Thursday, 12th March, 2026
Hon Joseph Kwame Kumah
Kintampo North
I thank you Mr Speaker for this opportunity to rise and speak on behalf of the good people of Kintampo North, home of one of only three health research centres established by the Ghana Health Service, the Kintampo Health Research Centre.
Mr Speaker, in the last thirty years, Ghana has seen the outbreak of multiple diseases and has experienced myriads of man-made and natural disasters. From 2020 to 2023, we have been hit with COVID-I9, Yellow fever, Monkeypox, Marburg virus and Measles Outbreaks.
In July 2024, the emergence of Dengue Fever posed a potential threat, alongside a cholera outbreak affecting five regions of Ghana, as well as reports of increased cases of Acute Respiratory Infections, particularly attributed to human Metapneumovirus (hMPV) in China and the Northern Hemisphere. This demonstrates disease outbreaks’ unpredictability and capacity to inflict devastating consequences.
ln addition, natural disasters such as flooding with their associated public health threats and impacts have become nearly perennial in Ghana. Non-communicable discases also now account for 74 per cent of deaths while road accidents led to 2,276 deaths in 2023 alone. Between January and September 2024, 1,817 lives were lost due to road accidents, representing an increase of 8.35 per cent in fatalities compared to the same period in 2023. These statistics emphasise Ghana’s health security threats and the urgent need for policies and sustainable domestic funding mechanisms to address them.
For example, in the wake of the pandemic influenza, an illustrative study of the perceived adequacy of preparedness of sub-Sahara Africa used Ghana’s 2009 to 2013 integrated strategic response plan for pandemic influenza as a case study, and the results revealed that “Ghana’s health emergency preparedness is in disarray”. It further revealed that three out every four health facilities did not have emergency preparedness plans, surge capacity planning, triage system for mass health emergencies, and mutual aid agreements.
Mr Speaker, current domestic funding for preparedness and response to public health emergencies and other health security threats is inadequate with heavy reliance on external donor support and loans. During health emergencies, countries without a reliable domestic funding mechanisms like Ghana, often face severe impacts and must rely on contingency funds or donor assistance, which have proven insufficient.
In light of the prevailing dynamics of global politics, particularly the United States' withdrawal from the World Health Organization and its subsequent implications, it is essential for Ghana to prepare for a decrease in external donor support related to health security. Therefore, this situation demands an increased focus on mobilising domestic resources for health initiatives and security.
For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, Ghana had to rely heavily on the benevolence of the international donor partners to be able to raise the needed funding to curb or ameliorate the situation at that time; absence of which could have had far reaching public health consequences on the Ghanaian population. Public health threats do not only endanger lives but also have far-reaching economic ramifications, disrupting livelihoods, deepening the poverty gap, and impeding economic growth.
Mr Speaker, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the coordinating body for all emergencies in the country, has in place a multi-hazard emergency preparedness and response plan and also a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) emergency preparedness and response plan.
However, there is a need for a more specific and targeted plan for dealing with public health emergencies and health security threats with accompanying funding arrangements to ensure effective implementation. Mr Speaker, lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately highlight the crucial need for sustainable funding to tackle such health emergencies when they arise. It is imperative that we develop a policy that will help address the gaps in Ghana’s Health Security in a multisectoral approach with clear coordination mechanisms and dedicated funding to help Ghana address the challenges and meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) benchmark for domestic financing mechanisms for health emergencies and health security.
Commendably Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Health has already taken the bold step of developing a Health Security Policy, which includes a sustainable funding component to address a broad range of public health threats amongst others effectively. Enacting the Health Security Policy will strengthen Ghana’s legislation and financing capacity for the implementation of the International Health Regulations.
Mr Speaker, this health security policy has already garnered support of civil society, the academia and other stakeholders. I therefore urge my Colleagues here to support the Health Security Bill when it arrives in Parliament since it will go a long way to safeguard lives and promote good health as we seek to build a better Ghana.
Afterall, as the saying goes, “a healthy nation is a wealthy nation”. Your support is therefore essential in ensuring that this Bill is passed so that Ghana gets the resources needed to prepare for and manage health threats as and when they arise.
I am very grateful, Mr Speaker for this opportunity to make this Statement.
Hon Isaac Boamah-Nyarko
Effia
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and let me commend Hon Joseph Kwame Kumah, Member of Parliament for Kintampo North, for this timely Statement on the Health Security Fund for Ghana.
Mr Speaker, as he said, the Kintampo Health Research Centre is well-known for its research into health services or health-related diseases, and I wonder about the state of the Kintampo Health Service today. If you take the services that it used to render for this country, I think the Ministry of Health needs to take particular notice and attention. With the Deputy Minister for Health sitting right here, the Member of Parliament for Essikadu-Ketan, she should please go to the Kintampo Health Service and let us see how best we can support them in their work.
