Dambai, Nov. 25, GNA – Mr Charles Kofi Azagba, Adaklu District Director of Health Services, says the People for Health (P4H) programme has contributed immensely to the improvements in health service delivery in the Adaklu District.
He said the P4H project had also supported the regions by bridging the gaps between citizens in hard-to-reach areas and quality health care through its support to the social welfare departments and the District/Municipal National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) offices.
Mr Azagba, speaking at the P4H Regional Closeout ceremony at Dambai, said the improvements were not only limited to the Adaklu District but other districts, municipalities and regions nationwide.
“This integrated health intervention sought to improve health service by reducing inequities and promoting accountability in health service demand and supply.”
He noted that the achievement was due to the enhancement of both staff and citizens’ capacity to garner community support for primary healthcare and advocate for effective service delivery.
Mr Azagba noted that in 2019, 516 indigents made up of 264 males and 252 females, were registered under NHIS in five project communities in the Adaklu District while in 2020, 641 people were also sensitised in the five project communities and 198 NHIS cards were renewed.
He said the project also played a key role in promoting the Ghana Health Services (GHS) Patients Charter and Rights among thousands of citizens’ in the regions through community durbars and the media.
“In the area of strengthening service delivery in health, the project introduced the dashboard; an electronic platform created to promote a culture of client feedback to improve health service delivery.”
He said in the course of implementation of the project there were several opportunities, where health actors and local government had interface meetings to address key local health-related issues.
“These meetings have indeed strengthened coordination among the health departments and the assemblies. For instance, in the Krachi East Municipal, some money was released in 2020, by the Assembly to implement malaria prevention activities after one of such interface meetings made possible by the People for Health project. This was after several years of lapse in payment.”
Mr Azagba said the district had the privilege to be partnered by the P4H to train and revive community health committees that were otherwise dormant.
He said 50 Community Health Management Committee members from five Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) zones in Adaklu were trained on Resource Mobilisation and Advocacy.
“The result of this intervention has been remarkable. Through the community health action plans put together by the committees, structures have been built to conduct child welfare clinics, communities now have an Emergency Transport System, Mobilising resources to support service delivery and providing accommodation for health staff.”
Mr Azagba commended the USAID, SEND GHANA, Penplusbytes and Ghana News Agency for the support to improve health care delivery in the regions.
He said they were determined to utilise all that they had gained through their partnership with the People for Health consortium to improve health care delivery to the desired standards.
Mr Azagba also commended Gossanet Foundation for supporting the Adaklu District Health Directorate in several ways such as education on Covid-19, HIV and Malaria at Community durbars and radio stations.
Mr Siapha Kamara, Chief of Party, People for Health (P4H), has said they would continue to partner communities in the Volta and Oti regions towards their development in areas of quality healthcare, water and sanitation.
He said the communities had a lot of potentials and what the P4H had demonstrated showed that with a bit of supervision, encouragement and good collaboration with the Ghana Health Service and civil societies, a lot could happen in the communities.
The P4H is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded project, which commenced in 2016 and is expected to end this year, 2021.
It is being implemented by a consortium led by SEND-Ghana, Penplusbytes and the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
It seeks to strengthen the organisational and institutional capacities of government and civil society organisations for mutual accountability in the management and performance of health systems.
The project, implemented in 20 selected districts across the Northern, North East, Savannah, Eastern, Volta, Oti and Greater Accra regions, also seeks to mobilise and empower community members to demand better and equitable health care service in their respective areas.
Source: Ghana News Agency