The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has called for an urgent review of the country's health workforce strategy to address shortages and improve the deployment and retention of specialist health professionals. According to Dr. Eva Mensah, Director of Nursing and Midwifery at GHS, investments in hospitals and medical equipment will not translate into improved health outcomes without adequately trained nurses, midwives, and other health professionals.
Dr. Mensah made the call at the 11th Annual General Meeting and 6th Scientific Conference of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives (GCNM) held at the Pentecost Convention Centre at Gomoa Fetteh in the Central Region. The conference, which began on October 4 and ended on October 8, 2026, was held on the theme: “Building a Resilient Specialist Nursing and Midwifery Workforce to Improve Health Outcomes.”
Dr. Mensah emphasized that Ghana's changing disease burden, particularly the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), requires an expansion of specialist skills to meet the growing demand for healthcare. She cited heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, and respiratory illnesses as conditions increasingly confronting the country, adding that NCDs account for about 43% of all causes of mortality.
The Director of Nursing and Midwifery also expressed concern about maternal health, citing an increase in institutional maternal mortality from 535 to 985 per 100,000 live births in 2025. She noted that the staffing norms guiding the health sector, established in 2014 and revised in 2015, are no longer adequate to meet the country's changing healthcare needs and should be reviewed urgently.
Dr. Mensah further called for specialist training to be linked to employment opportunities, career progression, and professional responsibilities to ensure that highly trained personnel are assigned roles that make full use of their expertise. She also called for stronger measures to retain health professionals, noting that the migration of doctors, nurses, midwives, and other specialists remains a major challenge to the health system.
The Chief Programme Officer for Allied Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Ignatius Abowini Nchor Awinibuno, who represented the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, assured that the Ministry is committed to ensuring a continually evolving health sector capable of responding to changing patient needs. He emphasized the critical roles that nurses and midwives play in ensuring continuity of care, early intervention, and the management of patients with complex and long-term conditions.
The President of the GCNM, Professor Victoria Bubunyo Bam, appealed to the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to provide greater support for the College's infrastructure development and specialist training programs. She noted that the College remains committed to strengthening specialist nursing and midwifery despite resource constraints.
Key points
- Ghana's health workforce strategy needs urgent review to address shortages and improve deployment of specialist health professionals.
- The country's changing disease burden requires an expansion of specialist skills to meet the growing demand for healthcare.
- The migration of doctors, nurses, midwives, and other specialists remains a major challenge to the health system.
