Samambo (U/WR ), June 9, GNA- The Upper West Regional Co-ordinating Council has instituted an annual competition among the eight health districts aimed at reducing to the barest minimum the region's high infant mortality rate.
The region's under-five mortality rate currently stands at 208 per 1,000 live births as against the national average of 104 per 1,000 live births.
This was announced on Friday by Mr. Ambrose Dery, Upper west Regional Minister when he commissioned a community based health planning and service compound (CHPS) at Samambo, a farming community in the Nadowli district. The facility will serve the community and several nearby villages. The CHPS concept is a new strategy adopted by the Ghana health service whereby a health compound is provided in deprived communities to enable the community plan and implement their health promotion activities under the guidance of a community health officer assigned them by the Ghana health service. The compound also provides primary health care services such treatment of malaria, measles, and diarrhea as well as the promotion of sanitation. Mr. Dery said a special team is being formed to assess and evaluate the achievements of the districts and sub-district so as to select the best performing district in the fight against under -five mortality in the region.
The Minister commended UNICEF and DANIDA for supporting the region with logistics to the tune of three million dollars to fight infant mortality in the region.
He observed that the upper east region where the CHPS concept first started was able to reduce its infant mortality rate to 38 deaths per 1,000 live births, there was no reason why the upper west region could not also do the same.
The facility which was built by the Nadowli district assembly has a treatment room, wash room, treatment room and a solar powered fridge for the storage of vaccines
The community health volunteers and traditional birth attendants who would be supporting the community health officer were also introduced to the people.
The Nadowli District Director of Health Services, Mrs Rosina Yenli appealed to the people to give the necessary support to the health officer so as to enable him to serve them effectively. 09 June 07
