ABANTU for Development, a West Africa sub-regional gender and policy advocacy Non-Governmental Organisation, has organised a forum on “Promoting Gender Equality and Social Responsiveness in the National Health Insurance Scheme”.
The forum provided a platform for female head porters (kayayei) and senior citizens to engage with the media to share their concerns on the NHIS and for policy makers to address them with the hope of promoting quality health care.
It formed part of the project, dubbed ‘Enhancing Gender and Social Responsiveness of the National Health Insurance Scheme: The case of Female Head Porters and Female Senior Citizens.’
The two-year project, which is being implemented with support from STAR-Ghana (Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness in Ghana), a pooled funding mechanism for Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) and Parliament, aimed to examine the extent of responsiveness of the NHIS in addressing the health needs of low-income, often-excluded and marginalised groups such as female head porters and the aged.
The project is expected to improve the Gender Responsiveness and Social inclusiveness (GESI) of the NHIS through research and policy advocacy.
It is expected to be an evidence-based policy advocacy initiative which combines research with policy advocacy and to facilitate enhanced advocacy on strengthening commitment and accountability of the Ministry of Health (MoH) in particular at national and district levels for the promotion of equity and inclusiveness in the health sector.
In a presentation, Ms Afua Gyapomaa, Project Co-ordinator, disclosed that a study conducted under the project showed that 52.3% of female head porters and 90.3% of senior citizens were registered under the NHIS.
According to the findings of the study, Ms Gyapomaa said, the very nature of Kayayei work and their places of residence exposed them to health problems such as body pains and infectious, and life style diseases.
The findings, she said, also indicated that discriminatory treatment was being meted out to female head porters as they were not treated as equal citizens—a situation which defeats the idea of promoting health as a right for all citizens is far from being realised.
She said the findings also showed that respondents were unhappy that they still paid for uncovered drugs and medical tests.
According to the findings, Ms Gyapomaa said, there were no explicit provisions for women and men under the NHIS Act to ensure equity in a key policy area such as NHIS.
ABANTU has, therefore, recommended the intensification of public education on the NHIS to erase all perceptions and the retraining for service providers on their professional standards.
ABANTU has also called on NHIS to capture and analyse sex disaggregated data to enable it respond to the specific needs of different groups of women and men, while gender-specific considerations should be developed and incorporated into the NHIS.
It also urged Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to play a more effective role in providing constructive critique of the scheme.
Furthermore, ABATU said, the NHIS policy that premiums be paid based on one’s income, should be fully implemented.
Source: ISD (G.D. Zaney)
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