A two-day training on domestic health financing is underway in Accra to empower Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working in the health sector to develop a manual on teaching advocacy and mobilisation at the local level.

The training is expected to empower participants with relevant information and strategies to train people in communities to speak up on domestic health financing, demand quality care and advocate for better health services.

It is being organised by two Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs), HBC Promised Ghana and Peoples Health Movement (PHM), under the Ghana Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Project with funding from the Global Fund, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance and WACI Health.

Mr LaMont 'Montee' Evans, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HBC Promised Ghana, said the training was in line with global objectives towards attaining UHC.

"The primary goal of this training of trainers' programme is to build in-country capacity in health financing and promote a multi-stakeholder collaboration that will hold, in a constructive way, governments and donors accountable for the level and use of funding allocated to health," he said.
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Mr Evans said the Ghana UHC Project, with support from its funding partners, had also developed a Joint Learning Agenda to provide training and support on Domestic Health Financing (DHF), Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Budget Advocacy (BA) and accountability in health financing.

The training, according to him, was necessitated by the need to strengthen the capacity and support to Civil Society Organizations that ensured meaningful participation in health programming, financing, budget advocacy and accountability.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) talks about all individuals and communities, receiving the health services they need without suffering financial hardship.

Dr Ben Bempah, Deputy Director, Budget-PPME at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), said Ghana's UHC Roadmap 2020-2030 stressed the need for increased access to quality essential healthcare and public health services for all by 2030.

He said the UHC package of care for Ghana comprised curative, promotive, rehabilitative, palliative, emergency and mental health care.

Dr Bempah said GHS was developing a complete health financing strategy that would respond to Ghana's UHC road map.