By Hannah Awadzi, GNA
Accra, April 07, GNA – Dr Faustina Obeng Adomaa, a researcher, has urged the government to create a publicly funded care worker programme, like what pertains for community health nurses, with a certification framework.
This would ensure the provision of quality care for children and persons with disabilities and the elderly.
She noted that the 2026 budget had a ‘no-care tagged budget line’ to foster intentionality in nurturing the care economy, saying “unpaid care work is taken for granted and underestimated.”
Dr Adomaa made the claims at a meeting organised by the Network for Women’s Right in Ghana (NETRIGHT), to validate the gender analysis of the 2026 budget.
She stressed that care work was fundamental to social preproduction, even though the greater part of the care economy was invisible.
She spoke on the topic: “The 2026 budget statement and economic policy of the Government of Ghana through the lens of gender equitable care economy.”
Dr Adomaa said everything about care work was privatised and financialised, and there was the lack of an integrated and coordinated care infrastructure as “Care is treated as a private concern.”
She urged the government to recognise and treat the entire care infrastructure as economic, rather than charity works.
“We need to strategically shift care as an investment in the economy,” urging the government to invest in a care sensitive budget.
Dr Adomaa emphasised the need to develop a national policy framework to formalise and regulate care work, to ensure decent working conditions for workers and appropriate care for recipients.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo