Absence of population data hinders districts' devt

Ho, May 24, GNA - The unavailability of district population data is a major impediment to development in the districts.

This is because the national population figures do not give a clear picture of the situation in the various districts.

These were the concerns raised by members of the Volta Regional and Ho Municipal Population Advisory Committees at a day's sensitisation workshop in Ho on Wednesday. The workshop, which was organized by the Regional Population Council was to sensitise the committee members on the Government of Ghana (GOG) and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) 5th Country programme, which is about to start in the Volta Region.

The members noted that the situation was affecting the integration of the "unrealistic" figures into development planning of the districts. They alleged that it was the cause of the lack of planning in many districts since the only population data readily available was the national one.

Explaining the gravity of the situation, Mrs Christiana Seddo-Attachey of the Ho Municipal Health Directorate stated that data received from the National Population Council always conflicted with that of the National Immunization Day (NID).

She said there was the indication of over 100 per cent coverage of children between the ages of zero to 11 months with the NPC data and a far less percentage with the NID data.

Mrs Seddo-Attachey said the situation was frustrating as resources were given on the figures given by NPC posing a big challenge to health care delivery in the Region.

The five-year programme would treat three main components including Population and Development, Reproductive Health and Gender Equity and Women's Empowerment.