But, Mr Speaker, importantly, he raised the issue about funding for noncommunicable diseases. If we check statistics today, smoking in Ghana has decreased because of the way and manner we tax excise duty on cigarettes in this country. Per the data we have, which is the World Health Organization (WHO) recent briefing to the Finance Committee and Committee on Health, the total consumption of cigarettes, which stood at around 2.6 billion sticks in 2023, has reduced to 1.4 billion, almost 100 per cent down in 2024.
This is because of the taxes this House imposed, specifically on ad valorem on cigarettes. And so, we have increased revenue by over 300 per cent and yet reduced the intake of cigarettes. The data tells us that drinking—I am happy the Chairperson of the Committee on Health is around, drinking is now the biggest challenge that we are seeing in this country, with over 30 per cent of our adult population is involved in drinking. So, we need to have a look at how best we are going to also address this issue of drinking.
Mr Speaker, funding for these diseases is very critical. In this House, we established a National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) to support health facilities and health infrastructure. However, the current Government has taken 20 per cent of the National Health Insurance funding for MahamaCares without giving us any further means of improving revenue generation into the National Health Insurance mechanism. Mr Speaker, it is important that we look at funding to support the health sector.
Mr Speaker, on the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) issues that he raised, NADMO is also heavily underfunded by this particular Government. If we check the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for 2024, 2025 and 2026, funding for NADMO activities has also gone down. And so, it is important for the Minister for Finance to make sure that we provide adequate funding.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion to this particular Statement that was ably delivered by Hon Kumah, it is a right call that we look at how best we are going to provide funding to support these particular areas and health service delivery in this country. Because, as he said, a healthy body is a wealthy body that gives us a wealthy nation.
I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon Thomas Winsum Anabah
Garu
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this wonderful Statement ably made by my Colleague requesting a possible establishment of a health security policy.
I think that is a good call, and I think that if he had monitored H.E. John Dramani Mahama since he came to power, the first good thing he did in health was to land what we call the health sovereignty. He is encouraging all African leaders, his colleagues, to ensure that we actually invest in our health sector instead of depending heavily on donor partners.
As a result of that, we could realise that last year’s Budget, there was funding made available for the sudden cessation of US aid to Ghana, which enabled Ghana to procure vaccines and other essential drugs that we were dependent on donor contributions. That is to tell you that, yes, the country is already in motion and encouraging other countries. He invited a lot of countries to come for the launch of the health sovereignty in Accra, Ghana, last year, and this is what we are heading towards. We are no longer depending heavily, as he has mentioned, on donor funding to run our health sector.
One thing we would also notice is that we have something called the “sin tax” in Ghana, which is taxes that we impose on commodities we consume, leading to the development of chronic diseases. This “sin tax” is taken from alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs that are very dangerous. Some of us would propose that when we collect these taxes, we should use the levies that we get from the National Health Insurance to gear towards treating non-communicable diseases and diseases that are generated from these commodities that we consume.
Some of these commodities include cigarettes, alcohol, and the latest one is shisha. People who use shisha develop lung diseases, and I think that Government should be working hard to ensure that we have a tax on shisha in Ghana to ensure that the money is kept aside to take care of people who depend on shisha for fancy lifestyles. Another commodity that we are proposing, and some of us think that the Government should be taxing, is these whitening creams or lotions, bleaching. Some of the whitening lotions contain mercury. We are all here fighting against galamsey.
Meanwhile, our women want to impress us. I know a few men do it, but generally, our women want to impress us. Look, I love the black colour; it is very beautiful. Have your black colour because some of these creams that contain mercury for whitening can cause kidney disease. Some of them contain steroids, and those steroids will affect the liver; those steroids would affect the kidney, those steroids would cause hypertension, and they would cause heart diseases. So, let us also put taxes on these creams or lotions that we import into Ghana for the women to use to bleach themselves.
One other thing I will say is that even the WHO itself is now encouraging developing countries to try and find funding within to spend prudently, as H.E. John Dramani Mahama has done. He has uncapped the National Health Insurance, and the money is going into the health sector to an extent that we have even gotten more money to an extent that we have used some for the MahamaCares, which is a Ghana Medical Trust Fund.
In addition, some of the money is now even going to primary health care, which is supposed to be used to pluck the low-hanging fruit, manage the people, and ensure that they know what to do to prevent themselves from getting those diseases that will give us the burden of having to look for money for health emergencies.
To this end, Mr Speaker, I thank you very much.
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