Category: Health

The Eastern Regional Health Directorate has organised a street float in Koforidua to create awareness on maternal mental health.

Maternal mental health can be referred to as a mother’s overall emotional, social, and mental well-being, both during and after pregnancy.

Dr Wilfred K. Ofosu, Eastern Regional Health Director, said the mental well-being of mothers directly impacts the health and development of children, the strength of families, and the stability of communities.

Yet, despite its significance, maternal mental health remains stigmatised, underreported, and inadequately addressed.

He said factors that can create mental challenges for mothers are hormonal changes, financial stress, societal pressures, and the responsibility of caring for a new life.

‘As healthcare professionals, the time has come to make a bold commitment to integrating maternal mental health into routine health delivery,’ he said.

‘Our actions today have the power to transform the lives of countless mothers and children for gene
rations to come.’

However, he urged, ‘Let us not forget the importance of self-care and support for our own healthcare professionals. The work we do is emotionally demanding, and we must prioritise our own mental well-being to be effective advocates and carers for others.’

The director highlighted key measures to address maternal mental health challenges.

These measures emphasise the importance of equipping frontline providers with the necessary training and tools to identify signs of maternal mental health disorders and provide compassionate and effective interventions.

The Ministry of Health should actively engage with policymakers, community leaders, and other stakeholders to promote policies and programmes that prioritise maternal mental health.

Dr Ofosu said the policy should encompass various provisions such as affordable healthcare, insurance coverage, childcare support, and specialised mental health services for mothers.

In her address, Nana Ama Awi II, Queen Mother of Asokore and the Benkum Div
ision of the New Juaben Traditional Area, said that raising awareness, eradicating stigma, and fostering a culture of empathy and understanding could create a world where every mother feels seen, heard, and valued.

The street float started from the premises of the Ghana Health Service through the principal streets of the New Juaben South Municipality to Jubilee Park.

Some inscriptions on the placards said maternal mental health disorders are a challenge in Ghana; husbands, support your wives during pregnancy and childcare; implement policies aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination surrounding maternal mental health; and the rest.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has warned four health facilities in the Upper West Region for charging National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) active members for services covered by the scheme.

The facilities were: the Upper West Regional Hospital, Lawra Municipal Hospital, St. Theresa’s Hospital in Nandom and the Babile Polyclinic.

Mr Samuel Lobber Lekamwe, the Upper West Regional Director of the NHIA, revealed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Wa on the sidelines of the Authority’s 2023 regional annual performance review meeting.

He cautioned the NHIS-accredited facilities in the Region and the country as a whole who were charging ‘illegal fees’ to desist or risk losing their credentials if apprehended.

‘We are monitoring closely to see how they change or deepen it, and the letter says that when they are found to continue we will de-credential them straight away,’ he indicated.

He explained that illegal fee charges were a threat to the sustainability of the scheme a
nd the Authority would do everything within its power to arrest that menace.

He said, for instance, that illegal charges by health service providers were eroding member confidence and renewal in the Upper West Region.

He indicated that a report on private health facilities in the region that were charging ‘illegal fees’ had been submitted to the NHIA head office and that they would also soon be issued with the warning notice.

He said it was frustrating for an NHIS client to visit the health facility and would be asked to pay for something that was covered by the insurance to which he or she had already subscribed.

‘We cannot allow people to continue to go there (the health facility) and go back home with other conditions resulting from the financial hardship they impose on them’, Mr Lekamwe said.

He explained that some public health facilities were charging those ‘illegal fees’ with the excuse of paying for their utility bills as the government had directed all public health facilities to foot those bill
s.

He, however, said those facilities needed to negotiate with the government on its decision rather than relaying the burden on the ‘poor’ NHIS client to pay.

He also announced that the NHIA was reviewing its tariffs for medicines and services provided at the facilities to meet the needs of the health facilities due to inflation.

Meanwhile, Mr Titus Sorey, the NHIA Northern Belt Director, reiterated the need for the staff of the authority to increase their public education to empower the members of the scheme to challenge illegal charges at NHIA-accredited facilities.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The political instability in Burkina-Faso and Mali continues to exert undue stress on the health sector in the Upper West Region, Dr Damien Punguyire, the Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, said on Wednesday.

