Ghana fails to abide by the "Abuja Declaration" agreement

By Abigail Annoh and Grace Osei

More than 10 years after Ghana signed a pledge to devote 2% of its annual health budget to research in the sector, allocations remain to be made. The Abuja Declaration, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001, has seen Ghana become part of other African countries signing an agreement to increase their budget. annual health at least 15%, of which 2% should

However, speaking with the Ghanaian Times on the sidelines of a high-level meeting of African researchers and scientists in Accra yesterday, the director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) research, Dr. Abraham Hodgson said that although successive governments have allocated this amount in their annual budgets, the money has not been made available industry researchers

"It has been difficult to operationalize the two percent support for research in the country.We always budget for it.This is still mentioned in the annual budgets, but in one way or another, there is a challenge to releve r, so for much of our research, we have to look for money from outside sources, "he lamented

. The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), a health intervention agency, was expected to help fill existing gaps in health research while empowering African governments with leadership and ownership. research processes

. This two-day meeting was also expected to result in a strategic action plan to strengthen each country's national health research systems to achieve Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr. Hodgson expressed hope for improvement. In the meantime, steps should be taken to coordinate research conducted by different health sector organizations to ensure that Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Director General of the GHS, admitted, in a opening speech, a general "weakness" of national coordination and harmonization of health research in the country, especially "at the political level". He nevertheless pledged the country's commitment to support research because "there are excellent individual and institutional capacities to lead, set priorities, coordinate and review health research in the academic world." and our health facilities. "[19659011NoNSiah-Asareaaddedthat"researchhasplayedanimportantroleinthedevelopmentofpoliciesandtheimprovementofhealthprogramstoprovideempiricaldataonthechallengesofoursocietyandmustbewellexploited"

Thomas Nyirenda, for his part, noted that the absence of a national research program in most African countries it was susceptible to preventable diseases.

The fact that EDCTP provides grants to African countries to promote health research would enhance the capacity of countries to implement strategies to improve coherent research that would meet health needs. citizens.

(WHO) developed a tool, the National Health Research System Barometer, which is a questionnaire for evaluating participating countries after this conference to find out where each state is located in terms of health research capacity.

They will be clbadified in their progress and in cases where a country is facing difficulties, it will be helped to solve them, "he said.