News Categories: Health

The Member of Parliament for Talensi, Daniel Dung Mahama, has donated medical equipment and consumables worth over GHC 300,000 to the Talensi District Health Directorate. The donation aims to improving healthcare delivery in the district.

The equipment includes an oxygen concentrator, wheelchairs, electric beds, and other medical consumables, benefiting all health centers and the district hospital. According to the MP these equipment will be used to provide quality healthcare services to the people of Talensi and beyond

The MP emphasized that the district hospital, being the referral center, should receive the largest share of the donated equipment, and hinted at future donations, saying “more will be coming” He said

Speaking at a short ceremony at the Talensi district hospital, Mr. Dung Mahama emphasized the importance of the equipment, citing his personal experience with his late mother, whose life was sustained with oxygen in a hospital in Accra.

“I procured the oxygen concentrator to save lives, especially in areas with no gas to refill cylinders,” he said. The MP tasks the beneficiary facilities to put the items into good use to justify his continuous support and similar donations.

The Talensi District Health Director, Madam Juliana Anam-Erima, the Health Director expressed gratitude to the MP for his support and generosity, highlighting the importance of the items.

According to her the equipment will improve healthcare delivery, particularly in emergency situations, and reduce referrals to other facilities. She advised healthcare staff to use the equipment responsibly, maintain them properly, and keep inventory to ensure their longevity.

The Talensi District Chief Executive John Millim Nabwomya, on behalf of the people of Talensi thanked the MP for the donation, describing it as “critical” in resolving healthcare challenges in the area.

Source: A1 Radio | 101.1 MHz | David Azure | Bolgatanga|

In spite of increasing global awareness and the importance of good menstrual hygiene, girls in rural communities continued to struggle for knowledge and methods of handling menstruation.

The socio-cultural barriers, such as the myths and stigma associated with menstruation, also served as challenges confronting girls in such communities, especially those in Northern Ghana.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS), as part of its awareness creation, and commitment to ending such barriers, has called on parents,  opinion leaders, and policymakers to ensure that women and girls have equitable access to safe menstrual hygiene products and knowledge on the best practices.

The organisation with the hashtag “#WeAreCommitted”,  has begun creating global awareness among individuals, organisations, and partners to publicly declare their commitment to ending the barriers where girls will no longer hold back of any kind because of menstruation by 2030.

Speaking to women and girls at the Gbeogo School for the Deaf in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region as part of promoting the cause,  the Head of Operations at the organisation, Wilfred Haruna, indicated that they will continue to increase awareness about the challenges and barriers regarding access to menstrual products, education, and menstrual-friendly sanitation facilities.

“CRS holds dear the welfare of girls and women due to the important roles they play in our lives and societies.  By this,  we are reminded of our great responsibility to make the call and lead in changing the status quo, beginning with parents at home, community leaders,  health personnel,  educationists, and policymakers to ensure women and girls have equitable access to safe menstrual hygiene, products, and knowledge on the best practices.”

He added that the commitment will also have to emphasise educating boys, men, and teachers at the school level to help break such negative social norms associated with menstruation.

“Our schools and homes must endeavour to promote education on menstrual hygiene among boys, men, teachers, and other professionals to help break such negatives. Aside that, the needed education on menstrual hygiene ought to be provided so that women and girls can feel confident and empowered to make informed decisions about how they can manage their menstruation.”

Catholic Relief Services is a nonprofit organisation that aims to improve food security and the quality of life of poor families in rural and semi-urban areas of Ghana.

It used the event to celebrate Menstrual Hygiene Day, which fell on Sunday, May 28, 2023. CRS gave out items to girls in some basic schools, orphanages, and individuals.

Various participants who were at the event also assured of their commitment to ending the negative barriers associated with menstruation in societies.

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Moses Apiah|Ghana

The District Chief Executive, Hon. Thomas Duanab Pearson Wuni, on 1st March, 2023 handed over two ambulances received by the Talensi District Assembly to the District Health Directorate and the District Ambulance Service.

In his remarks, he thanked the Northern Development Authority for this gesture to improve the health delivery system in the country. Hon. Thomas Pearson Duanab Wuni handed over the keys of the ambulances to the District Health Director and Ambulance Officer in the District. He urged them to take good care of the tricycles.

He used the opportunity to appeal to other road users to give way to them so that they could carry out their duties as expected.

Two districts in the Upper East Region, Talensi and Nabdam have been targeted for the implementation of a project to improve maternal and child health. The purpose of the project is also to improve access to and financing for quality maternal health care services in the two districts.

The 3-year project dubbed “Gender Rights and Empowerment Program (GREP) will be implemented in the districts by the Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment (RISE)-Ghana, a human-centred Civil Society Organisation based in the Upper East Region.

The project is being funded by the Foreign, Common Wealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom through the STAR-Ghana Foundation.

Awal Ahmed Kariama, Executive Director of RISE-Ghana, said the above districts in the region were carefully selected because “the maternal mortality ratio in the districts is quite higher than some of the neighbouring districts in the area”.

Mr. Awal lamented that the lack of infrastructure and poor maternal health financing in the two districts deprives many adolescent mothers and women in general of appropriate healthcare delivery which are some bottlenecks to achieving Universal Health coverage stipulated in goal 3.8 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Executive Director indicated that the project seeks to use the community scorecard, an initiative that engages communities to identify system gaps and provides an opportunity to close the gaps through communication and collaboration.

