MeTA Launch in Ghana

Publication date: 2008

Daniel Kojo Arhinful MeTA pilot in Ghana MeTA * MeTA Population 20.9m Population growth 2% p.a Population<15yrs 46% Life Expectancy at birth M/F 57/60 GDP per capita $400 Family size 4.5 Child mortality per 1000 M/F 92/99 Total health exp. % GDP 5.6 40% live below National Poverty line WHO report 2005/GDS 2003 # of doctors /per pop. 1:14,000 # of nurses /per pop. 1: 2000 # of Pharmacies/per pop. 1:16,077 # of LCS /per pop 1:2,322 Credit MOH 2006 sector review MeTA Transparency and accountability: policy and action Government and Presidential commitment to good governance; Public Procurement Act 2003 & MOH Guidelines for health sector procurement; Forthcoming Right to Information Bill; History of civil society collaboration with government, e.g. through Access to Medicines Initiative and MOH/WHO/HAI Collaboration; Data collection and reporting bodies on aspects of pharmaceutical supply chain and use – FDB, CMS, MOH-PU, GHS, CHAG, GNDP, NDRIC; National Health Insurance Scheme significant opportunities to improve transparency, accountability, pricing, quality. MeTA Policy framework for MeTA in Ghana Health Sector Programme of Work 2007-2011: Key Principles Health identified as key driver for poverty reduction and economic growth; Commitment to enhance contribution of health industry to national economy; Emphasis on “partnerships”, “people-centred”, “equity” and “efficiency” – all key themes for MeTA; Emphasis on good governance and accountability in the health sector; Plans to proactively engage civil society in consensus building and to provide more information to consumers, e.g. around quality and rational drug use; Drugs and Essential Logistics Management objective: “address availability, affordability, sustainable financing, safety, quality and efficacy of medicines in a transparent manner.” MeTA Key Challenges 1 Urgent need to address maternal health and incidence of malaria, including as a route to tackling infant and child mortality; Benefits of improved procurement are not translating into affordability and availability for patients (e.g. 2004 WHO/HAI Medicines Survey); Low consumer awareness due to very little information on quality, availability and prices of medicines is available in the public domain; Inconsistency across the public, private and mission sectors in terms of how standards (i.e. quality, availability and pricing) are developed and applied. MeTA Key Challenges 2 Non-adherence to treatment guidelines by prescribers and irrational use of medicines by providers persists despite improved guidance and education; Supply chain performance problems from CMS downstream leading to high stock-out rate; Vulnerability of NHIS to fraud due to inefficient record keeping and analysis, weak control systems; Counterfeit and/or substandard products a problem - but very limited data. MeTA MeTA Chart1 20 40 40 Ghana Drug Access Problem Ratio Accessibility 20% Affordability 40% Sheet1 Problem Ability to address Physical 20 10 Financial 40 30 Quality 40 60 Total 100 100 Ability to address Physical 10 Financial 30 Quality 60 Total 100 Sheet1 0 0 0 Ghana Drug Access Problem Ratio Affordability 40% Accessibility 20% Sheet2 0 0 0 Ghana Intervention Ratio Sheet3 Sheet4 Potential Benefits of MeTA to Ghana Share good practices with other MeTA pilot countries Provide Ghanaian leadership on medicines transparency and accountability across the West Africa region as model for both effective governance and market efficiency. Provides opportunity for pricing and quality monitoring mechanism to inform the NHIS Reduce and/or eliminate the risk of counterfeit and substandard medication in the supply chain. Opportunity for enhanced national research capacity. Provides potential mechanism for government commitment to fight inefficiency and corruption in the drug supply landscape. MeTA MeTA in Ghana: main pilot activity Establishing mechanisms to strengthen the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on medicines along the supply chain; Facilitating peer oversight systems within and across health professions; Sustaining regular, open stakeholder dialogue; Developing long-term strategy or ‘master plan’ for MeTA in Ghana. MeTA * MeTA * MeTA structures in Ghana MeTA Governing Council: Public sector: Ministry of Health, National Health Insurance Council, Ghana Health Services, Food and Drugs Board, Ministry of Trade, Attorney Generals’ Department, Ministry of Finance; Professional bodies: Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Ghana Medical Association, Nurses and Midwives Council; Civil society: CSOs (health and non-health), media, academic institutions, faith-based service providers. Private sector: Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Ghana, Association of Private Medical and Dental Practitioners International community: World Health Organization, DFID/World Bank/HAI/Other Development Partners Representative. Will meet quarterly, with first meeting after national launch. Two co-chairs MeTA * MeTA * MeTA structures in Ghana MeTA Secretariat Will be hosted by MoH initially. MeTA Annual Stakeholder Forum Larger workshop, broader representation; To report on progress, share data. MeTA Status of MeTA workplan Core group has developed draft for review; Will get feedback from the MeTA global secretariat; Then will be submitted for consideration by the Governing Council in Ghana and then finalized. MeTA National research priorities Already doing Household and Pharmaceutical Sector Level 2 surveys; Have done pharmaceutical supply chain mapping in public sector with WHO; would like to expand to private and faith-based sectors. National MeTA workplan includes conduct of Knowledge, Attitude, Behaviour and Practice studies. Need to research drug quality issues - plans include synthesizing past studies, and conducting regular sentinel testing using GPHF minilabs. MeTA Lessons learned so far… Value of building on previous collaborations; Scoping study provided useful information, and mission debriefing got stakeholders on board; Establishment of initial ‘core group’ of actors was helpful in getting ‘started’. MeTA Risks and assumptions Mutual suspicions between government and private sector; All stakeholders nervous about change; Where are the enforcement mechanisms across the system? Enforcement of regulations is weak. Civil society fragmentation needs to be addressed; assume that new coalitions can be forged. Need to assume a degree of commitment to transparency by all stakeholders and willingness to be mutually accountable. Timeliness and sustainability of financing. Need to ensure plans are realistic for pilot phase - not ‘over-ambitious’. MeTA Support needs? Money to sustain processes. Capacity building - for sentinel testing; for CSOs; for media. Technical assistance to develop indicators to measure transparency and accountability of all stakeholders. Technical assistance to help stakeholders use the data - e.g. in demand forecasting. MeTA Title of presentation * MeTA * Title of presentation * MeTA * Title of presentation * MeTA *

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