Government to improve health of women and children

Accra, Nov. 18, GNA - Government on Thursday said that it would continue to concentrate on improving health by directing resources towards the health of women, neonates, infants and children, as well as the prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Presenting the 2011 Budget to Parliament in Accra, Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor said interventions such as National Child Health Policy and strategy to increase access to Maternal, Newborn and Child Health services (MNCH), implementation of the adolescent health policy and development of measures to ensure safe blood product transfusion would be made in the health sector during the fiscal year.

Other interventions include strengthening surveillance, reporting and emergency response systems for the prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, improvement in case detection and management at health facility level as well as scale up the vector control strategy. Dr Duffuor said these were in pursuit of the NDC Government's commitment to equitable health care and noted that all the key projects in the health sector were completed in 2010.

He said about 100 uncompleted and abandoned Community Based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds would be completed, while an additional 30 would be constructed and equipped.

The Finance Minister said key projects to be undertaken during the 2011 fiscal year included the rehabilitation of Winneba District Hospital; nutrition and malaria control for child survival, Guinea worm eradication through water supply and sanitation and hygiene in the Northern Region. Other projects are the construction works on District Hospitals at Tarkwa and Bekwai, refurbishment of the Tamale Teaching Hospital; expansion of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine centres at Korle-bu and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals.

On the National Health Insurance Scheme, he said the scheme would continue to provide financial risk protection against the cost of basic and standard quality health care for all residents in Ghana. Cataloguing projects for 2010, he said 45 CHPS zones were created; 600,000 Rapid Diagnostic Test Kits for the confirmation of malaria cases were supplied and the completion of a 100-bed hospital with Malaria Research Centre at Teshie.

In addition, five polyclinics in the Northern Region (one each at Kpandai, Tatale, Kanga, Chereponi and Karaga); and 21 health centres were completed, phase two of the rehabilitation and upgrading of Bolgatanga Regional Hospital was completed and the essential nutrition actions, aimed at preventing neonatal deaths and enhancing health services for children were also implemented in all the 10 Regions of the country. The Finance Minister noted that 140 trainers of trainees were exposed to the use of the new World Health Organisation Growth Chart while five new midwifery training colleges were established to run courses in Post Basic Certificate in Midwifery. 18 Nov. 10