Nadowli(U/W), Feb. 11, GNA - The Nadowli District Director of Health Services, Madam Florence Angsomwine, has said over 90 percent of diseases reported at health facilities in the district were preventable. She said these preventable diseases, most of which emanated from poor environmental conditions, contributed significantly to the high level of morbidity and mortality in the district.

Madam Angsomwine said this on Thursday during the District's annual health performance review meeting held at Nadowli in the Upper West Region. She said for them to be able to create wealth through health, they must move away from the usual way of doing things and explore new ways of securing the health of the people by becoming more practical and innovative= .. Madam Angsomwine said shortage of health staff, increasing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, poor documentation and reporting, insecurity in some health facilities and inadequate staff accommodation were some of the challenges they encountered during the year under review.

She said despite these challenges successes were chalked in prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, improvement in Reproductive and Child Health, facilitative supervision, improve infrastructure, community emergency transport system and threats of emergin= g diseases such as H1N1.

On the way forward, she said measures were being made to improve the regenerative and primary health care.

She said last year, the District recorded 75 CSM cases with 10 deaths due to late arrivals of patients at the hospitals. Madam Angsomwine commended the Nadowli District Assembly and all other stakeholders for their support and urged the health staff to use the review to seek knowledge, share information and embrace innovation to improve on their performance.

Mr. Abu Kansangbata, the District Chief Executive, said the Assembly would this year construct 12 additional CHPS Compounds to make health care more accessible to the people.

He commended the health staff for the hard work and said the Assembly had made it a priority to execute all the health sector challenges includin= g drilling of boreholes and connecting health facilities to the national electricity grid.