The Ministry of Health and its development partners have exhibited commitment in improving the health of Ghanaians and achieving the targets of the Millennium Development Goals by signing an Aide Memoire, which serves as a guide. The two bodies have also agreed to ensure the sustainability of the National Health Insurance Scheme, good health management and information system as well as enhance its efficiency and link it with funding. The signing of the Aide Memoire in Accra on Friday was a result of the three-day health summit attended by all stakeholders from agencies of the Ministry of Health, other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), donor community, civil society, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. The meeting reviewed the report of an independent team of experts on the performance of the sector in 2006, review progress of work towards achieving the health related Millennium Development Goals, discuss and adopt the third five-year programme of work for the health sector, which will begin in 2007-2011. Ms Lidi Remmelzwaal, Netherlands Ambassador in Ghana who signed on behalf of the health partners said it was important to find ways and address the complex issues at hand and work towards improving performance of the health sector. “A summit is a milestone in the way we have structured our cooperation in the health sector. But equally important is a continuous dialogue, good and open dialogue in the sector as real partners. I hope the summit and the Aide Memoire will form a step in our partnership and a good basis for a productive and open dialogue in the future”. The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah urged the development partners to be more committed in the financing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation for the next five-year programme of work. He stressed on sustenance of the regenerative health and nutrition programme; its full implementation as well as increasing funding to the health sector to help scale up health services to the poor, reduce wastage and improve efficiency in allocation and use of health resources. Promotion of good governance, accountability and more effective collaboration with other sectors was another area the minister hammered on for the health partners’ commitment. The development partners are European Commission, Kingdom of Netherlands, DFID, UNFPA, The World Bank, USAID, Embassy of Japan, UNICEF and WHO. Source: GNA