Central Regional Health Directorate Begins Holistic Assessment as Assin Central Visits THLD to Assess 2025 Holistic Performance
Frank Ocansey
Editor, PulseView
Central Region, 22 January 2025: The Central Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service has commenced its Holistic Assessment Exercise for 2025, a key performance review mechanism aimed at strengthening accountability, improving service delivery, and enhancing health outcomes across the region.
As part of the exercise, the Assin Central Municipal Health Directorate undertook a review visit to the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira (THLD) Health Directorate to assess the district’s performance in 2025 against targets and achievements recorded in 2024.
The assessment forms part of a broader regional strategy to promote evidence-based planning, foster inter-district learning, and ensure alignment with national health priorities and the Ghana Health Service’s strategic objectives.
Objective of the Holistic Assessment
The Holistic Assessment Exercise is designed to provide a comprehensive evaluation of district health directorates across multiple thematic areas. These include service delivery, public health and disease control, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH), health systems strengthening, monitoring and evaluation, human resource management, logistics and supply chain, procurement, data quality, and financial management.
By comparing 2025 performance indicators against the 2024 baseline, the exercise seeks to identify progress made, highlight performance gaps, and document best practices that can be scaled up across the region.
Holistic Assessment Visit to THLD
During the visit to the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira Health Directorate, the Assin Central Municipal Health Directorate engaged management and staff in a series of technical discussions, document reviews, and field assessments. Performance data, annual plans, quarterly reports, and routine health information system outputs were reviewed to assess trends, consistency, and outcomes.
The visiting team also examined the implementation status of priority interventions, including disease surveillance activities, maternal and child health services, adolescent health programmes, family planning uptake, immunisation coverage, Ghilmis utilisation, revenue generation and expenditure and community-based health planning and services (CHPS) operations.
Special attention was given to how lessons from 2024 were used to inform planning and implementation in 2025, as well as the directorate’s responsiveness to emerging public health challenges.
Knowledge Sharing and Learning
Beyond assessment, the exercise served as a platform for learning and experience sharing between the two directorates. Best practices, innovative approaches, and successful interventions implemented by the THLD Health Directorate in the district were discussed, while challenges encountered were openly examined with a view to identifying practical and context-specific solutions.
The Assin Central team commended the THLD Health Directorate for areas of notable improvement while also providing constructive feedback aimed at strengthening weak performance areas and enhancing overall efficiency.
Strengthening Accountability and Performance
Officials from the Central Regional Health Directorate have emphasized that the Holistic Assessment Exercise is not a fault-finding mission but rather a supportive mechanism to improve performance and ensure continuous quality improvement across all districts.
The findings from the assessment will feed into regional performance reviews and inform planning, budgeting, and resource allocation decisions for subsequent years. They will also contribute to strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems and reinforcing a culture of accountability within the Ghana Health Service.
Commitment to Improved Health Outcomes
The District Health Director, Mr. Daniel Baah, welcomed the assessment and reaffirmed their commitment to addressing identified gaps while consolidating gains made over the review period. Management expressed appreciation for the assessment approach, describing it as a valuable opportunity for reflection, learning, and improvement. Overall, the district scores high in all objectives
The Holistic Assessment Exercise is expected to continue across other districts in the Central Region in the coming weeks, as the Ghana Health Service intensifies efforts to improve service delivery, strengthen health systems, and accelerate progress toward national and regional health targets.
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