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| Dr Awoonor-Williams addressing participants |
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| Dr Elias Sory |
The 2012 Annual performance review meeting which sought to take stock of individual and collective performances for the year under review coincided with the Northern Regional review meeting in Tamale. The overarching goal was to assess the performance for the period and to chart the way forward in addressing the health objectives and goals required in meeting the set targets rolled out in the Millennium Development Goals 2015. This year’s stakeholders meeting which attracted dignitaries including the immediate past Director –General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory as well as senior health managers and partners was on the theme: “ Achieving Service Coverage through Quality Data: the impact of DHIMS implementation. Representatives from the Ministry of Health headquarters MOH, UNICEF World Vision and close partners were present to lend their support and share their experiences for stronger partnership. The Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr John Koku-Awoonor-Williams who took participants through the performances, achievements and challenges of the health sector of the region placed much emphases on the need for quality data, which he noted, was vital in ensuring sound decision making and planning, hence the choice of the theme. This, he re-echoed calls for urgent capacity training of health staff, especially at the sub–district and community level, which he further identified, were data generation points. Dr Awoonor-Williams said though effective data collection was the ideal way; provision of computers was key to enhancing the data collection activities and called on the MOH through the national headquarters to act in that regard. Aside the issue of data collection, the problem of human resource was the major worrying concern put to the fore by Dr Awoonor-Williams. According to him though the sector has chalked tremendous achievement in the provision of health care delivery, the problem of inadequate human resource continue to be a bane thwarting efforts to achieving the MDGs. He said nurses and other categories of health professionals often refuse postings to the region; a situation he observed, was a breach to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) new staff placement policy, adding that the on-adherence of the said policy, Dr Awoonor-Williams bemoaned, was a blow to the health sector of the region with district facilities being the most affected. He said notwithstanding the challenge, the region will continue to develop initiatives to attract and retain its staff to fill in the gap. The region through the tireless effort of health staff and collaborators recorded some appreciable successes with respect to malaria control, supervised delivery and antenatal coverage, which is currently showing a decreasing trend in the past seven years. Post natal coverage has also witness a drastic reduction in coverage with 77.8 percent in 2012 as compared to 80.4 percent in 2012. Other areas such as functional CHP zones recorded an increase of 87 in 2008 to 117 in 2012 representing 86 percent increase over a 4-year period. Reduction in HIV/AIDS prevalence rate among pregnant women as well as Tuberculosis treatment success rate improved tremendously. Relatively there was a corresponding downward trend in institutional maternal mortality ratio for the past three years due to increased skill delivery and best practices, particul;arly in district health facilities. The former Director-General of the GHS, Dr Elias Sory who represented as the special guest of honour commended the leadership of the Regional Health Directorate particularly, Dr Awoonor-Williams for his role in addressing most of the pressing health challenges affecting the region. He said in the phase of human resource and infrastructural deficit, the region through prudent managerial policies has made remarkable strides in scaling up most CHP Compounds which have been helpful in improving the quality of health of the rural folks. For him, strong institutional policies ought to be implemented to help engage people to support the limited health facilities in the country, particularly Upper East, where facilities are far overstretched. There were fraternal message and comments from various health partners.
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