There is a looming health crisis in the country as Global Fund suspends shipments of essential medical supplies due to delays in clearing previous donations at the Tema Port.
The Global Fund has been supporting health programs in Ghana since 2002. Ghana has a severe disease burden for tuberculosis and malaria and a high disease burden for HIV. Currently, there are 11 active Global Fund grants: five supporting HIV/AIDS, three supporting tuberculosis and three for malaria. To date, Ghana’s health programs have received a total of approximately US$ 500 million.
Dr. Thomas Anaba, Executive Director of the Africa Center for Health Policy Research and Analysis has criticized the government snail-paced approach to clearing essential health commodities at the Tema Port.
According to the former Medical Director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, a delegation from Global Fund visited Ghana to follow up on the commodities. But the efforts did not yield results as they have still not being cleared.
“A 12-member delegation from the Global Fund paid a working visit to this country to follow up on the locked-up commodities. In spite of all their efforts, they did not make any headway and the commodities still remain uncleared at the ports.
He told Citi News that “Ghana risks losing all Global Fund Support if the government fails to act on the matter.” He noted that Global Fund has “already suspended all commodity shipments to the country until the ones at the ports are cleared.”
According to Dr. Anaba, the situation “dire consequences for the hundreds of thousands of our compatriots on free medications donated by Global Fund.”
Meanwhile, CSOs fighting against HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis have indicated their readiness to protest on the streets if government doesn’t act fast in clearing the medical goods. They have set April 17 as the day to embark on the protest if there is no concrete effort from the government.