The Ghana NCD Alliance (GhNCDA), for inclusiveness, has presented a Manifesto aimed at ensuring that all political parties and politicians increasingly recognize and prioritize the prevention, treatment, care and support for Non communicable Diseases.

The manifesto is to challenge policymakers to invest adequately towards strengthening healthcare systems that address the health burden associated with NCDs, especially with the approaching of the elections.

The document was developed together with our experts after analysing and studying the needs, challenges, and priorities of people living with NCDs in the areas of cost of treatment, care services alongside financial risk protection across the continuum of care, unavailability and challenges faced in accessing the National Health Insurance Scheme.

The idea was also to make the document as practicable as possible, as it is increasingly becoming impossible for people living with NCDs to access quality healthcare for a wide group of disease conditions for the poorest and most vulnerable populations at all levels, as well as achievement of the primary health care for all.

Labram Musah, National Coordinator of the GhNCDA, a civil society Organisation (CSOs) focused on championing developmental issues with regards to NCDs and other health related matters, made this known.

“Emerging evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic clearly suggests that people living with NCDs and other chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases among others are at a higher risk of becoming severely ill, getting long term complications or dying from the Covid-19,” he observed.

The pandemic has exposed the country’s weak health systems and lack of structures in emergency situations and the inability of the world leaders including Ghana to invest in prevention and control of NCDs, he observed. “These gaps are enough to call for a total reform in strengthening our health system to avert future occurrences.”

Although Ghana has chalked some successes with the adoption of the Public Health Act in 2012 and 2016, a 175% tax increase on tobacco products, the National Alcohol Policy of 2016, the National Policy and Strategy on NCDs and National Strategy for Cancer Control in 2006 and the passage of the Disability Act (Act 715), there is more room for improvement.

“However, the implementation of these national laws and policies remains weak. Reducing the burden of NCDs is essential to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ghana,” he stressed.

To address NCDs matters holistically, he suggested placing multi-sectorial collaboration at the heart of the NCD response means working together and winning together, and invest in research and development to quantify Ghana’s NCD burden and build strong evidence for NCD prevention and control, currently highly inadequate.

Equally, there should be an increase ambition by developing a cross-government plan for preventing NCDs and promoting good health and development of a work-plan of policies and outcomes for each government department, running alongside the National Policy on NCDs. The plan must meaningfully address the root causes of NCDs.

“The Ghana NCD Alliance and its partners stand ready to support political parties in developing and accelerating the implementation the NCDs Civil Society Manifesto aimed improving the health condition of the all Ghanaian and reducing the NCDs burden,” he added.

By Dede Akutu Adimer