By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Abokobi( GAR), Oct. 29, GNA – Fifty selected Journalists from the 16 regions of Ghana have been trained on Ghana Health Service’s community scorecards in the CHPS system.
The integration of the scorecards into the CHPS is to ensure quality healthcare, accountability and responsiveness to the health needs of clients and ultimately drive the universal health coverage agenda.
The two-day training was organized by the Africa Media and Malaria Research Network, AMMREN, in partnership with the Ghana Health Service, (GHS,) and the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, (ALMA) with funding from Expertise France.
Dr Charity Binka, the Executive Secretary for AMMERN, reminded the Journalists of their crucial role in educating and raising awareness on the need for patients to have confidence in the healthcare systems and access it for their general good.
“If indeed the country must attain Universal Health Coverage, then it is necessary for both providers and receivers of health care to be sensitized,” Dr Binka added.
The Scorecard serves as data to inform actions by allowing members of a community to score health facilities on selected indicators.
Depending on a score, stakeholders are moved to drive action for improvement, redress or fix a situation identified using a local approach.
The Community Health Management Team, the Health Officers and the Volunteers thus have a critical role in generating real feelings on the ground to ensure that needs are properly addressed.
The scorecard is also a governance tool providing checks and balances that ensure accountability by primary healthcare facilities and the personnel there.
Dr Andrews Ayim, the Deputy Director of Policy at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), said the Community Scorecard initiative had been envisioned by the GHS, to be the game changer in health delivery at the very basic level of care.
The Card, developed since 2018 is a public-private partnership to scale up to cover 1800 CHPS and strengthen health systems.
Mr Divine Kwame Amanieh, the Deputy Chief Biostatistics Officer, Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, GHS, stated that the total functional CHPS zone as of March this year was 5,205 adding that bridging the gap required that CSOs played a critical role in helping to attain the Universal Coverage by 2030.
Some journalists the GNA spoke with expressed appreciation to AMMREN and partners for the opportunity to acquire additional knowledge to lift the bar on education with regards to health, CHPs and the Scorecard in their various media
GNA