Vodafone Ghana’s charitable arm, the Vodafone Ghana Foundation has affirmed its passion and commitment to compliment government’s efforts in enhancing access to health care services.

The telecommunications company hopes to support targets set in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its pioneering ‘Health’ initiatives including Healthfest, Mobile4Good, Healthline and charitable donations to institutions.

Established in 2009, the Vodafone Ghana Foundation has invested in creating initiatives that solve pressing health issues, ensure healthy lives and promote the wellbeing of Ghanaians in various communities nationwide.

Commenting on the projects with journalists in Accra, Nana Yaa Ofori-Koree, Head of Vodafone Ghana Foundation, said health is key in building a great nation and family system, hence the decision to support the SDGs.

“Vodafone Ghana Foundation will continue to beef up the health of the ordinary Ghanaian through free medical screening and consultation, interactive mobile applications and via educative online, radio and TV programmes.

“We are excited that the provision of free and quality healthcare initiatives continues to improve the lives of various communities across the country,” she said.

Ms Ofori-Koree mentioned that Vodafone’s medical call centre ‘Healthline 255’ which receives an average of 400 calls daily continues to offer expert health advice to Ghanaians between 1600 hours and 2200 hours.

She said the Foundation in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) also launched Africa’s first ‘health worker-to-health worker’ call service on Ebola to train 63 health workers at the medical call centre on Ebola Virus (EVD), including developing other innovative apps to transform the healthcare delivery in the country.

“While our ‘Immunisation tracker’ app has equipped health workers in the field to remotely update child and maternal database in real time using smart devices for data collection, our ‘Maternal and Child Health Education’ app sends pre and post natal health information to pregnant women within deprived communities in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions,” she added.

She said the Foundation continues to offer free ultra-sound scanning for pregnant women in under resourced health facilities in the Eastern and Western regions, including thousands of residents in underprivileged communities in Ayeuano, Akyemansa, Suhum, and Akwapim South who have already benefitted from the free ongoing mobile ultrasound scanning.

Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, Osu Mantse, commended Vodafone Ghana for bringing the mini-clinic to various communities as a way of closing the doctor-to-patient ratio, while taking financial burdens off the families.

The Foundation in 2013 also transformed the adults and children cancer wards of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital into a leading cancer treatment facility in West Africa.