Dormaa recorded fresh HIV cases

Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/A), July 26, GNA - Health Institutions in the Dormaa Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region recorded 558 fresh HIV positive cases in 2009, made up of 232 males and 326 females.

The disease was also identified as the top cause of deaths in the municipality in 2009, killing 24 persons, representing 16.2 percent of deaths that occurred in the institutions.

The Information Unit of the Dormaa Municipal Health Directorate indicated at an annual performance review meting in Dormaa-Ahenkro that 27 pregnant women tested positive to the disease in the same year.

The Municipal Director of Health Services, Madam Florence Iddrisah said the directorate recorded four maternal deaths during the period under review.

She said the cases were being audited to ascertain possible causes of implications.

Madam Iddrisah said even though malaria remained the top cause of morbidity in the municipality, its out-patient attendance dropped from 51.5 percent in 2008 to 43 percent in 2009.

This was mainly due to the on-going massive regenerative health campaign by the Ghana Health Service, she added.

The Municipal Health Director disclosed that a total of 3,161 babies were delivered in the municipality, with 3,046 of them surviving and 97 being stillbirths as against 109 in 2008.

"As part of our strategies for 2010, we would employ peer review among the sub-districts, strengthen disease surveillance and bring into focus neglected typical diseases such as yaws, scabies and buruli ulcer", she said.

Madam Iddrisah announced that the directorate had plans to institute an award schemes, to reward deserving staff at the end of the each year.

She added that the Municipal Health Directorate collaborated effectively with its partners in 2009, among which are the Christian Health Association of Ghana and the private health facilities in Dormaa-Ahenkro.

She said the municipality continued to excel in immunization, regenerative health, counselling and testing for HIV, general supervision over facilities under its jurisdiction, and collaboration with stakeholders towards enhanced health care delivery.

Madam Iddrisah appealed to the health ministry and the municipal assembly to provide her office with more technical staff and equipment, to enable them to deal efficiently with such diseases as diabetes, hypertension, septecaemia and acute skin infections.

Okatakyie Ansu Gyeabour, Adomankomahene of the Dormaa Traditional Council, who presided, lauded the successes chalked by the directorate and its sub-districts in 2009, and urged them to ensure that all communities benefited from their efforts.

He welcomed the outfit's collaborative initiative with Koun-Fao, which made it possible for the two districts to swap villages along the border in their bid to ensure maximum coverage.