National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has secured $5 million in funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of a five-year partnership.

This is aimed at improving its performance and ensuring the quality of healthcare services in the country.

The announcement was made by the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Virginia Palmer, during a launch ceremony on Monday, March 20, 2023, where she was joined by the Chief Executive Officer of the NHIA, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye.

In addition to the $5 million from USAID, the NHIA will contribute $1.7 million towards the project, bringing the total funding for the partnership to $6.7 million over the next five years.

The funding will support the digitization of NHIA processes and make available the Scheme’s performance data, ensuring that healthcare services delivery is safe and effective.

During the ceremony, Ambassador Palmer stressed the importance of prioritizing funding for health in Ghana, as a healthy population is the foundation of a prosperous one.

Dr Okoe Boye also highlighted the partnership’s focus on improving NHIA’s capacity to digitize its information systems, which will make data available to better communicate the Scheme’s financial and programmatic status to stakeholders.

The partnership will also focus on building NHIA systems to monitor the clinical quality of healthcare services, providing actionable clinical data that will help NHIA advocate for improved quality of care across public, faith-based, and private healthcare facilities in Ghana.

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Dr. Okoe Boye also noted that the funding from USAID would increase the transparency of the National Health Insurance Scheme’s operations and make the scheme more attractive, thereby increasing membership.

USAID’s integrated health programming supports the Government of Ghana in several areas, including health system strengthening, maternal, reproductive, newborn, and child health, malaria, HIV, social protection, water, sanitation, and hygiene, global health security, and COVID-19.

Edited by: Ishmael Awudi