By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The Upper West Region in 2022 successfully piloted and selected non-monetary incentive packages for community-based volunteers to support effective implementation of the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) system.
The guidelines for the implementation of the packages have been drafted for the initiative to be rolled out across the region. The Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Damien Punguyire made this known at the 2022 Annual Performance Review Meeting in Wa.
He stated that when fully implemented, the initiative “is expected to motivate and energize community health volunteers in community mobilization and support for community-based health interventions”. Dr. Damien Punguyire gave an insight into primary health care services and staff distribution in Upper West. He noted:”There was an increase in coverage of primary health care services in the region”.
The proportion of functional CHPS zones, which is an important vehicle to deliver Healthcare services to the region’s scattered and hard-to-reach population witnessed an increase from 79% in 2021 to 91% in the year under review. This means that many more of our communities in the region now have access to well-trained community health workers.” He said fair distribution of staff across the region remains a challenge as staff continue to refuse posting to deprived areas. The service has however put in place incentive systems to motivate staff working in deprived areas.
“In the year under review a total of 508 staff of various categories working in deprived areas were promoted to the next grade ahead of their counterparts in non-deprived areas and 334 staff serving in deprived areas have been given provisional study leave to pursue further training in the next academic year,” Dr. Punguyire noted. The population of doctors has also witnessed as a significant increase over the past five years. The number of doctors increased from 58 in 2021 to 93 in 2022.
In 2022 alone, Upper West received 20 newly qualified doctors. The number of maternal deaths declined from 28 in 2021 to 16 in 2022 which translates into a reduction in maternal mortality ration from 101per 100,000 live births to 59 per 100,000 live births. The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih indicated that government has contributed a lot to expand access to quality healthcare, saying government interventions in the health sector are generally commendable.
He continued that a total of 23 tricycle ambulances were procured and distributed to some health facilities across the region to strengthen referral systems in the region, especially in moving patients from hard-to-reach areas. The region has also made remarkable improvements in the implementation of the CHPS strategy over the years.
“We are also working with the Ministry of Health to deal with the staffing situation at the CHPS level as it is considered one of the crucial milestones in the CHPS implementation process”, Dr Bin Sslih added.The RCC, together with MMDAs, is making all efforts to ensure that the region is attractive in terms of posting health professionals by ensuring that staff posted are not made to go back because of a lack of accommodation and other basic amenities. “The enforcement of the policy of 100% retention of newly trained health professionals is being enforced in the region”, he told the meeting.
The Paramount Chief of Daffiama and President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, Naa Dikomwine Domalae chaired the function.
