The Accountability Loop Budget Advocacy Project (ALBA) was implemented in several African countries including Ghana by the WHO. ARHR was part of a Ghana Country Team constituted by WHO in January 2015, to implement the Project.
The project advocated for Members of Parliament to ring-fence a percentage of their National Health Insurance Scheme allocation to support maternal and newborn health. To provide the evidence base for advocacy, an assessment was conducted in a main health facility (one that receives the highest number of clients for maternal and child healthcare) in each of the 10 deprived districts selected for the project. The assessment identified gaps in the provision of quality maternal and newborn health care, including emergency care, and these were used for advocacy for improved maternal and newborn health.
Members of Parliament in whose districts the assessment was done were engaged with the results of the assessment and elicited their unflinching commitment to seek redress to the gaps. To address the gaps, these MPs resorted to using part of their NHIS fund to provide at least one basic equipment or supplies for maternal and newborn care in a health facility within their constituencies.