Day: May 29, 2024

LifeNet International, a faith-based non-governmental organisation, has launched its Northern Sector project to transform Ghanaian health facilities into better health delivery centres to provide compassionate and sustainable healthcare to the people.

Dr Idris Buabeng, Country Director, LifeNet International, speaking during the launch in Tamale, said faith-based healthcare facilities faced the same challenges as public and other private health care providers.

The challenges include insufficient continuous professional development for clinicians, poor health worker attitude and behaviour, stockouts of essential medicines, inadequate inventory and financial management, and limited marketing capabilities, which lead to poor health outcomes.

He said as part of the project, LifeNet International partnered health care facilities to receive a suite of high-impact interventions, comprising health worker behaviour change, clinical training, health facility management training, medical equipment supply, on-site mentoring, digital learning tools, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) processes.

Dr Buabeng said: ‘This package of interventions has proven effective by dramatically improving the quality and sustainability of health care through measurable changes in health worker performance and financial practices.’

The changes would enhance patient experience at the health facility to save lives, especially in the rural areas of the northern sector.

‘Over the past two years, LifeNet International partnered 25 faith-based health facilities in southern Ghana, which has resulted in building capacities of 1,500 clinical and managerial health workers that has led to significant improvement in patient visits in these facilities and in 2023, outpatient visits increased to 437,188. In addition, 2,428 mothers and 2,450 babies were saved,’ he said.

He said LifeNet International had, so far, expanded its coverage this year by partnering 12 more faith-based health facilities in the Savannah, Northern, and North East Regions to improve upon the health of the people.

He advised health professionals to build trust and respect in the communities they served by providing compassionate health care to the people.

Dr Josephat Ana-Immwine Nyuzaghi, the Savannah Regional Director of Health Services, advised the workers to build good relationships with the patients by being compassionate towards their plight when they visited the hospital.

The Most Reverend Peter Paul Yelezuome Angkyier, the Catholic Bishop of Damongo, appealed to partners in the health sector to regularly organise staff training to uphold high-quality care standards for the safety of both provider and clients.

Mr Abubakari Alhassan, the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District Director of Health, urged health care stakeholders to develop plans to increase access to quality essential care and population-based services for their residents.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Samuel Sullemana, a Medical Doctor at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, has advised health professionals especially Midwives, Gynaecologists and Obstetricians and Medical Officers in general to treat pregnant adolescents with dignity, respect and confidentiality.

He said if these teenagers feel welcomed, they could visit antenatal care frequently until their time was due for delivery.

Dr Sullemana gave the advice at the opening of a four-day training programme organised by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Ghana (SOGOG) in collaboration with the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Canada under the auspices of Oxfam Ghana with support from the Ghana Health Service for health professionals in Accra.

The training was to help enhance maternal and new-born care and reduce maternal mortality and morbidity.

‘The first experience given to pregnant adolescents at health facilities will determine if they will come back to us or not. When they are treated with disrespect and words like Madam, go and lie down there, among others, then they might not come back until their time is due or until they have complications that they will be rushed back to us.

‘Don’t treat any adolescent like an adult because they have their vulnerabilities. The care given to them will either contribute to maternal mortality and morbidity or reduce it,’ he said.

Dr Sullemana said pregnant adolescents accounted for the highest number of maternal mortality, exceeding women in their 20s, adding that about 3.9 million girls aged 15 to 19 undergo unsafe abortions every year.

Meanwhile, they were reluctant to attend antenatal care due to factors like being treated with disrespect and not being sure if confidentiality was secured, he noted.

Dr Promise Sefogah, the General Secretary of SOGOG, said the need to promote good quality care for pregnant women and adolescents had become necessary as maternal mortality rates were unacceptably high in Ghana.

He said problems of hypertension in pregnancy and its complications as well as excessive blood loss during pregnancy, delivery and after delivery, were the leading causes, followed by unsafe abortion.

Dr Sefogah, also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School, said pregnant adolescents were prioritised at the training because they were vulnerable, lacked the best of care and nutrition from families, and sometimes received negative attitudes from some healthcare practitioners at facilities during their period of pregnancy and delivery.

This, he said, deterred them from utilising antenatal care frequently, a situation which increased their complications and sometimes caused death.

He explained that the training programme was an internationally certified course called Advances in Labour and Risk Management International (ALARM) programme and therefore representatives from the various health facilities would upon return train their colleagues to widen the knowledge gap for better health care delivery.

‘We will also do follow up, monitoring and mentoring to ensure that the programme has a better impact,’ he added.

Mr Mahmud Mohammed, the Accountable Governance Programme Manager, Oxfam Ghana, said the training was part of Oxfam’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights programme implemented in seven countries to promote quality maternal healthcare delivery.

It was also to build capacity of male adolescents and boys on their rights to Reproductive services and for women and adolescent girls to receive quality and friendly Reproductive health services to reduce maternal mortality.

‘We believe in Oxfam that no woman should die in an effort to give birth to a life. The whole effort is therefore to ensure that we don’t lose our mothers, sisters, and aunties in the process of childbirth,’ he said.

