Ghana

CapacityPlus assisted country-led implementation of an integrated program of health workforce strengthening activities in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, Christian Health Association of Ghana, Garden City University College School of Nursing, and other key stakeholders.

Highlights

• Finalization, by the Ghana Health Workforce Observatory, of a new National HRH Policy and National HRH Strategic Plan, along with an HRH Implementation Plan that includes a monitoring and evaluation framework. Policy objectives of the plan, which is being used by the Ministry of Health to guide activities, include 1) bridging equity gaps in access through sustainable financing; 2) strengthening governance and efficiency of the health system; 3) improving access to maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent services; 4) intensifying prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable disease and promoting healthy lifestyles; and 5) improving institutional care including mental health services.

• Leadership by the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, and Christian Health Association of Ghana in the rollout of iHRIS Manage. More than 19,100 health worker records are captured in the system, which is being used to plan and adjust facility staffing levels to improve service delivery and to analyze data on topics such as retirement planning. The project also supported the Allied Health Council’s deployment of iHRIS Qualify to track health worker licensure.

• Garden City University College’s use of the Bottlenecks and Best Buys Approach to select five priority management goals, develop an improvement plan, and achieve many milestones. For example, the school became accredited to run a Bachelor of Science program in midwifery and added programs in laboratory technology and medical assistantship. Based on focus group interviews with students, the school developed a marketing strategy to attract applicants with higher qualifications, and increased enrollment from 526 in 2012–13 to 850 in 2013–14. The school also served as one of the pilot implementers of the Dean’s Dashboard and is using it to track school-defined indicators related to student and infrastructure management.

• The Christian Health Association of Ghana’s adaptation of the HR Management Assessment Approach to its Organizational Performance Assessment Tool, which is being implemented across all of its facilities to address priority needs including more integrated workforce planning; HR information systems scale-up and data use; creation of an HR management manual with standardized policies for all facilities, and new strategies for adopting eLearning and access to online resources.

Photo by Paul Marsden