Accra, Sept. 28, GNA – A two-day training on domestic health financing and budget advocacy has ended in Accra with a call on the public to be interested in the total governance of the country.
The call was made at the third two-day training on Domestic Health Financing, Universal Health Coverage and Budget Advocacy on Tuesday.
It was organised by two Non-Governmental Organisations; HBC Promised Ghana and Peoples Health Movement, under the Ghana Universal Health Coverage, with funding from the Global Fund, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and WACI Health.
The training, which was attended by the National Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the health sector, created an avenue for them to familiarise themselves with how to examine Ghana’s National Budget, interpret it and make meaningful contributions to it.
Mrs Harriet Nuamah Agyemang, the Senior Programmes Officer at SEND Ghana, in her presentation, emphasised that it was important for the public to participate in the preparation of the national budget, which was their civic responsibility and right.
She said taking the backseat and not getting involved in the process meant that the citizens were willing and ready to accept anything a government presented.
“The budget is about the citizenry, so before the budget is read, citizens must show interest, by discussing with their leaders what they expect from them,” she said.
Mrs Agyemang said the budget was the Government’s intention of what it wanted to do for the people based of their needs, showing its means of revenue generation to address those needs.
“The budget helps us to know and question whether the government is able to raise the funding that is required to fund the needs of its people and has put funds raised into appropriate use. We will be able to ask questions concerning government activities and interventions only if we delve into the budget,” she said.
Mr John Eliasu Mahama, a Member of the Peoples Health Movement (PHM), said to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), it was imperative that the UHC Roadmap received adequate budgetary support, hence CSOs must engage the government on health allocations in the budget.
He observed that countries, which were making progress towards the attainment of UHC are those that were committing their own resources to the goal rather than those that were waiting for external funding sources to fund healthcare and interventions.
The training was, therefore, aimed at National CSOs working in the area of health to call for increase spending on the sector and get the Government to commit more to ensure quality, effective and efficient healthcare delivery for all.
Madame Elsie Cornelia Ayeh, Development Planner – National Association of Persons Living with AIDS (NAP+) said the trainings held within the series had all been beneficial to her work.
“I have gotten an indepth understanding about the budget, how it is developed and the fact that the public is at liberty to make inputs into the development of the budget,” she said.
Madam Ayeh said the training exposed them to the importance of building working relations and creating platforms for engagement.
GNA