The health professionals made up of Medical Officers, Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Midwives represented the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ashaiman Polyclinic, Walewale Municipal Hospital (West Mamprusi), Tanoso Hospital, Korlebu Teaching Hospital, Savelugu Municipal Hospital, Ewim Polyclinic, (Cape Coast), Kajeje Health Centre (Sene East), and Kasoa Polyclinic.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Sir Justice Professor Dennis Dominic Adjei, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, has stressed the need for health professionals to work in accordance with stipulated laws, to avoid issues with dire consequences on human lives and their professions

He said since human rights were basic and each of them – caregivers and patients, needed to exhibit acts of kindness to foster peace and prevent blunders, it was important for patients and health workers to respect each other to be able to offer the needed assistance.

Speaking at a seminar in Kumasi, to deliberate on issues emerging from the conduct of health professionals and patients, Sir Justice Adjei, pointed out that, per the laws, patients must consent to bodily contacts by a medical professional to avoid bringing an action against the facility and health practitioner for battery.

The seminar was organized by Patient Rights (PR) Watch Ghana, an NGO dedicated to protecting and advancing the constitutional and statutory rights of patients in Ghana.

Among the topics discussed were medical ethics, standard of care and patients’ rights in the context of traditional/herbal practice in Ghana in the 21st century, the menace of medical negligence and the role of Patient Charter in assisting the Medical and Dental Council to confront the challenge.

Also, presentations were made on nurse-patient conflict and analysis of the medico-legal implications of patients’ rights and responsibilities; its justifiability and relevance as a tool to combat patients’ rights abuses.

Sir Justice Adjei, giving typical hospital instances, noted that there were categories of health professionals, and a member of each of the health professionals might meet a patient who visited the facility to seek medical treatment.

‘Immediately one goes to a hospital, one may get the personal details recorded and the negligence starts from that point.

A name may be misspelled and another person bearing the same may respond to the other person’s name.

The drug of these two individuals may be changed, and these have a tendency of causing grave consequences on the health of patient,’ he cited.

He called on health professionals to be diligent in their duties to avoid unnecessary mistakes which could have dire consequences for the patient and the facility.

Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, Ashanti Regional Director of Health Service, said constant advocacies on these issues could help correct the wrongs in the health sector.

He pointed out that medico-legal issues were rampant with the Ashanti Region alone having 52 cases on hand at present.

Mr. Isaac Ofori Gyeabour, President and Founder, Patient Rights Watch Ghana, said patient charter was crucial to safeguarding the rights of patients and standardizing healthcare delivery, but had sadly been shrouded since its passage.

Going forward, he believed that educating health professionals about the legal implications of their work and empowering ordinary patients with knowledge about their rights were key.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Former Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has called on the government to prioritise the health of the citizenry to guarantee the wealth of the country.

Professor Akosa said when attention was paid to the health needs of the people such as preventive, curative and prevention, it ensured a healthy nation, saying, ‘the wealth of a nation is the health of its people.’

Professor Akosa, who was speaking at the Graphic National Development Series in Accra, on the theme: ‘Quality Health for all’, said the government must make deliberate attempts to ensure that the citizenry had access to quality and affordable healthcare, hence the need for health promotion and education for all.

‘If health becomes a government priority, then the development is centred on people, if the people are not healthy and strong, their creativity and productivity would not be ensured for the needed development of the country.

So, we need the health of the people, health and education are the twin social endeavours that would grow a country and when the people are educated, they would be productive and help the country to strive,’ he stated.

He stressed that by prioritising health, Ghanaians must be educated to live a healthy lifestyle, such as reducing alcohol intake, avoiding tobacco, eating well, emphasising on local dishes, exercising and good sleeping to ensure quality rest, provision of quality water and good sanitation among others, describing them as social determinants of health, which contributed to the health of individuals.

Prof Akosa added that medical research must also be funded to help ensure an effective and solid health promotion for the good of the country.

‘For me, the Government is to make sure that to make healthcare a priority and that will be possible by ensuring that the amount of money you give to health should commensurate with the Abuja declaration, we signed that 15 per cent of our expendable budget should go

into health. We have never achieved that and that for me tells me that there is no priority,’ he added.

The former Director General urged Ghanaians to be responsible for their health needs and do the right thing as the government did its part to prioritise healthcare in the country.

He noted that many of the diseases being recorded were unhealthy lifestyles, hence the need to reverse the trend to ensure safety.

Professor Aaron Abuosi, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Department of Health Services Management, University of Ghana Business School, said Ghana’s population was growing faster, especially the youthful population, which called for the urgent need to focus attention on ensuring universal healthcare for all.

Prof Abuosi expressed worry as communicable diseases were giving way to non-communicable diseases at an increasing and frightening rate, which must be confronted with an effective intervention to address the menace, particularly the prevention aspect.

He called for a review of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cater for all citizens, regardless of their socio-economic status as well as caring for all kinds of services, whether chronic or otherwise at a lower cost.’

