Ghana ranks 4th in the world in Health Governance Capacity Index
Ghana ranks fourth in the world in the Health Governance Capacity Index report, scoring 75 per cent. Leading at number one is Vietnam with the highest score of 82 per cent. Taking the second spot is South Africa with 81 per cent and China at third with 77 per cent.
The Index is part of a new Brookings report, the Health Governance Capacity: Enhancing Private Sector Investment in Global Health.
The report focused on the quality of health care governance in 18 low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia along five dimensions: health management capacity, health policies, health regulations, health infrastructure and financing, and health systems.
According to the study, the factors that can enable greater private sector investment in public health are: “improving transparency, strengthening management capacity, lowering tariffs on incoming medical products to the extent that is fiscally possible, expediting regulatory reviews of new drugs, building effective health infrastructure, and increasing appropriately-targeted and efficient public spending on healthcare.”
It noted that several African countries also have certain strengths that are conducive to greater investment. For instance, Ghana and Liberia scored highest of all countries in terms of their management capacity.
Additionally,Tanzania’s health policies are ranked best overall; South Africa’s and Uganda’s health regulations scored highest; and South Africa’s health infrastructure was ranked best (alongside China’s).
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria were the African countries with lower performances.
Health governance capacity, the report pointed out, is an important factor in attracting and leveraging private sector investment to further strengthen health systems and promote research and development.
The report looked at management capacity, regulatory processes, health infrastructure and policy condition in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
This is the first in a series of planned publications under the Brookings Private Sector Global Health R&D Project, which was launched in the fall of 2016. Subsequent reports will examine funding levels, rate of return on investment, and the financial benefits of global health R&D.
By Pamela Ofori-Boateng
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