By Maxwell Awumah
Ho, Oct. 28, GNA – The Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF) is expected to prioritise research and innovation that address the country’s major health challenges, with a strong focus on translating scientific findings into practical solutions that improve healthcare delivery.
The Fund’s priorities are outlined in its 2026-2030 Research and Innovation Strategy, which identifies five national research missions, including Health Innovation and Biosecurity.
The other mission areas, namely Climate and Environmental Sustainability, Digital and Industrial Transformation, as well as Governance, Policy and Social Systems, also have direct implications for health and are expected to support research that responds to the country’s evolving healthcare needs.
Professor Abigail Opoku-Mensah, Administrator of the GNRF, made this known when she delivered a presentation on the theme: “National Research Funding as a Model for Resilient Health Systems: Whither Bound?” at the Fourth Annual International Research Conference 2026 of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in Ho.
The three-day conference, attended by researchers, health professionals, policymakers, industry partners, students and other participants, is on the theme: “Innovating for Resilient Healthcare Delivery in a Changing Global Health Ecosystem.”
Prof Opoku-Mensah said Ghana required innovative, collaborative and evidence-driven approaches to address persistent and emerging health challenges.
On infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and neglected tropical diseases, she said the country needed to move beyond existing interventions and invest in improved point-of-care diagnostics, more effective delivery systems and implementation research.
Such research, she explained, should examine why proven interventions sometimes fail to reach the populations that need them most.
The Administrator called for stronger collaboration between researchers, the Ghana Health Service and district health teams from the early stages of research design to ensure successful interventions could be adopted and sustained within the healthcare system.
Prof Opoku-Mensah also highlighted the relationship between climate change, environmental degradation and the emergence or re-emergence of infectious diseases.
“Changes in land use and climatic conditions can alter the habitats and distribution of disease-carrying vectors, potentially bringing them into closer contact with human populations and increasing the risk of disease transmission,” she said.
She stressed that pandemic preparedness should not be developed only during emergencies but should be strengthened in advance through enhanced laboratory capacity, genomic surveillance and a One Health approach that integrates human, animal and environmental health.
The presentation highlighted Ghana’s growing burden of non-communicable diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, cancer, stroke, kidney disease and mental health conditions, as a major area requiring increased research attention.
According to Prof Opoku-Mensah, priority areas include epidemiological studies, improved primary healthcare models for early detection and management, and research into diet, physical activity and the social determinants that contribute to such diseases.
On antimicrobial resistance and the inappropriate use of medicines, she warned that the misuse of antibiotics through inappropriate sales and prescriptions, as well as uncontrolled use in animal production, could undermine the effectiveness of medicines for future generations.
She said research into rapid diagnostics, prescribing practices, antimicrobial stewardship in hospitals and pharmacies, and the use of antimicrobials in agriculture would therefore be critical to Ghana’s health research agenda.
Prof Opoku-Mensah said the Fund would prioritise research with clear pathways to policy and practice, measurable outcomes and partnerships capable of supporting the wider adoption of successful interventions.
She noted that investing in researchers and training the next generation of scientists, including students in universities such as UHAS, would be essential to sustaining the country’s scientific progress.
Innovation, she added, would remain central to the strategy, particularly in digital health, artificial intelligence for diagnosis and disease surveillance, local manufacturing of diagnostic tools and medical devices, and the scientific validation of traditional and herbal medicines.
Prof Opoku-Mensah said UHAS, with its Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine and expertise across the allied health sciences, was well positioned to contribute to these areas.
She expressed concern that many promising research findings in Ghana had not progressed beyond academic publications or pilot projects into routine healthcare practice.
Examples, she noted, included diagnostic tools that had not reached district laboratories, care models that remained confined to pilot sites and policy briefs that failed to reach decisionmakers.
In the health sector, she said, failure to translate evidence into practice could have serious consequences for human lives.
The Fund, therefore, intended to strengthen support across the entire research-to-implementation process, with emphasis on collaboration among researchers, policymakers, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders.
Prof Opoku-Mensah stressed that achieving these objectives would require collective commitment rather than the efforts of the Fund alone.
She acknowledged the achievements of Ghanaian health scientists despite persistent funding constraints and expressed optimism that the establishment and operation of the GNRF would provide greater opportunities to strengthen research and support scientists through sustained engagement, collaboration and partnerships.
The ultimate objective, she said, was to build a research environment in which scientific work received the support needed to generate practical solutions, improve health outcomes, and contribute to national development.
Such efforts, Prof Opoku-Mensah added, would help lay the foundation for a healthier population and a stronger Ghana.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Maxwell Awumah
Email: [email protected]