Ghana’s health sector has been hit by a major digital disruption after several Ghana Health Service (GHS) information systems were shut down nationwide over an outstanding cloud-hosting payment of more than US$64,000.
The shutdown took effect on October 29, 2026, after the Service’s cloud provider suspended the account hosting its electronic health platforms. All 10 servers supporting the affected systems were reportedly switched off, according to an internal GHS memo dated November 2.
Among the systems affected is the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2), which is widely used for entering, validating, analysing and extracting health data across the country.
Other affected platforms include the Planning and Budget Management Information System, family planning services, HIV and tuberculosis trackers, malaria databases, non-communicable disease monitoring systems and the data-exchange gateway used for transmitting birth notifications.
GHS Director-General Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea has assured health officials that there has been no security breach or loss of information. The Service says encrypted backups are available and were updated through October 29.
With the electronic systems unavailable, health facilities and districts have been directed to temporarily return to paper-based reporting. Officials are expected to maintain registers and monthly summary forms so October and November data can be uploaded once DHIMS2 becomes operational again.
GHS says it is seeking approval for US$64,510.95 to reactivate its suspended Akamai account, which officials believe would be the quickest way to restore the systems without rebuilding them.
An alternative would involve acquiring new servers and rebuilding the affected platforms from existing backups—a process officials warn could take up to six weeks after the required infrastructure is obtained.
The nationwide disruption has once again raised serious questions about the resilience, funding and long-term sustainability of Ghana’s increasingly important digital health infrastructure.
