The Ghana Medical Trust Fund was established to respond to one of Ghana's most urgent health challenges: the growing burden of Non-Communicable Diseases.
The Ghana Medical Trust Fund was established to confront one of Ghana’s most critical health challenges: the escalating burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the significant financial hardship they impose on individuals and families. Today, NCDs account for nearly one in every two deaths in Ghana, representing approximately 45% of the nation’s total mortality rate.
01.
GMTF has taken early steps to support access to life-saving care for individuals facing catastrophic health costs due to NCDs. These interventions demonstrate the Fund’s core purpose: ensuring that financial barriers do not determine who lives or receives care.
Financial support for approved persons
Reducing catastrophic health expenditure
Ensuring dignity in care access
02.
Through engagements and visits to key health institutions, the Fund has identified critical gaps in specialised services, equipment, and infrastructure required for effective NCD care. These insights are guiding targeted investments in retooling facilities and expanding specialised treatment capacity.
Identifying gaps in specialist services
Targeted infrastructure investments
Expanding treatment capacity
03.
Recognising that sustainable care depends on skilled professionals, GMTF has prioritised specialist training and capacity building. Early engagements with teaching hospitals and training institutions are shaping programmes that will strengthen Ghana’s pipeline of specialist medical personnel.
Specialist training programmes
Teaching hospital partnerships
Developing medical expertise
04.
The Fund has convened and engaged clinicians, subject-matter experts, regulators, and hospital leaders to inform the design of patient-centred benefits packages and referral pathways. This approach ensures that interventions are practical, equitable, and grounded in real clinical experience.
Clinician consultations
Evidence-based benefit design
Patient-centred approach
05.
GMTF has put in place governance, accountability, and partnership frameworks to ensure transparent stewardship of resources. Strategic engagements with government agencies, development partners, corporate institutions, and philanthropic organisations are laying the groundwork for diversified and sustainable funding.
While the Ghana Medical Trust Fund is still in its formative phase, its path is firmly set and its ambition unmistakable.
With every strategic engagement, policy decision, and system put in place, the Fund is laying the foundation for a sustainable national institution built to endure and to serve.
We are working toward a future where access to care is defined by need, not means where no Ghanaian is denied life-saving treatment because of financial constraint.
