The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, is urging NGOs around the world to partner with the government of Ghana in delivering good health care to the citizenry premised on an overarching aim of building a nation beyond aid.

The minister made the remarks when she received a delegation from the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) including the West Africa Regional Director, Ms Jennifer Overton, on Wednesday, 17 March 2021 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

The purpose of the courtesy call was to provide highlights of the organisation’s work in Ghana over the past 63 years, as well as share CRS’ five-year strategic plan.

Since 1958, CRS Ghana has established itself as a partner in Ghana's development with a special focus on working to tackle poverty with a holistic approach, including projects that improve child and maternal health; increase access to clean water and sanitation.

In her remarks, the minister lauded the gesture by CRS and took time to outline a few projects being rolled out by the government of Ghana in a bid to improve the lives of the people.

Being a government that is focused on post-COVID-19 economic recovery, the minister explained that some flagship projects started by President Akufo-Addo in his first tenure, are being revisited with the aim of securing a healthy population.

“All these things, together with the CHPS compounds that are dotted all over the country as well as the government’s investment in what we call agenda 111, which is ensuring that every district, municipality in Ghana has a hospital and we are moving steadily ahead, a lot of progress is being made and very soon we should see these health facilities being finished, equipped and the requisite human resource put in”, she said.

For her part, Ms Jennifer Overton reassured the minister of a continuous partnership with Ghana in order to improve healthcare delivery across the country.

To address gaps and challenges associated with the COVID-19 response, CRS in collaboration with the Catholic Diocesan Health Directorates in the Oti, Northern, North-East and Upper East regions, is implementing the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund (COERF) Project.

As an intervention that supports Catholic-owned health facilities and their catchment communities, the initiative seeks to fill the identified gaps by supporting partners to help implement interventions to protect frontline health workers, interrupt the potential community spread of the virus, and provide safety nets for the most vulnerable households.