The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has appointed the Director of Health Promotion, Ghana Health Service, Dr Dacosta Aboagye, as the new Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

The Secretary to the President in a letter explained that the ap­pointment is pursuant to Section 14 (1) of the National Health Insurance Act, 2012 (Act 852).

According to the letter, Dr Aboagye takes over from Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, Minister of Health-designate and the appointment is “pending receipt of the constitutionally required advice of the governing board of the Authority given in consul­tation with the Public Services Commission.”

Dr Aboagye’s qualifications include a PhD in National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana (Research) from Leeds Beckett University (obtained in 2016), a Master’s degree in Public Health and Health Promotion (obtained in 2010) from the same univer­sity, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Cape Coast (ob­tained in 2006). His other qualifi­cations include a higher national certificate in Pharmacy Technol­ogy from the Kumasi Technical University obtained in 2002.

The 45-year-old national health insurance expert is currently serving as the Director of the Health Promotion Division with­in the Ghana Health Service and brings to the table a wealth of ex­perience in the fields of national health insurance finance, public health, and health promotion.

He led Ghana’s risk commu­nication efforts and was part of the presidential task force for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana from 2020 to 2023.

Before being appointed as the director of Health Promotion, he was the cohort leader for Public Health and Health Promotion programme at the University of West London, United Kingdom and an external examiner on Na­tional Health Insurance Financ­ing, Public Health and Health Promotion at both the University of Salford and London Metro­politan University.

Furthermore, within the ECOWAS community, he has the honour of chairing the Public Health Risk Communication and Community Engagement for Disease Control within the West Africa Health Organisation. This role entails facilitating experi­ence sharing, advocacy, learning, and promotion of better health through building stronger health systems across the 15 ECOWAS member states towards achieving universal health coverage and sustainable development goals.

Additionally, he serves as the Chairman of the Africa CDC Public Health Risk Communi­cation and Community Engage­ments Community of Practice for the 55 member states, aimed at promoting best practices, health system strengthening in­cluding national health insurance finance, continuous learning and knowledge exchange in Africa.

He has about 11 impactful research papers in the field of health insurance, public health and health promotion and has presented his research work locally and internationally exten­sively.

Dr Dacosta Aboagye has received numerous prestigious awards and citations, including the MTN Young Professionals Role Model in Health (Gold Category, 2020), the Golden Citizen Award (2021) and the overall National Best Health Leader of the Year 2023.

He was honoured with the Order of the Volta – Compan­ion Category, the highest award of the Republic of Ghana, for his contributions and sacrifices during Ghana’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2023.