Available data on the immigrant population in the region indicates that as of the end of January 2024, there were about 8,507, including 1,036 children under five years, who had temporarily settled in the Sissala East and Sissala West districts alone, he said.

‘The service is being over-stretched in its attempt to meet the health needs of this extra population, in terms of vaccination, water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition services, and medical needs,’ he noted

Dr Punguyire said this in Wa during the opening of the 2023 annual regional health sector performance review meeting of the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

He, therefore, emphasised the need for expansion of the health infrastructure in the region, improve the supply of equipment and logistics, as well as enhance the transportatio
n system to help build a resilient health service, especially in the border districts in response to that continuing threat.

He appealed to municipal and district chief executives to prioritise the health sector in the implementation of the Gulf of Guinea Northern Ghana Social Cohesion (SOCO) project.

Dr Punguyire identified the high staff attrition rate as another challenge confronting the sector.

He said 134 staff of the GHS left the region on transfer as against 35 staff posted there within the year under review.

Most of the medical doctors there were also in school for their post-graduate training, which affected the sector.

He appealed to the relevant stakeholders including the GHS and the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to speed up the process of converting the Upper West Regional Hospital into a specialist training centre to enable the doctors to specialise while at post.

Dr Punguyire said with support from partners, the region had improved health service delivery within the year under r
eview.

He said they supplied 36 tricycle ambulances to some health facilities to help in the transportation of emergency cases from peripheral health facilities to higher levels of care.

The region also received medical equipment, including ultrasound scan machines, 25 Oxygen Concentrators and 25 Patient Monitors from the national level, which were distributed to health facilities.

In 2024, they would continue to strengthen public health and clinical care interventions and intensify monitoring and supervision at all levels in line with GHS’ mandate, he said.

The Health Director commended the development partners for the continuous support of the Service to enhance its effectiveness.

Mr Peter Maala, the Upper West Regional Coordinating Director, who represented the Regional Minister, commended the Health Directorate for the ‘impressive performance’ of the sector in 2023.

He indicated that most of the sub-projects under the SOCO were in the health sector, which would help contribute to improvement.

He sa
id the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) had established a refugee reception centre at Zinni in the Sissala West District to receive displaced persons as a result of the conflict in the Sahelian countries.

‘This means that all displaced persons entering Ghana will be located at one place and once we are able to do that all allied services, the health, education or any other sector will be concentrated at the camp,’ he explained.

The Western Regional Health Directorate peer-reviewed the Upper West Region with a Regional Holistic Assessment score of 3.8, an improvement over the 3.7 in 2022.

The team from the Western Region reviewed documents and reports and did field observation to arrive at that score.

This year’s review meeting was on the theme: ‘Embracing the Networks of Practice Approach to Improve Health Outcomes in the Upper West Region’.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Damien Punguyire, the Upper West Regional Director of Health Service, has said the region recorded 19 maternal deaths in 2023 as against 16 in 2022.

The proportion of deliveries supervised by qualified health workers also declined from 73 per cent in 2022 to 71 per cent in 2023.

Dr Punguyire announced this in Wa at the opening of the 2023 Annual Regional Health Sector Performance Review Meeting of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on the theme: ‘Embracing the Networks of Practice Approach to improve health outcomes in the Upper West Region’.

Members of the Regional Health Committee, development partners, Municipal and District Chief Executives, Directors of Health, Principals of Health Training Institutions and traditional leaders among others attended.

Mr Punguyire explained that institutional neonatal mortality in the region dropped from about six per 1000 live births in 2022 to five per1000 live births in 2023, while still birth rate declined from 11 per 1000 births in 2022 to about seven per 1000 birt
hs in 2023.

Anemia among pregnant women at 36 weeks remained a big challenge for the region as it increased from 39.8 per cent in 2022 to 44.2 per cent in 2023.

The proportion of Out-Patients Department (OPD) cases attributable to malaria reduced from 29.4 per cent in 2022 to 27.5 per cent in 2023.

Malaria admissions also reduced from about 7,900 cases in 2022 to 6,800 in 2023, and deaths due to malaria significantly reduced from 18 in 2022 to six in 2023.

