Koforidua-Ghana, Dec. 10, GNA – Five more districts in the Eastern Region, are to benefit from the Hunger Project- Ghana (THP-GHANA)’s Maternal and Child Health Improvement Project III (MCHIP).
The project’s key objective is to address the challenges of limited access and poor quality of essential maternal and reproductive health services, which has resulted in high maternal and child mortalities, especially in rural areas.
The three-year project beginning from 2022-2023 will directly benefit approximately 17,000 people with timely and accessible maternal healthcare and child health care services and interventions in the five districts.
The project variables are estimated to include training Community Health Nurses as midwifery assistants at the Epicenters and strengthening child health and nutrition services and maternal health services for thousands of rural dwellers.
The MCHIP project targeted 15 epicenter clinics Community Health and Planning Services (CHPS) compounds in the Eastern Region between June 2017 to May 2022, with funding from Else Kroner Fresenius Foundation, through the Hunger Project-Germany.
In view of the project’s remarkable achievements, the Fresenius Foundation provided additional funding to extend to five epicenter clinics in five new districts in the Eastern Region.
Mr Samuel Afrane, County Director THP-Ghana under the Journalists for Human Rights project on Mobilizing the Media in Fighting COVID-19, explained that the epicenter clinics had been very successful as far as providing timely healthcare to the people through the collaboration of the Ghana Health Service and other partners.
He said the extension of the MCHIP would ensure that strategies such as capacity building for Community Health Nurses including Midwifery Assistant Task Sharing and provision of medical equipment are implemented in the five epicenter clinics for improved maternal healthcare services.
Giving the overview of the MCHIP and its success stories in the implementing areas, Ms Stephanie Ashley, Maternal Health coordinator of the THP-GHANA disclosed that 3,744 women were reached with Antenatal Care (ANC), skilled deliveries and family planning, 17,694 females and 10,999 males were reached with reproductive health education and sensitization.
Medical equipment such as Infant AMBU bag, Foetal Doppler, Ultrasound scan, Autoclave, Glucometer, Hemoglobin meter, delivery beds and set among others were provided to the 15 epicenter clinics to boost services needed for complete maternal and child health care whiles 28 midwifery assistants and 15 nurses trained in the CHPS strategy.
These interventions have resulted in saving lives from maternal and newborn complications as well as empowering women and their partners in the 15 implementation areas on reproductive health information and timely healthcare interventions which prevented maternal emergencies and death.
The Eastern Region between January to June 2022 had recorded 63 maternal deaths mostly recorded in rural areas due to lack of timely access to medical care or delay in referral whiles an average of about 100 women lose their lives through maternal deaths yearly in Ghana.
Dr John Otoo, Deputy Director Public Health, in the Eastern Region, noted that out of the over 900 CHPS compounds outlined to ensure timely and accessible healthcare services in rural communities, only about one-third of that was functioning at the full capacity.
That, deficit has made the MCHIP through THP-GHANA epicenter strategy very critical and to the GHS agenda of reducing maternal and neonatal deaths in the rural communities to an appreciable level and assured of the GHS support to ensure success of the extended project.
He noted that some of the medical equipment such as autoclave provided by THP-GHANA under the project were very basic and critical in saving lives yet, most of the CHPS compounds lacked them and mentioned the provision of staff accommodation within the Epicenters as another key intervention which had helped to ensure 24/7 healthcare to people.
The Hunger Project-Ghana is an organization that works to build sustainable community-based programs using the epicenter strategy, to empower communities to partner to end their own hunger and poverty through integrated approach to rural development.
Since 1995 that the THP-GHANA had been working in Ghana it has provided 45 Epicenters across 33 districts in five regions in Ghana including Volta, Central, Greater Accra, Ashanti and the Eastern Region which has the highest concentration of 38 Epicenters.
The Epicenters are a complete community infrastructure which consists of a clinic, heath staff quarters, day care centers, microfinance and women empowerment projects, a conference hall, and others to provide basic needs of rural dwellers as well as strengthen local efforts to eliminate hunger and poverty.
Each epicenter covers about 35,000 people living in about 500 scattered hamlets or satellite communities under a cluster system.
