Story: Mary Ankrah
THE World Vision Ghana (WVG), has appealed to the government to improve the quality and accessibility of health services with particular focus on poor communities in the country.
That, it said could be done by prioritising equitable access to health service on the agenda of district health management teams; addressing the human resource gaps in rural health facilities including improving incentive packages to attract personnel; prioritising proven interventions to improve nutrition in the national health and development agenda and making them available to children and mothers, as well as increase funding for essential drugs, among others.
Mr Charles Hubert, the National Director of WVG, child-focused organisation, made the appeal at a press conference to commemorate the celebration of the Day of the Child.
The event marked a global week of action campaign organised by the organisation on the theme “Child health Now”,.
The global week of action is to enable WVG stress on the need for the government to focus more on family and community health in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 1, 4, 5, and 6, that respectively relate to ending poverty,, reducing child mortality, improving maternal mortality and combating HIV, malaria and other diseases.
As part of the campaign, the organisation created awareness on the need to reduce mortality among children under five and mothers.
While stressing on the need for the government to increase the capacity of communities to take critical actions to promote and protect the health of children, women and the vulnerable, Mr Hubert recommended that government should intensify public education for families and communities on good nutrition and health practices to improve healthcare.
“It is important that the government also support community monitoring systems to identify signs of faltering growth in children under five and support care givers to implement correct actions”, he added.
On child and maternal mortality, Mr Hubert indicated that Ghana had made slow progress in improving child and maternal health since many mothers and children keep dying from preventable causes such as neonatal causes, pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea.
He said statistics showed that only half of children with suspected pneumonia were taken to appropriate healthcare centres and less than 25 per cent received antibiotics while fewer than half children under five with diarrhoea received oral rehydration and continued feeding.
According to him, the major causes of maternal deaths in the country are haemorrhage and hypertension, stressing that it is important for families to plan for a healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies which could greatly improve child and maternal health in the country.
He, however, noted that the trend of women accessing family planning services had decreased from 34 per cent in 2003 to 24 per cent in 2010 and immunisation rate for major childhood diseases in the country had relatively gone high.
Mr Hubert therefore stressed that further efforts ought to be made to protect all children, particularly the marginalised ones and urged the government to increase its national budget on health to 15 per cent as pledged in the Abuja declaration.
The Vice-Chairperson of the Advisory Council of WVG Dr Adelaide Karstner, called on cooperate bodies and other organisations to help complement the government effort by helping to reduce death among children under five.
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