20 November 2002 - His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana has urged Ghanaian citizens to exhibit a high sense of responsibility in ensuring environmental cleanliness which is a perquisite to good health.

He said Ghana does not need a World Bank loan or grant to stop the indiscriminate use and disposal of waste, particularly plastic which chock gutters and cause stagnant waters that provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

President Kufuor was speaking in a keynote address to launch the Ghana Macroeconomics and Health Initiative. (GMHI) The Initiative is designed to attract investment in health related areas to achieve Per capita health expenditures comparable to those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Ghana's health expenditure currently stands at eight dollars per capita instead of the WHO recommended figure of between 30 and 45 US $.

The President noted that water and sanitation are at the core of the country's health problems, with Malaria alone accounting for 42 per cent of out patients attendance at clinic and hospitals, and the cause of most deaths. He said the most basic challenge facing the country is how to provide potable water for all the country in a sustainable manner.

It is for this reason the President explained that the Government is pursuing private sector participation in the provision of water, as the government would not be able to fund the huge investments needed.

President Kufuor urged the Ghana Advisory Committee on Macroeconomics and Health Initiative to focus on personal and communal sanitation as a vital ingredient for health promotion, adding that the Committee must mount powerful campaigns to educate the public on the need to ensure environmental cleanliness and sanitation.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie said the government was aware of the difficulties in providing effective health care, especially among the most vulnerable groups. He said reaching these vulnerable groups with a minimum health package cannot be achieved by merely developing health strategies, but that it requires a macroeconomic approach to help decision makers establish relevant development policies.

Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo, Minister of Finance said since a wider Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment program began in the early 1980s, there has been a continued effort to improve the conditions of Ghanaians through institutional changes, service delivery and better ways of paying for the cost of health care.

Mr. Osafo Maafo said public expenditures on health care and health related social expenditures such as the provision of safe water and better sanitation have lagged behind. He appealed to development Partners to help check the brain drain in the country and made it clear that the plight of the country Is worsened by the exodus of medical professionals to developed countries.

Earlier, Dr. David Nabarro, Executive Director of the World Health Organization had made a technical presentation in which he introduced the Report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, and brought out the linkage between macroeconomics and health.

Mrs. Emma Mitchell, a Member of the Council of State chaired the function, attended by many dignitaries including the Minister of Finance of Nigeria, Ministers of States, Members of Parliament, representatives of UN Agencies and Development Partners and Traditional Rulers.

For more information please contact 
Ms. Sophia Twum-Barima, the Health Information and Promotion Officer 
in the Office of the Representative, World Health Organization, 
P.O. Box MB 142, Accra, Ghana 
Tel (233) 21 763918/9, Fax (233) 21 763920, 
e-mail who [at] whoghana.org, stbarima [at] whoghana.org