He said the Ministry of Health reports (MOH, 2012, 2022), showed that NCDs were the leading cause of death in Ghana, and ranked among the ten causes of facility attendance.

“Each year, over 94,000 people die from NCDs in Ghana, accounting for 43 per cent of all causes of mortality,” he stated.

He called on the Ministry of Health to seek innovative ways of funding for the successful implementation of its NoP and sustainability, to improve healthcare facility infrastructure and the provision of basic tools for providers to deliver comprehensive care.

Dr Amoah made the recommendation in a presentation on a position paper on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) within the context of the Network of Practice (NoP), which was initiated by the Ghana NCD Alliance.

He said the National Health Insurance Scheme should be improved to cover for all NCDs treatment and medication while there should be a mandatory policy for all health training institutions to incorporate NCD prevention, care, and management in their curricula for all health professionals.

He urged that people living with NCDs should be involved in the development of policies and interventions and that deliberate efforts should be made to engage organisations such as academics and research institutions, Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organisations respectively as well as development partners.

Dr Amoah said communities, especially people living with NCDs should be part of health decisions on integrating NCDs into the network and that there should be a separate Community Health Management Committees (CHMCs) for NoP implementation.

“The Chairman of the CHMC should be invited to sit at the district health management meetings to advise on network implementation,” he stressed.

The main aim of the NoP is to enhance access to high-quality, essential healthcare and population-based services for everyone by 2030.

The NoP has its core values and guiding principles that are focused on equity, quality of care, strengthened referral systems, internal collaboration and relationship building.

The rest are partnership at the operational level, commitment to working together and supporting each other, community engagement, and continuous learning and adaptation.