He was hopeful that policy makers and politicians would reflect on the issues to influence policy making regarding the country’s future of healthcare.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Underground Mining Alliance (UMA), a subcontractor of AngloGold Ashanti, has donated 3,000 sanitary towels to girls at the Abdullam Orphanage and eight other schools at Obuasi.

The donation forms part of efforts by the company to promote safe menstruation among girls as the world marks Menstrual Hygiene Day on the theme ‘Together for a Period Friendly World.’

The beneficiary schools included Artic School, Asonkore M/A school, Pomposo MA school, Ahmadiyya school, Top Angels, Freedom Academy, St Margaret School and the 31st of December School at Bogobiri.

World Menstrual Hygiene Day is observed globally on May 28, every year as an annual awareness day to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management on the global level.

Mr. Darren Howard, Project Manager of UMA, said the company was aware of the challenges many girls were confronted with during menstruation and that the donation was the company’s little contribution to make them comfortable during that period.

‘We are not oblivious to what some girls go through during menstruation.

Some decide to stay out of school while others battle with stigmatisation, so we came around to motivate and support them on how to tackle issues of menstruation’, he said.

Ms. Yvonne Asabere, Training Coordinator of the company, said the donation also sought to inspire the pupils to recognise the need to stay safe and observe clean menstruation.

She emphasised that menstruation was warning sign that the girls could easily get pregnant when they indulge in unprotected sex.

‘We came with female engineers as role models to motivate the girls to have confidence and trust in their abilities and I believe it will encourage them to aspire to climb the academic ladder,’ she observed.

Mr. Lawrence Turkson, the National Project Manager, said the company had been supporting female related activities and women empowerment programmes over the years as a company committed to promoting the development of women.

The company, he noted, aligned with the global ambition to attain a period friendly world, and advised young girls to remain confident even in the face of stigmatisation during menstruation.

Ms. Sarah Appiah, a Midwife at the AGA Health Foundation who was the resource person, took participants through the four phases of the menstrual cycle.

She demonstrated the proper way to wear sanitary pad and advised the girls to prioritise personal hygiene, especially during menstruation.

Mr. Richard Obeng, the Assembly Member for Pomposo Asonkore Electoral Area, commended the company for the support which he said was a huge relief for most of the girls.

Some of the beneficiaries who spoke to the media, lauded the company for the donation, admitting that some of them really struggled to access the product during menstruation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Mental Health Authority has expressed concern over the escalating mental health cases among adolescents in schools with detrimental effects on their academic performance, social interactions and overall quality of life.

Another area of concern is the increasing perinatal mental health, which refers to the psychological wellbeing of women during pregnancy, childbirth and up to a year after childbirth.

Professor Pinamang Appau, the Chief Executive of the Authority, said research indicated that nearly 10 per cent of teenagers in Ghana qualified for a psychiatric diagnosis with detrimental effects on their academic performance, social interactions and quality of life.

Speaking at a public forum on mental health in Kumasi, she said the youth faced increasing rate of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, behavioral addictions such as gambling and attempted suicides, and that was worrying.

It had become increasingly evident that the mental health of mothers during pregnancy, birth and a year after birth played a pivotal role in shaping the health outcomes of their infants, particularly in terms of nutrition and overall growth.

Prof Appau said research over the past two decades had consistently highlighted the high prevalence of perinatal depression in Ghana, reaching as high as 50.1 per cent with suicidal ideations among affected mothers at 13-17 per cent.

‘This is sad. Our lives are full of ups and downs and experiencing difficulties in emotions, either sad, anxious and seeking help is a sign of strength not weakness,’ she said

The forum, on the theme: ‘It’s Ok!’ was organised by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

She said it was important that everyone worked hard to de-stigmatise mental health issues and encourage those in need to seek help without shame, adding that the state of mental health in Ghana was an urgent concern that required collective responsibility and action.

The Mental Health Authority had put systems in place to generate home-grown data and improve local research to effectively address mental health issues.

She used the occasion to rally for better conditions of service for mental health professionals to enable them to deliver quality services to their clients.

Dr Mrs Ruth Owusu-Antwi, the Head of Psychiatry, KATH, said mental health issues were pervasive, affecting people of all backgrounds and walks of life, and was, therefore, important for people to seek early help.

Dr Mrs Ruth Owusu-Antwi, the Head of Psychiatry at KATH, said mental health issues were pervasive, affecting people of all backgrounds and walks of life, and was, therefore, important for people to seek early help.

She noted that stress was the number one risk factor for mental breakdown.

Research conducted to see the stress levels of Ghanaians showed that more than 40 per cent of Ghanaians were moderately to severely stressed up.

‘We must, therefore, normalize seeking help early when one detects signs of mental breakdown so that it does not progress to be severe,’ she advised.

Prof Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, the KNUST Vice-Chancellor, observed that help for mental health issues were readily available and called on Ghanaians to have bold conversations on the issue and avoid suffering in silence.

Source: Ghana News Agency