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Ghana’s free primary healthcare policy: What it means for nutrition
Ghana’s Free Primary Healthcare (FPHC) Programme, launched in April 2026, is one of the most significant health policy shifts in recent years. By removing user fees at the primary care level, it promises to bring essential services closer to communities, especially women and children. For nutrition, the potential is huge. But potential alone does not save lives. Implementation will determine impact.
A question many Ghanaians are rightly asking is: how does FPHC relate to the existing National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)? The FPHC is not a replacement for the NHIS, but a complementary intervention. At the primary level, at health centres and polyclinics, everything is free of charge, and no NHIS card is required. Only a Ghana Card or proof of residency is needed to access care. The NHIS will now redirect its focus toward secondary and tertiary care, including specialised treatments under the Ghana Medical Trust Fund. For referrals to districts, regional, or teaching hospitals, a valid NHIS card will still be required. In simple terms, FPHC fills the gap the NHIS left at the community level, extending care to those previously excluded because they lacked an insurance card or the means to pay.
What the Policy Covers
The FPHC Programme is designed to eliminate user fees at the primary healthcare level, covering services at Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds, health centres, and polyclinics. For nutrition, the implications are direct and meaningful. The programme includes antenatal and postnatal care, pregnancy nutrition education, breastfeeding support, child feeding guidance, growth monitoring, immunisation, and non-communicable disease (NCD) screenings.
The rollout begins in 150 underserved districts with plans of nationwide expansion between 2026 and 2028. Over 350 container-based service points have been positioned in high-traffic areas such as markets and lorry parks, bringing services closer to communities. Every Ghanaian will be entitled to at least one free basic health screening per year.
Why This Matters for Nutrition
For too long, cost has been one of the biggest barriers keeping mothers from attending antenatal clinics, getting nutrition counselling, and having their children weighed and monitored. A mother in a remote village should not have to choose between feeding her family and seeking healthcare for her child. The stakes are significant. Nearly one in five Ghanaian children under five is stunted, and over a third of pregnant women are anaemic. These are not statistics from a distant past; they reflect what is happening today, in communities where financial barriers have long kept families from the care they need. This policy, if implemented effectively, removes that impossible choice.
Identifying malnutrition early gives children a far better chance of recovery and survival. A child identified as wasted or stunted at six months has a far better chance of recovery than one identified at two years. If implemented well, the FPHC Programme could significantly improve early detection and prevention of malnutrition.
The Question of Implementation
Public health analysts have raised legitimate questions about sustainable financing and whether Ghana’s already-stretched health workforce can deliver on these promises. The WHO Director-General praised the initiative and noted it brings Ghana closer to universal health coverage. But praise is not delivery. Expanding access without ensuring quality and consistency risks overpromising and underdelivering.
For the FPHC Programme to truly benefit nutrition, services must be reliably available in all implementing districts. Health workers must be equipped and supported to deliver nutrition care. Nutrition must be treated as a core service, not an add-on and progress must be tracked and publicly reported.
Nutrition advocates must watch this policy closely, push for nutrition services to be fully integrated into implementation, and hold leaders accountable for ensuring that the women and children who need these services most are reached.
Because in public health, success is not measured by policies launched, but by lives improved.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
The Danish Children Fund (DCF), a Denmark-based NGO supporting children’s education, has encouraged students to prioritise their education and desist from misuse and abuse of drugs to enhance their holistic growth and development.
The call was made during a day’s sensitisation seminar on drug abused for students in Tamale to help them make informed life choices and stay away from abusing drug substances.
The event, held under an initiative dubbed: ‘Youths in Focus,’ brought together students, teachers and officials from the Ghana Police Service, Narcotics Control Commission and Ghana Education Service to educate young people on the dangers associated with drugs abused and their addiction trends.
Mr Benjamin Yin, Project Manager of DCF and Headmaster of Kalpohin SDA Basic School, speaking during the event, said the intervention was necessitated by increasing concerns over drugs abused among the youth in Tamale.
He said the organisation, which primarily focused on supporting needy children to remain in school, recognised the need to complement educational support with interventions that empowered young people to make responsible decisions.
Mr Yin highlighted some achievements of the DCF in the education sector in Tamale and said the organisation currently sponsored 55 vulnerable children to remain in school, most of whom were orphans.
He explained that out of the number, 23 beneficiaries were at Kalpohin SDA School, 18 at Tamale SDA School and 15 at Jakarayili School.
He said the support package included learning materials, food and other essential items to prevent school dropouts.
Beyond educational sponsorship, he said the organisation had invested in educational infrastructure to improve learning environments in beneficiary schools.
The Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr Richard Akumi, Deputy Northern Regional Crime Officer, who addressed the students during the event, described the abuse of drugs among young people as a major challenge requiring collective action.
He said the Ghana Police Service had intensified efforts to tackle the abuse of drug in the region through law enforcement operations and community sensitisation programmes.
ASP Mr Akumi noted that the Northern Regional Police Command’s Special Operations Team had been carrying out operations across Tamale to dismantle drug hotspots and arrest suspects involved in drug-related activities. –GNA
Mr Samuel Akrasi, Principal of the Otaakrom Technical Institute in the Atwima Mponua District, has urged the media and research institutions to pay greater attention to youth unemployment after second-cycle education in the country.
He said increased reportage and research on unemployment among graduates of senior high schools and other second-cycle institutions would help create awareness at both grassroots and national levels and compel authorities and stakeholders to take the necessary steps to address the challenge.
Mr Akrasi made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of four workshops for the Institute.
He stressed the need for the media and researchers to investigate and publish data on unemployed graduates from senior high schools and other second-cycle institutions, noting that, in his view, the number of unemployed youth from such institutions exceeded those from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
According to him, TVET institutions produced more employable and self-employed youth than other second-cycle institutions in the country.
Mr Akrasi appealed for increased investment in TVET institutions through improved infrastructure, logistics, and training support to make technical education more attractive and accessible to the youth.
The principal noted that TVET education was becoming increasingly modernised and described the proposed workshops, expected to be completed within 18 months, as timely and beneficial to trainees.
The $7.5 million project, funded by the Social Investment Fund (SIF), includes an administration block and modern workshops for the Fashion Designing, Catering, Electricals, and Agro-Processing Departments of the Institute.
Mr Abass Nurudeen, Chief Executive Officer of SIF, said the project formed part of the 28 million-dollar Post-COVID-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project (PSDPEP), which seeks to improve the local economy by empowering the youth with employable skills under the TVET programme.
Mr Issahak Ibrahim, District Chief Executive for Atwima Mponua, described the project as a symbol of hope, opportunity and innovation that would help nurture a skilled generation for the district and beyond. –GNA
