Using Health Systems and Policy Research to Achieve Universal Health Coverage in Ghana

Abstract

Health system implementation research, combined with knowledge management processes, directly contributed to Community-based Health Planning and Services geographic coverage expansion. Research was less deliberately employed for guiding financial access expansion through the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Increasing electricity access for health facilities in Ghana through solar powered mini-grids—a GIS-based energy system modelling approach

“…The lack of reliable, stable and sustainable electricity in many Ghanaian HCFs means that not all of the listed services can be provided without disruption. This presents both a challenge for the provision of universal healthcare, which the Ghanaian government has itself declared as a national priority [19,20]. But it also represents an opportunity in the advancement towards sustainable electrification, and towards the appropriate utilisation of Ghana's rich renewable (solar) resources to fill the gap in energy provision to power health [21,22].…”

Learning Health Systems to Bridge the Evidence-Policy-Practice Gap in Primary Health Care: Lessons From the African Health Initiative

“…For example, authors from Ghana demonstrate how embedding research at different stages of the policy making process guided the initial design of the national Community-based Health Planning and Services program and, subsequently, how EIR-informed strategy that district implementation teams have used to accelerate the program’s scale-up. 27 Altogether, these lessons make clear that helping health systems to acquire and foster the spread of skills to practice EIR can help fill the know-do gap.…”

“…From Ghana, Awoonor-Williams et al narrate twin histories of research utilization to inform UHC policy, comparing Ghana’s experience scaling up the national Community-based Health Planning and Services program and the National Health Insurance Scheme. 27 Bawah et al explore the barriers and facilitators to evidence use in policy decision making in Ghana. 35 Both articles provide insight on how to use the EIR approach to improve the country’s UHC policy coverage and effectiveness.…”

Health research evidence: its current usage in health planning, determinants and readiness to use knowledge translation tools among health planning teams in Tanzania—an exploratory mixed-methods study protocol

“…In DRC, research evidence was used to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis, 4 while Ghana is well positioned to achieve UHC through the use of research evidence to inform the creation of primary healthcare programmes, such as health planning, national health insurance policies and other services. 3 5 …”

“…2 However, evidence shows that the utilisation of health research evidence in policymaking in lower and middle-income countries (LMICs) is frequently absent, hindering the progress toward achieving universal health coverage (UHC). 3 Some evidence of the successful utilisation of research evidence in health planning includes three countries in Asia (Bangladesh, Vietnam and Nepal); the capital city governments of the three countries in Asia (Dhaka, Hanoi and Pokhara, respectively) are well positioned to address urban health challenges through the utilisation of high-quality, up-to-date evidence. 1 Another example is from two African countries (the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ghana).…”