By Muniratu Akweley Issah
Accra, Aug. 25, GNA-The Ghana Health Service (GHS), has identified faith-based institutions as key partners in ensuring behavioural change communication and information in the implementation of their interventions.
Mrs Bridget Anim, the Deputy Director of Health Communication at the Health Promotion Division of the GHS, said religious leaders including Christian, Islamic and Traditional religions, were given the highest form of respect in society, hence utilising them in Social and Behaviour Change (SBC), was necessary in carrying out interventions.
She said the Service’s observation came out from research it conducted on Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in the country and presented at the USAID Breakthrough ACTION Project close-out event, in Accra.
Mrs. Anim explained that the USAID Breakthrough ACTION Project is a four-year programme, undertaken by the GHS to implement SBC interventions to enhance health behaviours, that had a direct bearing on disease prevention and improved health outcomes within communities and among the larger population.
It is also a USAID-funded project that supported risk communication and SBC communication, with the objective of strengthening country capacity for risk communication, and priority zoonotic diseases that were transferred from animals to human beings.
She said presenting the key interventions, achievements, challenges and recommendations, the GHS recognised the efforts of faith-based institutions in the implementation of their activities.
Mrs Anim said, “Leveraging the influence of faith-based institutions was the way to go, We are taking this seriously to ensure that in every intervention we carry out, we use our faith-based institutions.”
Frontline health workers were another key group identified by the GHS in engaging and disseminating information to communities, she said.
She said building the capacity and strengthening the knowledge of health workers was necessary to equip them to be able to communicate effectively with the communities to achieve the desired result.
Mrs. Anim disclosed that the GHS project reached 14.3 million people through 13 local languages on both radio, Television, and community engagement.
Mr Sylvester Segbeya, the Chief of the Party, Breakthrough ACTION Project, said it was necessary to provide information to the populace due to climate change, global warming, and urbanisation.
This would help the public to protect themselves and their families in the event of any disease outbreak or emergency, hence the importance of developing the project to support government institutions in their existing programmes.
Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director General of the GHS, acknowledged the significant contributions made by the USAID Breakthrough Action Project in the health sector.
He said the partnership with USAID and the Breakthrough ACTION Project had not only enabled the GHS to address existing health concerns but also positioned the service to respond proactively to emerging threats.
He said “The COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis of remarkable magnitude, tested our resilience and adaptability. Through the support of the USAID Breakthrough ACTION project, we strengthened risk communication systems by building the capacity of national and sub-national technical working groups to improve oversight for risk communication in public health emergencies.”
The Director General commended the USAID and the Breakthrough ACTION project for supporting the health promotion division in designing and deploying the COVID-19 misinformation dashboard, an innovative tool that provided a means to visualise, understand and address community concerns, myths and misconceptions related to emerging diseases.
GNA