The package, he explained, would lead to better health outcomes, lower cost of health care and healthier families and communities.

The President said this at the launch of a “Global Action Plan for healthy lives and well-being for all” on the sidelines at the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York last Tuesday.

Among the participants were the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg.

SDGs

President Akufo-Addo, co-Initiator of the Global Action Plan (GAP), explained that the initiative was to support countries and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to co-ordinate a process of developing an action plan for the realisation of the UN Sustainable Development Goal Three (SDG 3).

The other collaborators of the GAP are the German Chancellor and the Norwegian Prime Minister.

The plan, he said, was a historic commitment by 12 partner agencies working together to achieve SDG 3 to “ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being of all at all ages”.

“We agree, and are confident, that the execution of the four strategies outlined under the GAP and the seven accelerators, which are sustainable financing, primary health care, community and civil society engagement, determinants of health, innovation and access, data and digital health, innovative programming in fragile and vulnerable states and disease outbreak response, will strengthen the implementation of the plan,” he added.

Recognition

President Akufo-Addo said Ghana, according to the WHO, was already advanced in the performance of some of the accelerators.

“In the area of sustainable financing, we have revived our National Health Insurance Scheme which, for a minimum subscription, guarantees access to a wide array of healthcare services.

“We are also leveraging the use of technology, with some of our healthcare facilities, before the end of the year, going paperless. Ghana has also deployed an electronic platform for logistics management information systems for the distribution of drug and non-drug commodities in the country,” he said.

He further said Ghana was re-strategising on its healthcare architecture to identify the weak links for rectification.

“The GAP should not be a moment; it has to be a movement. My government is committed to improving access to essential and quality health services through the provision of the necessary health infrastructure, equipment and logistics, including the deployment of appropriate technology, as part of our drive to attain universal health coverage,” he added.

According to President Akufo-Addo, “we have launched the world’s largest medical drone delivery service to some 15 health facilities in the country as part of the first phase of the programme”.