CCFC donates medical equipment to deprived Zogu Clinic

Some of the items

THE Zogu Health Centre, a clinic that serves a number of rural communities in the Savelugu/Nanton district of the Northern Region, has received a quantity of medical equipment to enable it offer healthcare services to the large number of people who depend on it.

The items, which were provided by the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC) and its local collaborator, Tuma Kavi, included BP apparatus, thermometers, drip stands, weighing scales, a wheel chair and bed sheets.

Although the clinic is located in Zogu, it also serves inhabitants of other communities, such as Jegong, Saandu, Jegong Kukuo, Zokuga, Tigu and Nyeko.

The clinic is therefore under constant pressure to meet the health needs of the people, particularly in attending to people suffering from malaria and women in labour.

The Daily Graphic learnt that the construction and furnishing of the Zogu Health Centre was funded by the CCFC and commissioned on November 23rd, 2006.

“The CCFC provided this facility to the people of Zogu because it realised that the old building that was being used as a clinic was in a very deplorable state,” the Programme Officer of Tuma Kavi in the Zogu area, Ms Vivian Awabu Sumani, mentioned during the presentation of the medical equipment.

She said her organisation had since then been collaborating with the CCFC to provide logistics to the clinic and also support health promotion activities in the Zogu area.

“We provide support for the immunisation of children against childhood illnesses and the provision of Vitamin A supplements. We also organise periodic de-worming exercises in the area,” she noted.

Officials of the District Health Directorate commended the CCFC and Tuma Kavi for extending support to the Zogu clinic, explaining that the cost of healthcare was too expensive for government alone to bear.

The programmes manager for the CCFC, Mr Paul Twene said the CCFC was working towards improving the welfare of children.

“But children do not leave in isolation, they live in families and communities. That is why we work to improve general living standards in communities by improving access to potable water, healthcare and quality education, as well enhance the capacity of families to make income,” he stated.

(This story was also published in the Daily Graphic of February 13, 2012, page 23)

LOUISVILLE COMMUNITY DONATES MEDICAL EQUIPMENT TO TTH

(Daily Graphic, Jan 24, 2012, page 19)

THE Chief Executive Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), Dr Ken Sagoe (second left) receiving medical equipment from the President of Sister-Cities of Tamale, Mr Mohammed Harun (blue smock).

The equipment included two ultrasound machines, beds, mattresses, anaesthetic equipment, theatre gear, kidney dialyses machines, laboratory equipments and other consumables.

The items were provided by the Louisville community in the United States (US) through the Sister-Cities of Tamale, a body that co-ordinates the affairs between Tamale and its sister cities.

Dr Sagoe said the donation had come at the right time, since the hospital was undergoing refurbishment.

“We need these equipment to facilitate quality healthcare delivery and teaching,” he stated, adding that sections such as surgery, orthopaedics and the wards would benefit a lot from these equipment.

MORE FEMALES ADMITTED TO HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN NR

(Daily Graphic, Jan 14, 2012, page 11)

NINE hundred and sixteen students, mainly females, were admitted to health training institutions in the Northern Region during the 2011/12 academic year to pursue various health related programmes.

Of the number, 153 were admitted to the Nurses and Midwifery Training School in Tamale, whiles 105 students were admitted to the Community Health Nurses Training School in Tamale.

The School of Hygiene, also in Tamale, admitted 100 students and the remaining 558 were admitted to Health Assistants Training Schools (HATS) situated in Damongo, Yendi, Nalerigu and Kpandai.

This came to light during the 3rd Joint Matriculation Ceremony of the seven health training institutions located in the Northern Region.

The function was held on the theme: “Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the role of the nurse and environmental health trainee.”

Delivering a statement on behalf of the principals of the seven training institutions, Mr Alfred Assibi, who is the Principal for School of Hygiene, said the training institutions were bedevilled with a number of challenges hindering the training process.

Key among these setbacks, he mentioned, are poor infrastructure, lack of accommodation facilities, limited teaching and learning materials and dwindling financial support from the government.

