The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) has reaffirmed its commitment to delivering dignified, high-quality healthcare nationwide, emphasising that access alone is not enough to save lives.
Speaking at a recent ceremony marking the handover of the SafeCare programme from PharmAccess Ghana to CHAG, the Executive Director, Dr Peter Yeboah, described the event as a step toward a “Partnership to Ownership” – a sustainable, child-friendly and quality-focused initiative aimed at transforming healthcare across Ghana.
“Access to care is necessary, but not sufficient. But what is probably much more important is having access to quality, effective, dignified care. That is what would save lives and livelihoods.
“And what also brought us together is that we were all on the same convention platform: that access to that dignified, highest attainable quality healthcare – compassionate care that transforms human lives – must not be a privilege. It must be an inalienable right of every country. We did everything with that,” he said.
The partnership with PharmAccess, a global health organisation, has already yielded tangible improvements in healthcare delivery.
Currently, 39 CHAG facilities across the country are rated Safe Level Four, with additional facilities showing measurable progress in patient safety, institutional capacity, and overall quality.
A dedicated SafeCare Hub now supports training, mentoring, monitoring and research into best practices, ensuring that these standards are sustained and scaled across CHAG’s network.
“Anything that has the capacity to stay longer needs local leadership and commitment to energise direction and interest, which grows. So that is very important for CHAG.
“We believe in projects or programs that are owned, and that is a pathway to ensuring that it goes through several transitional changes and challenges,” Dr. Yeboah explained.
The handover of the SafeCare programme signals CHAG’s assumption of full leadership, with key goals including sustainability, scalability, local ownership, policy alignment, and local adaptation.
“Sustainability is very important. We need to consolidate all the gains we’ve made over the years through the Safe Care improvement program, and that is extremely important.
“Sustainability is a key reason for which we must assume leadership and ownership of this whole programme,” Dr Yeboah explained.
He added that scalability ensures that high-quality care reaches both urban and remote areas, bridging gaps in healthcare access and standardising care nationwide.
Local leadership and commitment, he stressed, are crucial for the programme’s longevity, while alignment with national policy and accreditation frameworks guarantees that SafeCare becomes a recognised standard across the Ghanaian health system.
CHAG’s vision for the programme is ambitious. Every CHAG facility is expected to achieve at least Level Three or Four, aspiring toward Level Five, and SafeCare will be fully embedded and institutionalised.
The Executive Director emphasised that patients entering CHAG facilities should recognise them as “safe spaces for dignified, compassionate care,” reflecting the highest attainable healthcare standards.
He also highlighted the importance of combining faith with science, noting that while quality care saves lives, faith provides meaning and fulfilment for healthcare workers and patients alike.
“May I reinforce the fact that this handover is not an endpoint. It is an evolution: the evolution of PharmAccess from a technical implementer to a strategic ally at a different level.
“It is a template for localisation – partnership through localisation – where programs are designed, implemented over time, pioneered, piloted, and localised so that they will be more sustainable and replicated. So, localisation is also an extremely important one,” he added.
This partnership is not an endpoint; it is an evolution. We aim to build a resilient, responsive, and self-sustaining healthcare system that will serve generations to come,” he indicated.
Dr Yeboah expressed gratitude to PharmAccess for its technical support, collaboration and commitment to raising global quality standards in Ghana.
With CHAG taking full leadership, the SafeCare programme is poised to become a template for faith-based, self-sustaining healthcare in Africa and beyond, ensuring that quality care is not just a promise but a reality for all Ghanaians.