Bejewahume Community gets support towards creation of new Child Welfare Centre

As part of efforts to promote healthcare delivery in the country, the Rural Project Support Network (RPSN), an NGO committed to improving the lives of rural people has supported Bejewahume, a community located in Achimota within the Ga East Municipality of the Greater Accra Region with some relief items towards creation of a new Child Welfare Centre (CWC) to cater for the health needs of children.

The items which valued at a total cost of GH¢1,500.00 include 1 Weighing Stand,1 Veronica Bucket, 2 Benches,1 Table and 3 Plastic Chairs.

The gesture according to the Executive Director of Rural Project Support Network, Felicia Sosu seeks to aid caregivers in their quest to render healthcare services in the community and also address the challenges most parents face while assisting their children to access healthcare delivery in the country.

In an interview she explained the idea to help create the Child Welfare Centre in Bejewahume came to mind upon realizing that the whole community has only one centre which serves a very high population of mothers who have to travel from long distances only to patronize the facility at a time the 2nd Year of Life(2YL) Pilot Project was ongoing.

"Today we've provided some items to support the community and the nurses around. We wanted to open a new CWC because, during our 2YL campaign period, we saw that the entire community has only one centre and looking at the interval people travel from is far making it difficult for them to access healthcare, therefore, we saw the need to create another one today".

Rosemond Appau, the Municipal Health Promotion Officer at Abokobi, Ga East Municipality receiving the donation on behalf of the community commended the donor for the support.

"We are indeed very happy so now when we go for home visits and we're inviting mothers, we will be bold knowing very well that when they come to the centre they'll get a place to sit comfortably and be taken care of without complaints".

Ms Appau observed lack of logistics within the child welfare centres in the municipality make it difficult for caregivers to operate including parents who sometimes refuses to turn up during home visits.

She, therefore, called for more donor support and appealed to other NGOs, Institutions and individuals in the country to help donate logistics and support the centres and the caregivers to deliver towards improving the health conditions of children in the country.

For her part, Administration Officer at Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health(GCNH), Ms. Harriet Aryitey noted the successes chalked under the 2nd Year of Life (2YL) pilot project which came to an end in November was evident due to the low rate of diseases like polio, measles, whooping cough among others registered by children in the country.

She lauded the Ghana Health Service(GHS), RPSN, GCNH), Centre for Disease Control(CDC), USA and its partners from South Africa and Kampala for making it a success and prayed for the enrolment of the actual campaign in 2018.

The 2YL project was an initiative which seeks to help raise an awareness as well as sensitize women especially young mothers on the importance of immunization in order to ensure children are well immunized according to the laid down schedules of health experts; right from birth till the age of 2 up to 5 years period.

It was a 3- month initiative run as a pilot program which kicked-off somewhere in early September and ended in November this year paving way for the actual project likely to be rolled out early next year.

The project was implemented by the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health (GCNH) through the support of the Ghana Health Service(GHS) with funding from the Centre for Disease Control(CDC), USA and its partners from South Africa and Kampala(Uganda).