By Solomon Gumah, GNA
Tamale, Oct 03, GNA – Selected health professionals have undergone training to improve the delivery of comprehensive family planning services at health facilities.
It was organised by Oxfam in Ghana, in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Ghana.
It was held in Tamale under the seven-year Power to Choose (P2C) Project and brought together 31 health professionals from eight health facilities across five regions to strengthen their knowledge, clinical skills and counselling approaches in family planning service delivery.
Funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the project seeks to promote the reproductive health-related human rights among young women and adolescent girls living in vulnerable conditions and facing marginalisation.
Mr Mohammed Mahamud, Acting Programme and Policy Influencing Lead, Oxfam in Ghana, speaking during the training in Tamale, said it was to equip health professionals with the competencies required to provide quality, inclusive, gender-responsive and client-centred family planning services.
He said the workshop sought to improve participants’ knowledge of contraceptive methods, clinical standards and best practices while strengthening their ability to offer accurate information and support clients to make informed and voluntary decisions about their reproductive health.
He said it also sought to improve counselling skills and address misconceptions, provider bias, stigma and other barriers that discouraged people particularly adolescents and young women from accessing family planning services.
He said the initiative placed particular emphasis on adolescent and youth-friendly services, ensuring that young people and other vulnerable groups received respectful, confidential and non-judgmental care when seeking reproductive health services.
Mr Mahamud said the training formed part of the broader efforts under the P2C Project to strengthen the capacity of eight supported health facilities to deliver responsive sexual and reproductive health services.
He said the project was also working to strengthen the knowledge, skills and attitudes of health workers and administrators to improve the quality-of-care including services relating to family planning, emergency obstetric and neonatal care, and responses to gender-based violence.
Reverend Rose Aduful, Lead Facilitator for the training, said it was an important opportunity for health professionals to acquire new knowledge, update existing skills and correct practices that might not conform to current standards.
She said the practical sessions covered the use of pelvic models for intrauterine device (IUD) insertion, loading and inserting IUDs, inserting and removing contraceptive implants, and managing side effects associated with contraceptive methods.
She said fear of side effects was among the factors contributing to unmet family planning needs making effective counselling and the provision of accurate information essential to helping clients make informed choices.
Reverend Aduful said equipping health professionals with the relevant clinical skills and counselling approaches would help them respond appropriately to clients’ concerns and improve the quality of family planning services.
Madam Ayishatu Abubakari, a Senior Midwifery Officer at the Kasoa Polyclinic in the Greater Accra Region and a participant, said the training had improved her knowledge and practical skills in family planning service delivery.
She said although health professionals received training in maternal and newborn care, continuous professional development was necessary because healthcare practices and service delivery requirements continued to evolve.
She said the training had exposed her to updated practices and enabled her to acquire practical skills in inserting contraceptive implants among others, which she said was valuable to her professional development.
Madam Abubakari appealed to the government and NGOs to organise more of such training for midwives and other family planning service providers to strengthen their capacity to deliver quality care.
GNA
Edited by Albert Futukpor/Kenneth Odeng Adade
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