By Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Bolgatanga, March 22, GNA- Health professionals from the Talensi and Nabdam Districts, in the Upper East Region have been trained to upgrade their skills on quality and maternal health services, to improve health care delivery and curtail maternal deaths.
The training was on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Patients Charter and Quality of Care (QoC) standards and aimed at improving their skills in delivering improved quality and human rights-centred maternal health care services.
It was organised by the Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment Ghana (RISE-Ghana), a non-governmental organization in the upper East Region with support from the Star Ghana Foundation and funded by the Foreign Common Wealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The training formed part of a three-year project, dubbed, “Gender Rights and Empowerment programme” G-REP, led by the Star Ghana Foundation and aims at improving access to and financing for quality maternal health care services in the Talensi and Nabdam Districts of the Upper East Region.
Mr Awal Ahmed Kariama, the Executive Director of RISE- Ghana, speaking at the workshop, said human rights-centred maternal health care was an essential component of health service delivery and it was necessary for health workers to be supported to perform their duties as required.
He said apart from building the capacities of the health workers, the project also aimed at strengthening health systems by mobilizing support from the community level to engage the necessary duty bearers to address some of the essential needs which were lacking in most of the facilities.
According to him, water and emergency transport systems were some crucial needs of maternal health care but were lacking in most of the facilities in the districts and the organization was committed to engaging Mining Companies in the Districts as part of their corporate social responsibilities, to offer support in that regard.
“we are also concerned about the two privacy standards, thus auditory and visual privacy in terms of delivering, no third party should see a woman delivering or seeing you even examining her but you will all bear with me that majority of the health facilities in the Region cannot achieve that standard “, he stated.
Ms Jaw-haratu Amadu, the Head of programmes, RISE Ghana, reiterated the need for all persons to have access to the full range of quality health services they needed without financial hardship and encouraged the health workers to be committed to saving the vulnerable persons at the point of need, regardless of their financial status.
Ms Sedonia Adabugah, a facilitator of the workshop, urged the participants to make use of their skill to improve health delivery at their various work places.
The project since its inception has trained Facility Health committees, Health staff and media personnel on the Patients Health Charter and the use of Score Cards in the Region.
GNA