Health Ministers from the15 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have converged on Accra to adopt a new strategic framework to drive healthcare delivery in the sub-region.

The participants

The “Vision2030” by the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) is expected to serve as a roadmap for which member states align their respective health policies to significantly improve the health and wellbeing of citizens.

It is anchored on three key objectives; ensuring effective public health emergency preparedness and response capacity across the sub-region, accelerate access to inclusive and affordable quality health services and strengthen WAHO’s institutional processes to promote excellence over the next eight years.

Opening the two-day meeting of the ECOWAS Assembly of Health Minister’s yesterday, the Director-General of WAHO, Professor Stanley Okolo said“Vision 2030” which replaces the previous strategic plan (2016-2020) and being facilitated by the Tony Blair Institute, would essentially streamline health activities to tackle emerging threats on the sub-region.

He said much as the world was battling the COVID-19 pandemic of which West Africa was no exception, attention ought to be paid on other threatening health conditions which plagued the sector, eroding gains made.

“As much as we all want to achieve universal health coverage, we need to look at other areas; we need to have eye on nutrition, obesity, and other non-communicable diseases which are on the rise in the sub-region.

Whiles the sub-region is dealing with COVID-19, it is embedded with lots of epidemics like lasser fever, dengue, cholera which is killing more people and with this strategic plan which will be adopted, we hope to improve surveillance, preparedness, health security and visibility of WAHO,” he stated.

The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, in an address admitted that the new strategic document was timely to drive UHC on the sub-region for an improved quality of life of the populace.

He noted that Ghana had revised its National Health Policy and implementing a new UHC Roadmap which places premium on the health and wellbeing of citizens to ensure that “no one is left behind.”

“We are finalising the process of translating our UHC roadmap into our net Health Sector Medium-Term Development Framework which will span from 2022 to 2025. Thus the new WAHO Vision 2030 document has come at an opportune time to afford us the chance to align our plan to achieve policy coherence and better efficiency,” the Minister said.

Mr Agyeman-Manu encouraged colleague health ministers to endeavour to align their national policies and strategic frameworks to the “Vision 2030” to manage the health system for better outcomes for all.