509 Tuberculosis (TB) cases were detected in the region in 2023 compared to 479 in 2022, with 79 and 69 percentage proportions of the cases, respectively, cured in those years.

He said the country’s vision of achieving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) of ensuring access to high-quality health services, irrespective of one’s ability to pay at the point of use, was anchored on building a resilient health system at all levels.

That was more critical at the sub-district level, which was the focal point of the implementation of many health interventions
and policies.

‘However, the sub-district health system (health centres) has been found to be the weakest link in the overall health system in Ghana, with strong CHPS (Community-based Health Planning and Services) at the base,’ Mr Punguyire.

To address this weakness, the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health had proposed to develop networks of practice among sub-district health facilities to improve service delivery and in the process, upgrade health centres into model ones, he said.

Mr Eric Boateng Frimpong, the Director of Internal Audit, who read a speech on behalf of the Director General of the GHS, said Primary Health Care (PHC) remained core to the Service’s agenda of providing comprehensive healthcare to the public.

The country could achieve UHC if it had a good PHC system, hence improving the PHC system was an important venture to the Service, he said.

Mr Frimpong observed that the GHS had achieved a reduction in still birth and institutional neonatal mortality rates over the past five y
ears.

There was a downward trend in still birth rates per 1000 live births, decreasing from 12.6 in 2019 to 10.2 in 2023.

Similarly, there was a reduction in institutional neonatal mortality rate per 100,000 live births from 7.8 in 2019 to 5.1 in 2023.

Prof. Juventus Ziem, the founding Dean of the School of Medical Sciences, CK Tedam University, who chaired the event, said the review meeting was an opportunity for actors to assess the sectors to improve service delivery.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Nursing and Midwives Council (N and MC) Governing Board has suspended the implementation of the newly approved fees and charges pending a review.

The decision follows discussions with the relevant stakeholders regarding concerns over the announcement of the new fees.

The N and MC recently increased the cost of foreign verification from Ghc550.00 to Ghc3,000, a 445.45 per cent increment.

A statement issued by the 15th Governing Board Chairperson, Mrs Isabella Naana Akyaa Asante, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the Council had halted the implementation of the new fees and reverted to the previous fee structure of Ghc550.00.

It said the Council remained dedicated to upholding the highest standards of training and practice of the profession for the benefit of the public.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of the World Health Organization’s Department for Social Determinants of Health, says Ghana should invest more on preventing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) rather than focusing solely on cures.

He stated that, while curative healthcare is important and necessary, it is prohibitively expensive and may be avoided if African governments invest in NCD prevention.

Dr Krug told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during the recently concluded Partnership for Healthy City Summit in Cape Town that NCD prevention has proven beneficial, with every dollar invested in preventive measures likely to yield seven times the results.

‘We need to address the causes of NCDs rather than wait until it is too long, we can act by increasing taxes on tobacco, reducing advertisement on processed and sugary drinks and working on providing healthy food options in schools as launch.’

Dr. Krug said NCDs and injuries are the largest and most challenging public health issues in Africa and around the world, but that w
ith basic measures, the world could achieve immense results.

He said that Africa had traditionally experienced infectious diseases but is now dealing with an increase in chronic ailments and injuries.

‘The rising rates of NCDs are costing a lot of money to society and lives, a lot of people are dying prematurely, and a lot of people need treatment for a very long time.’

Dr. Krug urged governments to set aside funds from their national budgets to fund NCD preventive programmes, to reduce investment and care while investing more in prevention.

With NCDs responsible for 80 per cent of deaths all over the world, he said ‘now the WHO sees pockets of progress, clearly the world knows what to be done and that is encouraging.’

‘Today more than half of the people in world already live in cities and by 2050, it will be two thirds of the world’s population, which means, we cannot ignore health in city planning, we need to make sure to invest in NCD prevention,’ he said.

On March 26, 2024, the Ugandan government, i
n its attempt to ‘tame the rising burden of lifestyle disease’ in the country, directed all civil servants to spend two hours each week undertaking physical activity to be fit and healthy.

The directive was shared in a letter to government agencies from the head of public service, Lucy Nakyobe, who stated that the sessions would ‘help save the lives of staff and reduce the disease burden’.

