Two-week course on strategic health promotion opens
Dr. Kwaku Karikari, Western Regional Director of Health, on Sunday said health promotion and behavior change communication are critical pillars of effective public health service.
He was opening a two-week intensive course on “Leadership in strategic Health Communication” for 30 health professionals from the 10 regions of the country at Busua in the Ahanta West District.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is organizing the course in collaboration with the Behaviour Change Support (BCS) Project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the John Hopkins University Centre for Communication Programmes.
Dr. Karikari said public health service focuses on disease prevention and promotion and rehabilitation of community health.
He said the Health Promotion Department is recognized by the GHS as an essential unit for effective health delivery to the public and is a priority for capacity building.
Dr. Karikari said this is to ensure that every individual and community has access to the right health information, knows what to do to protect their health and to prevent diseases and are motivated to make the right health decisions.
He said the course brought together professional health promoters and community mobilization officers that have the responsibility of designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating health promotion and behavior change communication interventions at the national, regional and district levels of the country’s health system.
He said major part of their responsibilities concerned mobilization of community based structures and organized groups for the adoption of positive health practices and prevention of diseases.
Source: GNA