I’m an NHS consultant and British-Ghanaian — global partnerships are crucial as aid cuts bite
My job sits at the intersection of two realities every day: I treat patients in the NHS while strengthening healthcare in Ghana.
I am an NHS consultant obstetrician and fetal medicine specialist. I am also British-Ghanaian and president of the UK Association of Ghanaian Doctors and Dentists, a diaspora network of clinicians.
This dual perspective made one thing clear to me: As aid budgets shrink, we are forced to rethink what actually sustains health systems and who sustains them.
International healthcare workers in the NHS are no exception. They are its beating heart. The skills and expertise that sustain healthcare have been established and developed in many countries, including those facing increasing pressure on their services.
At the same time, many of us continue to be actively engaged in care outside the UK.
Through diaspora organizations like mine, clinicians contribute time, skills, and resources, from training to specialty services to partnering with local agencies.
On a recent visit to Ghana, I saw firsthand the urgent need for better maternal care in various hospitals; here, access to timely screening can mean the difference between life and death for both mother and child.
This was a stark reminder of why diaspora-led work is important. I am working via virtual teaching with colleagues from the UK at the University of Ghana Medical Centre. I will return later this year to provide hands-on training, work directly with clinicians, and share knowledge in both directions.
This is part of a broader pattern; Diaspora clinicians are contributing in many ways, from stepping up during Covid-19 to delivering healthcare to Ghanaian communities in the UK to bridging care across continents.
At a time when global health is at a crossroads, this study could not be more important.
Last year, reductions in aid, including from the UK, directly affected countries such as Ghana. Recent allocations confirm the extent of this shift, with the UK’s bilateral aid to Africa falling by 56 per cent. The effects are already being felt: reductions in social welfare services, extension of training programs and increased pressure on healthcare workers.
Against this troubling environment, diaspora contributions (whether through money sent home to families or the work of clinician networks like mine) are a vital lifeline. While they cannot and should not replace government investment, they bring together finance, skills and trusted networks to help sustain care as other support declines.
This is not a secondary study. It outlines how modern health partnerships should operate, moving from top-down, aid-dependent models to locally led and shaped approaches.
In May, the UK will host the Global Partnerships Conference, where governments and civil society will come together to consider the future of development cooperation. If this conversation is to be meaningful, it must be led by people who have experience of the systems in question, including the diaspora, and who have a real say in how decisions are made and resources are directed.
Because ultimately, organizations like mine are already doing the work; building relationships, caring for patients, and strengthening services that are often overlooked. We are not a temporary solution. We are the foundation.
The question is whether this reality is acknowledged and whether the diaspora is treated as partners, not just contributors, in building a more equitable and sustainable future for global health.
From my experience of working both in the NHS and with Ghana’s healthcare system, the message is clear: partnership is essential, not optional, and should be shaped by those already bridging the gap.
Dr Jacqueline Bamfo is a consultant obstetrician and fetal medicine specialist and Association of Ghanaian Doctors and Dentists United Kingdoma member Action for Global Health network
This article was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project