He also mentioned that the region had only a few clinical sites and this had resulted in a situation where these sites get congested when the students are sent on clinical practice.

Mr Assibi said when there is congestion, the teaching and learning process is hindered because the preceptors are unable to guide all the students and there is lack of space for free movement.

He also noted that apart from congestion, the clinical sites were also poorly equipped.

Mr Thomas Tawiah, who spoke on behalf of the Regional Director of Health, said the health directorate was concerned about the situation where some students refuse postings to rural health facilities.

He said this situation was regrettable, noting that it was in the rural areas that their services were more needed.

Mr Tawiah said there had been suggestions from some people that health trainees who go on clinical practice should be reshuffled regularly so that those in the cities would also go to the rural areas and vice versa.

He also noted that there was the need for health training institutions to introduce quality assurance and customer care into the school curriculum so as to churn out graduates who would approach their job with professionalism and treat clients with respect.

2000 CHILDREN BENEFIT FROM NUTRITION PROGRAMME

(Daily Graphic, Jan 7, 2012, page 15)

MORE THAN 2000 children selected from communities in the Yendi Municipality and Saboba District have benefitted from a health and nutrition intervention extended to them by two non-governmental organisations working in the Northern Region.

Each year, Tuma Kavi, a grassroots organisation, in partnership with the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), undertakes a health and nutrition assessment for children in its operational communities.

As part of this exercise, the children are screened for various ailments and provided with medications, including de-wormers.

This year’s exercise was carried out in seven schools located within deprived communities in the Yendi Municipality and the Saboba District.

The exercise was supported by the respective assemblies of these two areas as well as the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Speaking to the Daily Graphic during the exercise, the Program Officer for Tuma Kavi, Mr Joshua Salifu Mogre said many of the children were found with conditions such as ringworm, malnutrition and sores.

“Some of the conditions are caused by worms and this explains why we have chosen to always include a de-worming exercise,” he stated.

Mr Mogre further noted that aside the health screening, Tuma Kavi, with funding from the CCFC, had provided rainwater harvesting tanks and learning materials for the various schools in its operational areas.

“We have also constructed new classroom blocks and we are supporting the school feeding programmes in these schools,” he added.

He said over GH¢240,000 had so far been spent on implementing these projects in these beneficiary schools, adding that more of such interventions would be implemented during 2012.

Mr Mogre said Tuma Kavi had received assurances from the Country Director of the CCFC, Mrs Sanatu Nantogma, that the CCFC would remain a major partner in efforts aimed at improving upon the welfare of children in disadvantaged communities.

“We at Tuma Kavi also remain committed towards introducing more interventions that would bridge the gap between children in rural communities and their counterparts in urban areas,” he pledged.

HUNDREDS QUEUE TO USE TOILET IN KOBLIMAHAGU ...On World toilet day

(Daily Graphic, Nov 23, 2011, Page 19)

HUNDREDS of residents of Koblimahagu and its surroundings in the Tamale metropolis last Saturday formed long queues in their attempt to access the only toilet in the area, which was actually constructed to serve school children in a nearby school.

Children queue to use their school toilet in Koblimahagu

This symbolic act by the residents sought to bring the attention of duty bearers to the lack of sanitary facilities in the Koblimahagu vicinity, which has resulted in the practice of open defecation, a situation that has dire consequences on the health of the people.

Two non-governmental organisations, WaterAid and New Energy, partnered to organise the event in line with activities to mark the World Toilet Day, which is held annually to remind world leaders that millions of people still lack access to improved sanitary facilities.

Koblimahagu is one of Tamale’s suburbs located in the south of the city, about 2000 miles from the city centre. It is estimated that more than 5000 people live in the area.

Whiles some of the residents rely on a six-seat toilet facility constructed for an Islamic School in the area, others use a public toilet that is located close to Kukuo, a neighbouring community.

However, over 70 per cent of the residents resort to the use of bushes, uncompleted buildings and polythene bags when responding to nature’s call.

