Accra (Greater Accra), 9 Feb. '99 -
Accra (Greater Accra), 9 Feb. '99 - The United States Agency for International development (USAID) today granted Ghana eight million dollars for its Improved Family Health Programme. The grant forms part of a 20 million-dollar assistance to cover the programme for the next three years. USAID's total commitment for the programme will amount to 15.2 million dollars with a local component of 5.06 million dollars by the government. An agreement to this effect was singed by Mr Kwame Peprah, Minister of Finance, while Mrs Kathryn Dee Robinson, US Ambassador to Ghana, initialed for USAID. The Improved Family Health Programme dubbed "Strategic Objective Number Three", aims at increasing the use of reproductive health services, including population and family planning, safe motherhood and prevention of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). Key players in the programme are the Ministry of Health, National Population Council (NPC) Secretariat, Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Non-Governmental Organisations. Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Minister of Health, said the programme will support the training of health workers, provision of quality service, expanding community-level service delivery, raising public awareness and increasing the involvement of the private sector in the promotion of maternal and child health services. The ultimate beneficiaries of activities to be funded under the programme will be children under the age of five and men and women of reproductive age. It is aimed at decreasing child and maternal deaths, the spread of HIV/AIDS and total fertility due to improved awareness of access to quality health services. Mr Nuamah Donkor said the programme will consolidate the gains made under previous programmes and augment those already in place by improving awareness and providing easy access to family planning and health services. Mrs Robinson said the grant addresses an essential element of Ghana's development programme, that is, the health of Ghanaian families. She said the health of Ghanaians directly impacts on the development of the economy because resources required to build a strong economy are diverted to care for the ill. "Poor health also limits productivity of individuals and families" because few families can work productively and invest in the future when the survival of their children is in doubt, the ambassador said.
