The ‘Prevention is Better than Cure’ (PBC) project has successfully held an official closing ceremony at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH under the develoPPP.de programme, the PBC project seeks to integrate prevention and health promoting measures in the service packages of both public and private health service providers including health insurance providers in Ghana.
The PBC project is also implemented in partnership with Sysmex, Ghana Community Network Services (GCNet), Golden Star Resources Limited (GSRL), NMS Infrastructure Limited, Nationwide Mutual Healthcare, GLICO Healthcare and Claron Health in collaboration with the Ghana Association of Quasi-Government Health Institutions (GAQHI) in a Strategic Alliance (StA) since April 2015.
The closing ceremony was attended by Kwaku Agyeman Manu, the Minister of Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, and other dignitaries from the Health sector. The experiences and lessons learned on the project were also shared.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Minister of Health, Hon. Kwaku Agyeman Manu congratulated GIZ and the implementing partners on a successful closing-out session and reiterated the Ministry’s commitment in the prevention of disease. “The Ministry has over the years showed its commitment in the prevention of disease to enhance the quality of life of all Ghanaians,” he stated.
Alan Walsch, Country Director, GIZ Ghana also stated that, “GIZ is pleased to have been part of this innovative multisectoral partnership with private and public partners which has provided an opportunity to integrate preventive health services in health care provision in Ghana. Among other achievements, 15 Prevention Units/Centres have already been set up and over 40,000 persons have benefitted from various interventions. We are hopeful that this concept will be integrated and sustained in all the implementing facilities and also serve as a good example for other institutions and countries.”
The preventive health package including services such as BMI checks, BP and blood glucose level checks, breast screening, and HIV and Hepatitis B screening among others complements the curative services being offered currently by health care and insurance providers. This will improve care provision and address the health and social protection needs of staff of partnering companies, their families and the general population as a whole.
