A Message From Our Director

Message From The Executive Director

The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) is an Implementing partner with agency status for the Ministry of Health. The core mandate of CHAG is to promote the Healing Ministry of Christ and to be a reliable partner in the health sector in providing the health needs ¬of the people in Ghana in fulfilment of Christ’s mandate to go and heal the Sick. CHAG also seeks to promote the growth and sustainability of Church Health Services at all places especially in the hard-to-reach and the marginalized areas through holistic health service provision and training.
We fulfill this core mandate through the promotion of Christian values and principles of stewardship, accountability, transparency, innovation, cooperation and partnership in service provision, advocacy, witness, and representation of the ethical and moral conscience of the health sector. As a not-for-profit organization, CHAG seeks to uphold the dignity of the human person at all times especially the poor, neglected, deprived and marginalized segments of the society.

In pursuance of these ideals, we continue to explore a host of innovative and sustainable projects and programmes of wide social impact and national appeal. For instance, in the 1990s, CHAG pioneered and piloted a community-based health insurance scheme that culminated into the present National Health Insurance Scheme. We further challenged the status quo in health service provision by embarking on the SafeCare Quality improvement strategies which has the potential to be adopted by the entire health sector of Ghana. Under the SafeCare programme, 25 staff of CHAG have been accredited and certified as Internationally certified SafeCare Quality Improvement Accessors and these officers are leading the various quality improvement interventions of CHAG. Presently, five (5) hospitals of CHAG have attained SafeCare Quality Improvement level 4 and thus are recognized as centres of excellence in the country.

The onset of Covid-19 brought to bear many lapses in health care provision in Ghana and as an organisation, we partnered with key agencies and organizations and introduced highly innovative containment measures in support of the Government’s efforts in combating the spread of the virus. Notable among these interventions is the Covid-19 Response and Institutional Capacity Building (CRIB) project which involved 40 districts where CHAG facilities served as district referral centres.

We have over the years evolved and are becoming one of the most preferred service providers due to the continuous quality improvement measures that we have instituted and still seeks to inculcate into our service and trainings. We have pursued health system strengthening approaches and projects to build capacity in all our 373 member institutions spread over the 16 regions of Ghana and in over 200 districts. Our Health Training Schools continue to provide excellent tuition. In 2021 the overall best Nursing student in multiple choice exams emerged from the Presbyterian Nursing Training College in Agogo – a constituent member of CHAG.

Community Systems Strengthening (CSS) approach to addressing the issues of HIV and Tuberculosis has become one key focus and CHAG as a key agency was privileged to be the Principal Recipient (PR) of the Global Fund New Funding Model III (NFM III) grant to support the CSS approaches in Ghana.

Globally, all countries are gearing towards attaining the Universal Health Coverage and as part of the efforts of CHAG, our newly developed 5-year strategic plan aims at building the capacity of our network members towards attaining the Universal Health Coverage agenda 2030 of Ghana. Our yearly programs are now based on strategies from the 5-year strategic plan.

Innovations

CHAG strives to be an agency of excellence and innovation and a pacesetter in the Ghanaian health sector by leading innovative interventions that addresses critical health needs such as the rising burden of NCDs among others. We strengthen the various leadership and governance at our facility levels, and further support the various Church leaderships to also strengthen their respective systems through their Church Health offices. To ensure accessibility, in 2020 CHAG established virtual offices in all the 15 regions where key personnel were appointed to support the respective member institutions in those regions.

Partnerships

In addressing the gaps in national health outcomes, we seek cooperation and collaboration with Local and International Development Partners in improving access to affordable quality health services to needy constituents and populace through improved service provision and excellent health staff training. Whilst local needs and imperatives remain our focus, we align our plans and programmes with the priorities of the health sector including targets and indicators towards attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Challenges and Prospects

Although CHAG has over the years made great strides in Ghana’s health sector, there remain key challenges that our organization is confronted with for the sustainability of the successes chalked. There also remain challenges for key innovative interventions in addressing gaps in some key areas all the nine health system blocks. Funding for most innovative interventions remain a challenge in the areas of Human Resources for Health, Health Financing, Health Technologies, Health Information, Leadership and Governance, Community Ownership and Participation, Partnerships for Health Development, and Research for Health and some aspects of health service delivery.

Accordingly, we seek partnerships to address these challenges. As the second largest provider of health services in Ghana, CHAG offers a highly significant level of hope for all generations; unborn, children, young, mothers, adult, the aged and the vulnerable groups in the society.

As we work tirelessly to ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being for all at all ages, and to enable Ghana to attain UHC, we invite your inspirational ideas, support, direction and prayers!

Welcome on board!