He said health facilities committees will be formed and trained for them to appropriately use the scorecard for district assemblies to incorporate the plans and proposals in their medium-term development plans.

“We are hoping that at least, by the end of the 3-year project, the level of quality services in terms of the ability of health workers to prevent infections at the facility levels will be improved. Because some of the health facilities will have water facilities and infrastructure included through proposals submitted for the Medium Term Development plan”

He was speaking during a day training on maternal health quality of care standards advocacy for media actors in the Upper East Region. Mr. Awal expressed optimism that the project will rope in the mining companies operating in the two districts to invest in maternal health as part of the companies corporate social responsibilities.

RISE-Ghana is implementing the project with a subtitled “Strengthening Health Committees and Citizens Groups to Champion Access to Quality Maternal Health in the Talensi and Nabdam Districts of the Upper East Region”.

Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Ghana

The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has supported 74 communities in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region to attain Open Defecation-Free status.

They have also called on other communities to emulate the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) to end the menace of open defecation in the region.

Head of programming at the Catholic Relief Services, Madam Carolyn Edlebect disclosed that 5.7 million Ghanaians were practising open defecation; a situation she bemoaned could have dire consequences on the country and the need to work assiduously to change the narrative.

‘’This year alone, CRS through close collaboration with the Talensi and West Mamprusi districts have facilitated a total of 106 communities to attain their ODF status with 74 communities in the Talensi District and 32 communities in the West Mamprusi District,” she said.

She said the CLTS initiative was aimed that ‘’leaving no one behind’’ in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030.

The three-year integrated Community Water, Sanitation and Hygiene improvement project (COWASH) and the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) projects seek to improve the health and wellbeing of 152,300 school children and adults in the two districts.

Madam Carolyn Edlebect said the initiative is also geared towards hygiene promotion and behavior change communication strategies on handwashing, safe water storage, food hygiene, and menstrual hygiene management.

She added that the project has enhanced and improved access to water and sanitation in the communities of both districts.

She stated: “The project will also construct 173 new gender-sensitive and disability-friendly latrines, and renovate 68 existing latrines, in 148 schools and 31 health care facilities to ensure that children have access to improved WASH facilities at schools and that health care seekers also have access to ready water to improved WASH services. 85 boreholes with hand pumps are being provided to communities, schools and health facilities in the two districts.”

The ODF initiative is funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust with a US$6.4 million project being implemented by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in conjunction with the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

The Talensi District Chief Executive, Christopher Boatbil commended CRS for their efforts in getting the beneficiary communities to being open defecation-free, adding that the government was also on course to ending the menace of open defecation in the district.

He said the assembly has constructed six 10-seater water closet facilities in the district as part of efforts to ending the menace.

“We have constructed 10-seater at the Tongo market, 5-seater toilets at Buugu and Gorogo primary schools and through the community water and sanitation agency, has provided toilet facilities for eight communities within the district to improve sanitation and hygiene situation in the district,” he noted.

Source: Frederick Awuni/citinewsroom.com/Ghana

The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Talensi in the Upper East Region, Dr. Christopher Sormiteyema Boatbil has vowed to protect funds belonging to Persons with Disability (PWD’s) in his district.

Dr. Boatbil made the pronouncement in town’s district assembly hall on Friday, during the disbursements of Sixty three Thousand, Four hundred and seventy five Ghana cedis (Ghc 63,475.00) to 57 persons with from across the Talensi district.

In a speech to beneficiaries and leaders of persons with disability present at the disbursement programme, Dr. Boatbil stressed that there will be no room for able persons to take advantage of those with disability, a move which will go against the fund’s objective of  improving the livelihood of persons with disability.

Let me emphasize here, that any able person or persons who want to take undue advantage to benefit from the disabled fund will not go unpunished. We as an assembly, this time round, will also through your executive take key interest in ensuring that the money we are to distribute to you today and in the future is appropriately utilized.

He further indicated, the care the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President Akuffo Addo have for persons with disability is the reason for the increased in percentage of the fund from 2 to 3 percent in 2017.

He admonished beneficiaries to use the fund in a better venture.

Meanwhile, the Talensi district President for Persons With Disability, Na-Oni Solomon Baziembil expressed his excitement with some of the new developments seen in PWD’s common fund in recent times.

According Solomon, politicians and their colleagues have taken advantage of them in the past years. He prayed it does not happen with the opening of a separate account specifically for the PWD fund.

He advised his colleague beneficiaries not to spend their monies on pito or engage in some other useless ventures. He advised that monies should be used for profitable businesses which will bring the needed change for a better life.

Mr. David Ania, Regional president of the Ghana Federation of the Disability (GFD) who was present to witness the disbursement, also added his words of advice to beneficiaries.

Use the money according to the purpose in which you asked the money for, if you take the money today and next week and the committee come to you and you told them you use it for your child sickness or medication, that one is not our business, we will not take it. The agreement we are having with you today, is that you want to set up a business and we want to come and see that business in your house or where ever the location is, because we will not entertain excuses and when you misused the fund, we will have no other option than to report you to the police.

He warned that any beneficiary who misuses the assistance will not have the opportunity of benefiting from it till infinity.

Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen|A1radioonline.com|Ghana