As part of its commemoration of the 2020 Universal Health Coverage Day, the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights and allies across the globe are calling on government to prioritize increased investments into health care to protect all people.
The group is also calling for intensified efforts by government to widening access to National Health Insurance Scheme.
A press statement issued by the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights explains that “Though the NHIS has been a major gamechanger in terms of ensuring financial risk protection for many Ghanaians, its current coverage arrangements have rendered it less effective at ensuring equity. The total number of active membership of the NHIS was about 12 million1 people as at the end of 2019. Of this number 5.6%2 (672,000) were covered by the indigent provision of the scheme and provided NHIS services without charge,” the statement noted.
It noted that according to the Poverty Profile Report published by the Ghana Statistical Service for 2016/17, 6.8 million Ghanaians were reported to be poor and could not afford to spend GH¢4.824 (about $0.82) per day.
The survey also found about 2.4 million5 people to be extremely poor who could also not afford to spend GH¢2.696 (about $0.46) per day yet the NHIS only covers only 672,000 people of the indigent population.
“This situation is consistent with the Primary Health Care Performance Indicators’ (PHCPI) Vital Signs study7 which indicates that Ghana is not doing well in the area of health service coverage. With these equity gaps in the health system, the urgent need for rapid progress towards UHC cannot be overstated,” it added.
The statement further noted that globally, the outturn of the COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened the resolve and earlier position of UHC campaigners that ill health of people, be they communicable or non-communicable, affects not only the individual patient but also the family, the community and the entire country.
” This is precisely why civil society and other actors have been demanding an understanding of health care service provision which extends services to all in order to protect everyone while also ensuring continuous economic and social progress for people. The concept of protection implies a redefinition of healthcare as services with equal emphasis on curative and preventive health. Though the world is yet to count the full economic cost and losses as a result of COVID-19, the important lesson of the closeness between people’s health and the economy will never be forgotten,” the statement noted.
Find below the full statement: