The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, has urged African nations to break away from aid dependency and prioritize healthcare as a matter of national security and economic stability.
Speaking at the 2026 Annual Health Summit organized by the Ministry of Health, she emphasized that Africa’s health future must be driven by domestic investment and strengthened health workforces. “Healthcare must be treated as a strategic priority, anchored in our own resources and capacities,” she declared.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang underscored the importance of strategic recruitment, equitable deployment, and improved retention of health professionals. She called for stronger cross-sector collaboration to create enabling conditions that attract and retain health workers, particularly in underserved communities, while promoting structured labour migration arrangements that safeguard Ghana’s health system.
Minister for Health, Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, outlined ongoing measures to reinforce the health workforce. These include the recruitment of additional professionals, expansion of specialist and post-basic training programmes, and improved deployment to underserved areas. He stressed that government is deliberately addressing workforce gaps, enhancing skills development, and ensuring equitable distribution of personnel to support quality healthcare delivery nationwide.
“The backbone of our health system is not infrastructure but people,” the Minister stated. “People, not buildings, transform investments into results. A resilient, motivated, and well-distributed workforce is central to achieving Universal Health Coverage and improving health outcomes for all Ghanaians.”
This year’s summit, themed “Building a Resilient Health Workforce to Accelerate the Attainment of Universal Health Coverage,” drew participants from development partners, heads of agencies under the Ministry of Health, the Parliamentary Health Committee, and professional regulatory bodies.
Leave a Reply