By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi, Oct. 2, GNA – The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has urged journalists to use the Community Scorecard (CSC) to amplify community voices and promote accountability to improve the quality of healthcare delivery.
Dr Samuel K. Boakye-Boateng, Director of the Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the GHS, said the media had an important role to play as a bridge between communities, health managers, policymakers and the public.
He said responsible and evidence-based reporting could draw attention to persistent service delivery gaps, highlight improvements and sustain public interest in healthcare delivery.
Dr Boakye-Boateng made the call in a keynote address at a virtual engagement with journalists on the Community Scorecard Project in Ghana.
The CSC, developed in 2018 by the Ministry of Health and the GHS with support from the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), provides a structured platform for communities and health service providers to assess healthcare experiences and agree on practical actions for improvement.
“At its heart is a simple question: What do the people we serve think about the services we provide?” he said.
Dr Boakye-Boateng explained that while routine health information systems provided data on issues such as attendance, immunisation and antenatal care, the scorecard also captured clients’ experiences.
These included whether clients were treated with respect, waiting times were reasonable, medicines and diagnostic services were available, and health facilities were accessible, clean and safe.
At the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) level, he said, communities assessed services quarterly across nine indicators and developed Community Health Action Plans to address identified concerns.
The scores and action plans were recorded in the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2) and the Community Scorecard web platform to facilitate monitoring and follow-up.
Dr Boakye-Boateng said the value of the scorecard was not merely in the colour assigned to an indicator, but in the action taken after concerns had been identified.
“When an indicator is red or yellow, we should ask why, what can be addressed at facility level, what requires district or regional support, what needs national attention, who is responsible and when the agreed action will be completed,” he said.
He said communities had, in some instances, mobilised resources to improve infrastructure and waste management, while health teams had responded to concerns about access to services.
Dr Boakye-Boateng said the GHS was working to make community feedback a routine part of health service management rather than a stand-alone project.
He encouraged journalists to look beyond the colour assigned to an indicator and investigate the experiences of communities, explanations provided by health facilities, actions agreed upon and whether those actions resulted in improvements.
Dr Boakye-Boateng assured the media of the GHS’s commitment to engaging openly with journalists by providing information and clarification, sharing evidence, explaining challenges and reporting on progress.
Dr Charity Binka, Executive Director of the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN), said many journalists had been engaged on the project since 2024 to enhance its visibility and encourage community participation towards achieving the objectives of the scorecard.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga/Bertha Badu-Agyei/Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Mildred Siabi-Mensah