Overview
Ghana has made a strong political commitment to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and has been working toward this goal since the 1970s. For more than a decade, Results for Development has been active in Ghana, serving as a trusted partner to multiple Ghanaian government agencies as they work to achieve this goal while also supporting improvement efforts in education and nutrition outcomes. The R4D Ghana team — all but one of which reside in Ghana — has deep expertise in program design and implementation, health systems strengthening, maternal and child health, community engagement and data systems, research and results reporting. This team works closely with R4D experts and fellows around the globe to provide contextually appropriate, continuous support to government officials and other change agents.
Ghana is one of only three Sub-Saharan African countries that’s been able to successfully implement a national health insurance program that covers a substantial portion of the population. The country’s Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS), and more recently the Networks of Practice approach — both of which R4D have supported — have been lauded as innovative exemplar models.
R4D has worked alongside our partners in Ghana — the Ministry of Health, the National Health Insurance Authority, Ghana Health Service, the Health Facility Regulatory Agency, and others — to provide continuous support and to help solve multiple interwoven urgent challenges while also strengthening the whole system, including:
- Strengthening overall stewardship and capacity within the health sector to drive health systems change
- Supporting the National Health Insurance Authority to become a more strategic purchaser of health services (leading to greater value for funds spent)
- Supporting the process of implementing and refining Ghana’s Universal Health Care Roadmap
- Advancing the pilot and scale-up of the Networks of Practice (NOP) approach
- Supporting the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency to ensure quality of primary health care
- Supporting data systems governance, data harmonization and interoperability of key health information systems in Ghana
- Supported Ghana Health Service to assess the use of maternal and child health services during pandemic
- Supporting the Office of the Presidential Coordinator on COVID-19 to coordinate the national response across all relevant sectors, levels of the health system, and partners
- As part of USAID’s Advancing Partnerships for Improved Learning Activity, R4D is working to improve the policy and regulatory framework governing low-fee private schools and strengthen the capacity of government agencies to monitor and oversee low-fee private schools
- As part of USAID’s Advancing Nutrition project, R4D supported Ghanaian leaders in 17 districts in northern Ghana to strengthen decision-making on nutrition program planning, financing, resource mobilization, advocacy and implementation
- Supporting the implementation of FASTR — a Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents (GFF) initiative — which in Ghana supports the health service with rapid analysis of key data to improve outcomes.
Our approach has been responsive and respectful. We have followed the lead of our Ghanaian counterparts and worked to strengthen existing capacities, processes and institutions. Read more about our team and our activities below.
