Adaklu: The I AM AWARE Project of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has organised a capacity-building training for members of the Community Health Management Committees (CHMCs) from five selected communities in the Adaklu District. The training was facilitated by the Adaklu District Health Directorate and organised in collaboration with its implementing partner, the Agency for Sustainable Development.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr Cheetham Mingle, a Research Assistant at CDD-Ghana, stated in his opening remarks that the training aimed to strengthen participants' understanding of the Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) concept. It also sought to equip participants with knowledge on the use of scorecards as accountability tools to support governance, development, and improvements in the quality of health and healthcare delivery in the district, as well as to help them develop community action plans.
Mr Mingle urged participants to take the training seriously to enable them to effectively implement their community action plans, organise quarterly meetings, and develop community scorecards to monitor the quality of services provided by their CHPS facilities. He also tasked them with organising periodic sensitisation and advocacy meetings for members of their communities.
Mr Mingle noted that effective implementation of these activities would improve community participation and ownership of the CHPS concept. He added that the responsiveness of health authorities to the demands and health needs of communities would also be enhanced.
Mrs Pearl Edinam Baah, the CHPS Coordinator at the Adaklu District Health Directorate, guided participants through the preparation of scorecards and advised them to frequently visit their health facilities to understand existing gaps within and outside the facilities. She emphasised the importance of involving people from all socio-economic backgrounds in the scoring process, noting that at least 50 per cent of participants should be women.
Mrs Baah encouraged participants to capture the community's perception of healthcare services by assessing facilities and recording their findings on the scorecards. She further urged them to monitor the quality of services and respond to community needs through the generation of action plans. This process, she noted, would help both health workers and community members to better understand and address community needs and perceptions, reinforcing accountability within the healthcare delivery system.
Topics treated at the workshop included Understanding the CHPS Concept, Strengthening Primary Healthcare at the Community Level, and Instituting a Network of Practice and the Patients' Charter. Present at the training were Reverend Fred Agbogbo, Executive Director of the Agency for Sustainable Development, and Madam Abigail Manu, Executive Assistant/Programmes Officer at CDD-Ghana. A similar training will be held at Adaklu Waya for CHMC members in that zone.