Tongo (U/E)-Ghana, March 3, GNA – The Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment Ghana (RSIE-Ghana), a Non – Governmental Organisation, has donated stationery to 14 healthcare facilities in the Talensi and Nabdam districts of the Upper East Region, to improve maternal healthcare delivery.
The markers, notebooks, foolscap, filing materials, boards among other general stationery were given to seven healthcare facilities in each of the beneficiary districts.
It was part of the implementation of a three-year STAR-Ghana Gender Rights and Empowerment Project (G-REP), with funding support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The project is meant to engage relevant stakeholders, strengthen and improve the work of the health committees at the facility level and encourage citizen groups to champion access to quality maternal health in the two districts.
It also seeks to mobilise women, girls and citizen groups, including civil society organisations and the media, to champion maternal health financing and policy implementation to accessible and quality healthcare delivery in those facilities.
Mr Awal Ahmed Kariama, the Executive Director, RISE-Ghana, explained that as part of the implementation of the project, the health management committees of the beneficiary facilities had been trained on how to use scorecards to identify gaps in the delivery of maternal health services.
This will help them prepare their activities and action plans, with periodic reviews.
“The project has already started generating some results because the district assemblies have been committed to the process, the committees have identified certain problems and are actually mobilising resources to solve them,” he said, citing the fixing of broken-down boreholes and getting space for health facilities as examples.
He stated, for instance, that the Tongo-Beo health facility in the Talensi District did not have space for a child welfare clinic but through the project, which included capacity building, space had been created in the health facility to serve as child welfare clinic.
“Some of their proposals have already been captured in the medium term development plans of the district and going forward, it will increase investment in maternal health in line with the Maputo protocol as well as the local health strategy for the country.”
Ms Juliana Akugre Anam-erime, the Talensi District Director, Ghana Health Service (GHS), lauded the efforts of RISE-Ghana and its partners for contributing to improving healthcare delivery.
She noted that the project had built the capacity of community members to be part of the management of the facilities.
“For instance, it was at one of their engagements that the community members made me to understand that the health workers were not staying in the accommodation provided in some of the healthcare facilities and they were ready to discuss things passionately,” she said.
Ms Mariam Mahama, the Nabdam District Director, GHS, said the donation was timely as there were occasions healthcare facilities had to reuse ‘single use’ placards and stationery, which affected quality of actions plans and ability to follow up.
