Supporting Ghana’s ambitious plans to lower maternal mortality rates through local innovation
Ghana’s maternal mortality rate has experienced a sustained downward trend in recent decades, with its 2015 ratio down to 319 per 100,000 live births from 760 in 1990. Despite these successes, progress has slowed and last year showed a slight increase, prompting the need for additional solutions if Ghana is to meet its commitment to the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of fewer than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births.
In our 2023 annual report, we announced a new partnership between the Ghana Health Service (GHS), USAID, Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), and AMP Health known as the Country Innovation Platform (CIP). It aims to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes by identifying and investing in African innovations tailored to local needs.
African countries are often compelled to adapt innovations from elsewhere around the globe. Often, these are ill-suited to local contexts. The CIP stakeholders entered the co-creation workshop aware that the best solutions to Ghana’s healthcare issues were more likely to be found in local ideas and innovations.
The CIP kicked off with a co-creation workshop, co-designed and co-facilitated by AMP Health and its partners, and brought together public and private sector representatives, along with other stakeholders such as funders and innovators. This workshop helped build trust, prompted collaboration and thought sharing between stakeholders, and resulted in the identification of high-priority maternal and newborn health needs that would guide the selection criteria when evaluating innovations. Four outcome goals emerged.
These are:
Improved communication and real-time tracking of information along the patient referral journey for mothers and newborns
Increased accessibility and availability of transport for pregnant women and mothers of newborns who need to reach facilities, especially in emergencies
Improved skills of healthcare workers to deliver high-quality emergency care for mothers and newborns
Increased availability of essential medicines and supplies for mothers and newborns when needed
Following the two-month co-creation process starting in February 2023, a request for proposals was issued, seeking the ingenuity of innovators and thought leaders from across Africa. Over the following months, more than 135 proposals were received, of which eight were selected after a screening process. Negotiations are currently being finalised with the selected candidates ahead of the roll-out of the pilot period.
AMP Health’s Management Partner in Ghana, Chioma Ogbozor, has been embedded in the GHS to support the establishment of the CIP by providing ongoing training and direct mentorship to team leads and team members who have not held leadership positions before. She has also been guiding the team on building relationships between stakeholders, developing project management skills, and coaching the team to convene discussions and set agendas, thereby minimising delays and improving efficiencies.
Chioma Ogbozor, AMP Health’s Management Partner, speaking at the co-creation workshop.
To ensure the continued identification of potential innovations in the health sector, Chioma coached the team through the steps needed to establish an innovation desk, and in the selection process of team members to staff the desk. This centralised hub now acts as the first point of contact for guidance, collaboration, and expertise in healthcare innovation.
The CIP has reshaped Ghana’s approach to health innovation by departing from current global healthcare innovation norms, which have to date largely been led by funders and international partners. This novel approach has ensured the GHS remains the key decision maker, places local partners at the forefront of the innovation process, and seeks appropriate solutions to country-specific issues through multisectoral collaboration.
The CIP not only aims to address the healthcare challenges faced by the GHS, mothers, and their newborns but also acts as an innovation process model that can be replicated to address similar challenges elsewhere on the continent, while simultaneously fostering growth through investment in African health innovators.
