Human resources are a country's wealth. A longstanding commitment to education and health has been key to economic growth and development In countries worldwide, and it Is in this field that Ghana will need to make the biggest strides to *catch up" If it is to break into the league of fastgrowing economies. While human capital does not guarantee fast growth, even with the best of policies, Ghana cannot achieve the rapid growth seen elsewhere i it does not invest more in broad-based human capital. The paper summarizes some lessons from the experiences of the newly industrializing countries (NICs) of East Asia regarding the contribution of investments in human capital to accelerated and sustainable economic growth. It reviews Ghana's past performance in education and health, and discusses the resources and policies required for achieving further progress in the next two decades. One major conclusion is that Ghana will have to continue to give the highest priority to making further investments in both basic education and primary health. When compared with the NiCs at the time those countries started on the path of rapid growth, Ghana lags behind most in these basic indicators. Without the solid foundation of universal literacy and numeracy and an efficient primary health care system to build on, more costly investments in higher education and tertiary care are likely to be both wasteful and inequitable. The paper concludes with a reminder that broader policies related to population growth and to the efficiency of the labor market are also important for successful human resource investment