Lusaka, Zambia, is establishing a policy to enforce bike lanes on major routes around the city as part of its commitment to safe and active mobility under the Partnership for Healthy Cities initiative.

Bangkok, Thailand, has also completed a series of urban design modifications focused on upgrading walkways and bicycle paths in the Bamrung Mueang district to encourage people to walk more frequently.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Dental Department of the Tema General Hospital, in collaboration with the Public Health Unit, has held a free dental screening and sensitisation exercise for the public in commemoration of World Oral Health Day.

The programme was to raise awareness of oral health and the need for regular visits to the dentist for a check to ensure early intervention and treatment.

The programme, attended by staff and clients of the hospital and the public, was sponsored by the Ghana Dentist Association and Colgate Palmolive Ghana.

Dr Kakra Bonsu Appiah, the Head of the Dental Department, said the exercise formed part of activities to mark the 2024 World Oral Day.

He explained that the facility undertook various activities on the day of the celebration, which was March 20, hence the need to have the screening on a different day.

More than 500 people were targeted for the exercise with the aim of educating them on the dangers associated with delays in seeking for dental treatment, while urging them to be agents of good
oral health in their communities and the country at large.

Speaking on the 2024 theme: ‘A Happy Mouth is a Happy Body,’ he said oral health had been one of the most neglected areas of medical practice, causing more tooth extractions than preventive dentistry in the Tema region.

He, therefore, recommended that every Ghanaian visited the dentist twice a year for check-up and that the National Health Insurance Scheme currently caters for dental treatment to make it affordable.

Ms Ellen Asubroni, a Dental Therapist, advised the participants to reduce their intake of sugary foods, especially children, to prevent tooth decay, stressing that it was very important to clean the mouth by brushing twice a day.

She said the mouth’s health affected the entire body, urging parents to be deliberate in keeping their children’s mouths clean.

Ms Beatrice Assem, a Dental Nurse, took participants through the appropriate brushing techniques and urged them to use toothpaste that contained fluoride to brush.

The participants
were given souvenirs, including toothpaste and toothbrushes, to help keep their mouths clean and safe.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ms Abena Adubea Amoah, the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), has asked the Government to prioritise the provision of Family Planning (FP) commodities.

She said statistics from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) indicated that FP commodities available were not enough and that donors consistently provided more than 80 per cent of a larger portion of the country’s procurements, which was not sustainable.

The Executive Director said donors in recent times had also been calling for an increase in the 20 per cent quota the government provided, adding that as of the last count in 2018, Ghana had a deficit of about 1.6 million for family planning commodities, which needed to be addressed.

Ms Amoah made the call in an interview during a stakeholder meeting with the FP 2030 Director in Accra to review Ghana’s SMART advocacy document on FP (Family Planning) 2030 for a successful implementation.

The aim is to ensure that all the focal stakeholders work with the government and hold it a
ccountable to the commitment it has made towards FP 2030, which is to ensure that every woman and every girl, who needs family planning has access to commodities and services.

FP 2030 Ghana Commitment is a document that the government of Ghana has signed, and which looks at ensuring that women and girls have access to family planning commodities across the country.

FP 2030 is made up of government institutions, donors, civil society organisations, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), USAID and the youth focal points.

FP plays a critical role in shaping multiple dimensions of societal progress, including fertility management, poverty alleviation, gender equality, and women’s empowerment.

It plays a central role in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly targets 3.7 which aims to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, including family planning, information, and education, and 5.6 which aims to ensure universal access to sexual and repr
oductive health and reproductive rights, within Goals 3 and 5 respectively.

Ms Amoah said failure, therefore, to prioritise the provision of family planning commodities meant that some people would not be able to have access to FP services despite the gains made.

She said though the government was doing its best, there was more room for improvement, saying ‘ours is to ensure that the commitment Ghana has made, it works towards it.’

Mr Yusuf Nuhu, the Advocacy Accountability and Partnerships Manager, FP2030 Northwest and Central Africa Hub, said the meeting would ensure that the draft advocacy strategy developed sometime back was finalised to form part of the advocacy initiative that civil society and others would engage the government on and see how those commitments were fulfilled.

Source: Ghana News Agency