Veep inaugurates 64 CHPS Compounds in Upper West
Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur, has inaugurated 64 CHPS Compounds in the Upper West Region.
The ceremony took place at Loho in the Nadowli-Kaleo District.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) constructed the CHPS Compounds which were dotted all over the 11 districts in the Region.
Government and JICA funded the projects to the tune of 989 million Japanese Yuan.
Vice President Amissah Arthur, who inaugurated the CHPS Compounds on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, said bringing basic health care to the doorstep of Ghanaians, especially those in underserved and hard-to-reach communities, was a key priority of Government and a critical strategy in its efforts to change lives and transform Ghana.
He said that was because government recognised that inequality in accessing health care existed in Ghana and therefore prioritised efforts aimed at bridging such equity gaps across Ghana.
The objective, Vice President Amissah Arthur said was to ensure that majority of Ghanaians obtained health services without suffering any difficulties, including geographical and financial access, an integral part of the Health Sector Medium Term Development Plan 2014 to 2017.
Vice President Amissah Arthur said the need for a well-trained and motivated health workforce at all levels of the health system could not be overlooked and that within that context, government made it a point to structure the CHPS programme to make it an effective first-level of health service delivery in Ghana.
On the CHPS Policy, Vice President Amissah Arthur said it was a policy that would guide health programming and investment at the community level.
He said about 16,000 Community Health Officers had been trained and were delivering essential health services in some of the more than 6,000 demarcated CHPS zones in Ghana.
He announced that government was collaborating with stakeholders such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DfID), Korea Foundation for International Health Care (KOFIH) and philanthropists to constructed CHPS Compounds to cover 1410 CHPS zones in deprived communities.
The district assemblies had also responded to government’s directive to construct two CHPS Compounds a year which was also accomplished.
The Vice President said government’s commitment to the CHPS Compound concept, led members of the executive to take a voluntary 10 per cent salary cut in support of a fund dedicated to CHPS Compound construction.
He announced that government had committed resources to the construction of an additional 1,000 CHPS Compounds in deprived communities throughout Ghana this year.
He directed the Ministry of Health and its agencies to immediately disseminate the CHPS Policy while ensuring that all CHPS activities were done in strict compliance with the Policy Document.
Source: GNA