THE Northern Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Akwasi Twumasi, has called for genuine collaboration between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the health sector and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to address the poor health indicators in the region.
According to him, the relatively high number of maternal and infant mortality deaths in health institutions, poor nutrition status of pregnant women, malaria and low coverage of family planning were among the challenges facing the health sector in the area.
Dr Twumasi made the call at the first regional forum on health in Tamale organised by the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health.
The forum was aimed at among other objectives, identifying strategies and suggesting ways of advocating and influencing government policies for the benefit of the marginalised and vulnerable in the society.
Representatives of NGOs, Community Based Organisations (CBOs), health associations, research and professional groups attended the forum.
It was on the theme “The role of civil societies in bringing about equity in healthcare”.
The director observed that “our efforts towards the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals 4, 5 and 6 continue to be a big challenge and there was the need for co-ordinated approach to ensure that these targets are reached”.
He further explained that as partners in development work, a great deal of efforts were needed to influence greater collaboration and understanding among partners.
That, he noted, was a “necessary ingredient for healthy and genuine collaboration without which our efforts though very essential and great may not be recognised”.
Dr Twumasi equally entreated civil society organisations to be “prudent in the use of donor resources since donor fatigue has set in”.
“We must first admit that donor inflows of resources have reduced drastically due to the global financial reprisals and also due to our own attitude of reckless use of resources”, he pointed out.
Dr Twumasi expressed concern about the number of women who died from complications from illegal abortions in the Northern Region between 2007 and 2008 and noted that couples were either afraid of or had negative perception about family planning and as such, would not use it to plan their.
He, therefore, urged couple to consider family planning as an option when making major family decisions to avoid unwanted pregnancies with its related problems.
He said the GHS was ready to collaborate and work effectively with the Coalition to promote quality and equitable health care delivery towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the country.
The Regional Chairperson of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Hajia Hajara Telly, announced that her outfit was a registered umbrella body of NGOs and civil society organisations in the health sector established in March 2000.
According to her, the formation of the Coalition is in response to a call by the Ministry of Health and other health partners to effectively co-ordinate the efforts of NGOs and civil society organisations to enhance their capacity to play a significant role in health service delivery.
Hajia Telly indicated that the coalition had registered 48 member organisations, 30 of which were active.
She noted that the coalition was aimed among other objectives, at influencing policy formation and decision-making, improving networking and information sharing among NGOs, as well as providing a forum for NGOs in health to advocate and campaign for all under a common banner.
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