Upper East health NGOs partner GHS to achieve MDG 5
The Upper East Region Chapter of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health is working with the Ghana Health Service to assist it facilitate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal 5 by 2015.
To help Ghana meet this target, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in collaboration with development partners and other stakeholders in Ghana have developed an action plan dubbed “the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF)” to fast track and meet the set target by 2015.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting on MAF in Bolgatanga on Monday that attracted District Directors of the Ghana Health Service from Bolgatanga, Bongo and the Talensi districts, the Vice Chairman of the Coalition, Mr Alagskoma Asakeya Noble said his outfit would monitor to ensure that the necessary resources are made available to the MOH and the GHS to implement the MAF.
Mr Thomas Abamgbire, Regional Secretary of the NGO who presented a paper on the MAF Project in Upper East Region, said MDG Five was getting off track and so there was the need for Ghana to re-double its efforts in attaining the target.
He said MAF focuses on improving maternal health at both community and health care facility levels through the use of evidence-based, feasible and cost effective interventions, in other to achieve accelerated reduction in maternal and new born deaths.
He mentioned three key priority interventions in the implementation of MAF as improving Family Planning, Skilled Delivery and Emergency Obstetric and Newborn care (EONC ) services.
Mr Abangbire announced that plans were far advanced by the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health to conduct research into the above key health indicators to see how they were faring and to make recommendations to the implementing agencies of MAF to enable Ghana meet the MDG 5.
He said under the MAF, the state is expected to procure adequate contraceptives and commodities and distribution subcontracted to private companies to ensure that they got to all communities for use.
According to the coalition’s Secretary it is also expected to expand the scope of providing Family Planning (FP) services to include the training of service providers in comprehensive FP including effective counselling as well as train service providers in contraceptive updates.
Besides, he said, it was further expected to build up capacity of regions on the pantograph and other delivery monitoring techniques including E-learning tools that would be used along with more traditional training sessions to roll out training to improve skills in the monitoring of labour and delivery.
He said “to improve equipment for monitoring of pregnancy, labour, newborn and postnatal care, a medical imaging policy will be developed including the use of ultrasound for monitoring pregnancy among others”.
The Regional MAF Coordinator, Mr Ali Baba in a presentation on MAF activities in the region, said the Regional Health Directorate started MAF implementation in the last quarter of 2011 when it received MAF funds and said funds were distributed to districts for onward release to facilities for implementation.
He mentioned some activities as sensitization of key stakeholders on the MAF document and policy guidelines, sensitization for district and sub-district staff on MAF implementation, monitoring and support, visits to districts and facilities, carrying out community durbars on family planning. MAF further procured basic delivery equipment as some of programmes it undertook since its implementation.
“It has also trained community health officers and community health nurses on community based newborn care, trained some hospital midwives and doctors and provided family planning logistics and materials among others,” he said.
Mr Baba mentioned the late release of funds from national level, low patronage of family planning services, inadequate monitoring and supervision as some of the challenges affecting the implementation of the MAF programme.
On the way forward Mr Baba said MAF is to procure cell phones for service providers, intensify community sensitization meeting, train midwives and doctors on basic obstetric care, ensure constant supply of FP devices, intensify monitoring and supervision, procure basic delivery equipment and to strengthen community based newborn care.
He stressed the need for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to help achieve the reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality and to meet the MDGs target, particularly the goal five by 2015
Source: GNA