Tamale, July 16, GNA – Some state and non-state actors from Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in three regions have deliberated on ways to raise resources at the district level to support epidemic preparedness financing.
The MMDAs included Tamale, Gushegu, Tatali-Sangule, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ga South and Akropong in the Northern, Greater Accra and Eastern Regions.
The day’s engagement session was organised in Tamale by SEND GHANA as part of its advocacy to influence the prioritisation of epidemic preparedness financing in the development of District Medium Term Development Plans (DMTDP) in the country.
It was in line with the Advocacy for Epidemic Preparedness Financing project being implemented by SEND GHANA in partnership with the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) in selected regions and districts to influence the prioritisation of budgetary allocation for epidemic preparedness financing in the country.
There is a need for plans and resources to tackle epidemics to safeguard the lives of the population, however, most MMDAs do not have the funds to support such issues, hence the engagement session.
Participants at the engagement session expressed the need for MMDAs to resource District Health Management Teams to enable them to carry out routine immunisation, surveillance and health promotion campaigns.
They argued that this would help to pick up diseases and health concerns and deal with them on time to prevent them from degenerating into epidemics.
Others also suggested that district health facilities that generated funds internally should be tasked to allocate some percentage of such funds to the MMDAs towards epidemic preparedness financing.
Dr Hilarious Abiwu, Deputy Director in-charge of Public Health at the Northern Regional Health Directorate, called on MMDAs to set up a fund for public health to draw resources from various local-level institutions and organisations, including development partners into the fund to address health concerns.
Mr Mumuni Mohammed, Northern Regional Programme Manager of SEND GHANA, called for a district-specific health emergency plan, saying this would encourage other development partners to lend their support towards it to address health concerns.
Mr Stephen Atasige, the Country Coordinator of GHAI, urged stakeholders to remind the government of the need to implement its campaign manifesto on health promotion to help improve funding for epidemics.
GNA