UHC Roadmap and the vision of the GHS.
“As we work to improve health care service delivery, we must also strongly link healthcare planning and systems strengthening to health promotion, behavior change and risk communication efforts”.
Dr Kuma-Aboagyeurged all health workers to keep up their relentless efforts and contributions towards improving the provision of health care services and ensure that quality UHC was not compromised.
The World Health Organisation(WHO)’s Representative to Ghana, Dr Francis Kasolo, assured of WHO’s continuous support to help Ghana improve its health delivery system.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR
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