The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has urged its Public Relations Officers (PROs) and District Managers to strengthen grassroots communication and stakeholder engagement to improve public understanding of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the Authority’s ongoing reforms.
The Head of Corporate Communication at the NHIA, Madam Faustina Dery, made the call during a corporate communication session in Tamale on Tuesday, involving participants in the first group of the final cohort of the Authority’s nationwide professional development programme for PROs and District Managers.
Speaking on behalf of Executive Management and the Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr Oswald Essuah-Mensah, Madam Dery said district-level officers had a critical role in communicating the Authority’s policies, programmes and interventions to members, credentialed healthcare providers and other stakeholders.
Madam Dery urged communication officers to uphold professionalism by ensuring that information shared with the public was factual, accurate and free from partisan political considerations.
She stressed that the NHIS served the entire population, irrespective of political affiliation, warning that politicising the Scheme’s communication could undermine public confidence.
“We are here as NHIS communicators and not party communicators,” she said.
She said public education should focus on the NHIS Benefit Package, members’ rights and responsibilities, services covered under the Scheme and the channels available for seeking redress when members were dissatisfied with services received at credentialed healthcare facilities.
According to her, members must understand which services the Scheme covers and those it does not cover to enable them to exercise their rights and demand the benefits to which they are entitled.
She assured participants that the Corporate Affairs Directorate would take steps to deepen their understanding of the benefit package and the respective responsibilities of members and healthcare providers.
Madam Dery also encouraged officers to communicate developments such as monthly claims reimbursements and efforts to eliminate illegal charges, saying effective communication would help build stakeholder trust, encourage new registrations and sustain active membership.
She further reminded officers that their conduct, appearance and choice of words influenced the public image of the Authority and the Scheme.
On professional appearance, she urged staff to dress decently and neatly, noting that professionalism did not require expensive clothing or overdressing.
She also said jeans were not appropriate for work.
As part of efforts to improve grassroots engagement, Madam Dery announced that the Authority would provide resources to enable district PROs to engage Community Information Centres for intensified public education.
She said the initiative would complement national radio and television advertisements and other public engagement activities to ensure that NHIS information reached more communities.
The Authority also plans to introduce monthly communication guides to provide district officers with information on key policies, activities and interventions requiring public attention.
According to her, the guides would promote consistency in messaging across the Authority’s national and district structures while allowing officers to adapt their communication to the needs of their respective audiences.
She observed that district PROs were better positioned to understand local concerns, languages and information needs because of their direct contact with members and healthcare providers.
“We cannot sit in Accra and expect that our members in Jirapa will understand what we are talking about on radio or television in Accra. You are closer to the members and can understand and engage them better, so we will empower you to do that,” she said.
Madam Dery encouraged officers to use local languages and simplify technical information to make the Scheme’s policies, benefits and interventions accessible to ordinary people.
“Remember, in communication, once the receiver of the information does not understand the message, there has been no communication,” she emphasised.
She also urged participants to regularly follow and share information from the NHIA’s official social media platforms, describing them as credible sources of updates on the Authority’s activities, policy developments and claims reimbursements.
Madam Dery further called on the officers to support Executive Management’s campaign against illegal charges under the NHIS, stressing that eliminating the practice would benefit members, healthcare providers and Authority staff.
She disclosed that the Chief Executive of the NHIA, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, had identified staff welfare, equipping and tooling as key components of his three-point vision.
She explained that resources recovered from financial leakages, including illegal charges, would contribute towards achieving these objectives.
The nationwide professional development programme, which commenced on October 12, 2026, has covered officers in 11 other regions, with the final cohort bringing together PROs and District Managers from the five northern regions.
The training covers strategic communication, media relations, digital engagement, news reporting, feature writing, photography, crisis communication, brand management and stakeholder engagement.
