U/E Holds Tripartite Cross Border Health Sector Meeting

2010
Narration: The Upper East Regional Health Directorate has held a tripartite cross border health sector Meeting at Bolgatanga with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Togo to discuss and share ideas on the control and management of Guinea Worm, Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) among other neglected tropical diseases. Also in attendance were municipal and district directors of health services, health partners and collaborators as well as officials from the various health outlets. Correspondent Isaac Asare was there for Radio Ghana and has the rest of the story.
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Given an overview of the health situation in the region, the Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr John Koku Awoonor-Williams in a speech read on his behalf, expressed delight in the health fora since it creates a unique opportunity for promoting better understanding and common affirmative actions on the underlying issues affecting health and wealth creation among the general populace. He said the inter regional engagement which involves information sharing on health matters, dates back to early 2000 and hopes to attain the needed health goals and other sectors of the economies. Dr Awoonor -Williams outlined some successes chalked by the health sector of the region, stressing that the region recorded one of the best child mortality indicators of 33 per 1,000 live births in the country . Skilled attendant delivery, he pointed out, also hit 52 percent plus mark last year, one of the highest in the country. He described the figure as laudable due to the serious cultural barriers to facility based deliveries which are being mitigated through appropriate designing of health interventions such as internationally lauded “Zorko initiative”. He said the region since 1998 has not recorded any measles related death due to effective surveillance systems and intersectoral actions on immunization campaign programmes. Dr Awoonor –Williams was happy about the general downward trend of the perennial CSM outbreak and the unacceptable maternal mortality in the region adding that these health challenges are successfully controlled with minimal casualties as possible. He commended various stakeholders in the health sector for their immense contribution towards the success of health care delivery in the region and called for continuous collaboration and partnership at all times. The Upper East Regional Minister, Mark Woyongo, who was the guest of honour at the function, challenged the participating countries to as a matter of concern come out with pragmatic cross border measures to impact positively on the high maternal and neonatal deaths , HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis as well as the perennial outbreak of CSM and similar epidemic prone diseases. This, he said, calls for frequent, effective and sustainable cross border meetings to deal with the numerous health challenges. Mr. Woyongo took the opportunity on behalf of the people in the region to convey a goodwill message to the government and the good people of Burkina Faso for their high level of collaboration and co-operation in the management of the spillage of the Bagre Dam since 2008 after the 2007 flood disaster. Regional and District Health Directors from the Savanna and South Regions of the Republic of Togo and Burkina Faso also shared their health problems and challenges with their Ghanaian counterparts through various presentations.
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