Vice President Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has called on African countries to reduce their dependence on foreign aid and take greater responsibility for financing and shaping the continent’s healthcare future.

Speaking at the 2026 Annual Health Summit organised by the Ministry of Health, the Vice President urged African governments to treat healthcare as both a national security imperative and an economic priority, driven by domestic investment and a strong health workforce.

She stressed the need to strengthen Ghana’s healthcare workforce through strategic recruitment, equitable deployment and improved retention measures to ensure quality healthcare delivery across the country.

According to the Vice President, greater collaboration across sectors is required to create favourable conditions that attract and retain health professionals, particularly in underserved communities.

She also advocated structured labour migration arrangements that protect Ghana’s health system while providing opportunities for healthcare workers seeking employment abroad.

The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, outlined government interventions aimed at strengthening the country’s health workforce, including the recruitment of additional health professionals, the expansion of specialist and post-basic training programmes, and improved deployment to underserved areas.

Akandoh said government is taking deliberate steps to bridge workforce gaps, enhance skills development and ensure a more equitable distribution of health personnel nationwide.

“The health workforce remains the backbone of Ghana’s health system,” he said, adding that investment must focus not only on increasing personnel numbers but also on improving skills, professionalism, motivation and retention.

“People, not buildings, transform investments into results,” the minister said, noting that a resilient, motivated and well-distributed workforce is essential to achieving Universal Health Coverage and improving health outcomes.

The summit was held on the theme: “Building a Resilient Health Workforce to Accelerate the Attainment of Universal Health Coverage.”

Participants included development partners, heads of agencies under the Ministry of Health, members of the Parliamentary Health Committee and representatives of health professional regulatory bodies.