Donor Agencies Invited to Upper East Region

Donor Agencies Invited
to Upper East Region
Ghanaian Times - March 1999

by James Addy

Bolgatanga, Ghana-- The Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, has appealed to donor agencies and non-governmental organizations to come to the aid of the region with the provision of logistics to help improve health delivery.

Alhaji Sulemana made the appeal when a media team from the United Nation's Population Fund (UNFPA) headquarters in New York, USA, Europe, and Ghana paid a courtesy call on him here.

The team had earlier inspected UNFPA assisted projects and programmes by the Ministry of Health and also the Rural Health Integrated (RHI), a local non-governmental organization providing reproductive health services in the Bongo and Bolga Districts of the region.

These included interactions with trained Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA's) at Sapeliga and Zebila and also income generation projects at Bongo-Goo.

Alhaji Sulemana said the Upper East had a problem with the spread of health facilities, noting that apart from Bolgatanga, Navrongo, Bawku and Sandema, most of the towns and villages lacked health facilities.

He commended the UNFPA through whose assistance the regional health directorate and also the RHI had been able to create awareness in a number of health issues especially reproductive health.

Dr. K. Odoi-Agyarko, Executive Director of the RHI said his outfit had been involving chiefs and opinion leaders in its family planning activities with the view to improving the quality of lives of the people.

He said the RHI had been organizing periodic workshops on HIV/AIDS for hair-dressers, barbers, manicurists and beauticians for them to maintain safe health practices.