National Symposium on Health Concludes in Accra

Health News on Friday, June 14, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-06-14

Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, former director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), estimated that Ghana could not achieve the World Health Organization (WHO) targets for 2030 if national efforts to achieve universal health coverage were not intensified.

He added that Ghana's CSU performance was about 45 percent, which was not encouraging.

The former director of the GHS spoke at the end of a national symposium for health research dissemination (NHRDS), held in Accra on Thursday.

The WHO 2030 aims to urge countries to stop preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5, with the aim of reducing neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and less than 25 years of age to at least 25,000 live births.

Dr. Appiah-Denkyira said that one in ten over 40-year old Ghanaians was hypertensive and unconscious, a situation that could make it difficult to reduce one-third of premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment.

He stressed the need for the government to invest more funds in the health sector and to ensure that the policy of free maternal health works perfectly throughout the country, while all the functional services of Planning and Community Health Services (CHPS) are provided.

The symposium was co-hosted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Evaluate project in collaboration with the Research, Statistics and Information Management Directorate (RSIMD). ) of the Ministry of Health and the Division of Health Research and Development (RDD). of the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

The theme was "Accelerating Progress Towards Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 Through Research, Innovation and Partnerships".

At the end of the symposium, participants suggested that health workers focus more on reducing postpartum haemorrhage in pregnant women by improving the quality of care provided during the prenatal period.

They also urged health authorities to make effective use of information and communication technologies in the delivery of health care.

In addition, participants called for the formulation of local terms for noncommunicable diseases to raise awareness of the prevention and treatment of these diseases.

They said it was time for health professionals to translate all the findings of health research into practice and set clearer ways to better communicate with the public to improve health care .