Aside from these, water facilities in the area are woefully deficient, access roads remain in a deplorable condition and there is no electricity in about 90 per cent of the community.

The assembly man for the Koblimahagu electoral area, Mr Iddrisu Mustapha told the Daily Graphic that the lack of sanitation facilities had been a major problem in the community.

He said he and other stakeholders had engaged the assembly on a number of occasions to address this issue, but nothing concrete has yet been realised.

Mr Iddrisu said apart from sanitation problems, Koblimahagu and its surroundings were in a myriad of problems, including the unavailability of electricity, lack of access roads and the lack of potable water.

“We contributed some money to buy pipelines and provided labour to help the Ghana Water Company Limited to lay these pipes, but it is still inadequate,” he stated.

He said the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (GWEP) had given indications it would further extend the pipelines by 200 metres.

In an interview, the Chief Executive Officer of New Energy, Mr Thomas Sayibu Imoro said the celebration of the World Toilet Day at Koblimahagu was aimed at drawing the attention of the assembly and other stakeholders to the sanitation challenges facing peri-urban and rural areas in the Tamale metropolis.

He however noted that although the focus was on toilets, New Energy with support from WaterAid, was advocating the provision of potable water facilities to communities that had no access to clean water.

He said this was part of the ‘Water works campaign’, which seeks to advocate increased and sustained financing for Water and Sanitation.

“Certainly, we cannot ensure sanitation and personal hygiene without water. The absence of water creates a sanitation mess, because there would not be water for hand-washing or for domestic use,” he stated.

NEW CASE OF YELLOW FEVER CONFIRMED IN NR

(Daily Graphic, Nov 23, 2011, Page 48)

HEALTH authorities in the Northern Region have confirmed a new case of yellow fever disease in parts of the region.

This follows laboratory findings that attributed the death of a 16 year-old boy from Dikatami in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district to a yellow fever infection.

Consequently, district and regional health facilities in the region have been put on high alert to identify and manage effectively any case of yellow fever.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Regional Director in Charge of Public Health, Dr Jacob Mahama said on August 20, this year, the boy reported at a clinic in the Sawla district of the Northern Region with complaints of fever, chills, vomiting and abdominal pains.

He said after examinations, he was referred to the Wa Hospital in the Upper West Region, where he died the next day.

“However, the blood sample of the patient was sent to Accra and later to Dakar, Senegal, in September this year where it was found to be positive for yellow fever,” he noted.

Dr Mahama said following the confirmation of the yellow fever case, a team from the Regional Health Directorate, comprising disease control officers, clinician, doctor, epidemiologists and health promotion officer, was dispatched to Sawla.

The team, he noted, undertook a search for other cases, by reviewing the records in all the facilities.

He said the team found no other case, but sensitised the health staff in the district and the community people on yellow fever, its symptoms and causes.

Dr Mahama said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended that there should be a reactive vaccination in various parts of the country to prevent the spread of the disease.

He said, in the Northern Region, the vaccination would take place in six districts that have been considered as high risk due to their proximity to Wa and Cote d’Ivoire, where there has been an outbreak of yellow fever.

The districts are the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, Bole, Central Gonja, West Gonja, East Gonja and West Mamprusi.

“We would be vaccinating children who are 10 years and above. We are not including those below, because the assumption is that this group of children was already vaccinated as part of the routine EPI,” Dr Mahama explained.

He said already the region had received the vaccines and had distributed them to the districts, pending the commencement of the vaccination exercise from 22nd to 28th November, 2011.

Yellow fever, as explained by Dr Mahama, is an acute viral fever with symptoms that include fever, chills, vomiting and jaundice.

It’s a disease prevalent in Tropical Africa and South America, because the Aedes mosquito which transmits this virus breeds in the tropics.

Twenty to thirty per cent of patients who suffer from severe yellow fever lose their lives.

The best ways to avoid yellow fever is through vaccination and by avoiding the bite of a mosquito.