GOVERNMENTS OF GHANA AND UNITED KINGDOM SIGN AGREEMENT TO SUPPORT HEALTH CARE IN GHANA FOR NEXT FIVE YEARS
The Government of Ghana has signed a £42.5 million grant agreement with the British Government to support the health sector in Ghana for the next five years.
Dr. Anthony Akoto-Osei, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning signed on behalf of the Government of Ghana whiles Mr. Mike Hammond, Country Director for UK Department for International Development (DFID) signed on behalf of the British Government. It was witnessed by Mr. Abraham Odoom, Deputy Minister of Health.
By this agreement, the British Government has committed itself to providing £42.5million over the next five years in support of the Ghana Government’s Health budget and to provide better quality and more accessible medical services for all Ghanaians.
Dr. Osei added that the grant is the results of UK government’s policy on partnership commitment to assist developing countries speed up progress on the Millennium Development Goals.
“This 5-year Health Sector Budget Support will, among others, enable us persue the agreed Health Sector Support Programme of Work, together with our development partners, to achieve the targets of the GPRS and of MDG 4 and 5 of improving maternal health and reducing child mortality”.
Mr. Hammond on his part noted that though Ghana has achieved the MDG1, MDG 4 and 5 poses serious challenges and the country is not performing to its usual high standards.
“It is for this reason that we welcome and strongly endorse the President’s decision to grant free medical care to all pregnant women in Ghana with immediate effect.”
Mr. Hammond revealed that over the past one year the British Government has provided Development Assistance grants totaling around £92m to Ghana. These are in the form of General or Sectoral Budget Support.
He also mentioned the another agreement signed with the Ministry of Health involving the British, Dutch and Danish Governments on how funds for this sector should be disbursed, allocated and how the impact should be jointly measured.
“In unifying our support around a single sector budget support instrument we are, hopefully, reducing transaction costs on both sides, ensuring a predictable flow of funds in a timely manner and setting the standards by which both of our performances will be measured”.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Abraham Odoom, in his brief remarks thanked the British Government for fulfilling her pledge for the health sector. The assistance, he said will enable his Ministry implement its priority programmes, one of which is the free maternal health care for all pregnant women, towards the achievements of the health-related Millennium Development Goals.
He said the Ministry has constituted a taskforce for the reduction of maternal mortality as well as initiated action to secure technical assistance from Israel to train midwives.
“The Ministry has also increased the intake of the midwifery training institutions significantly in the last two years. These measures are put in place to address the problem of maternal mortality”.
The signing was witnessed by Representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Health Ministry and Mr. Sam Brandful, Country Manager, Crown Agents Ghana Ltd.
Recent support to Ghana by the UK government include a £7.5 million interim support to the Health Sector Programme Work in 2007, the £120 million budget support through the Multi Donor Budget Support arrangement for the period 2006-2008; and the £100 million towards the Education Sector Strategic Support Programme for the period 2006 to 2015; out of which £20 million has already been disbursed for the 2006 and 2007 financial years.
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