Photo: USAID/Ghana
Community health officer using radio system to communicate with colleague during door-to-door visit.
“The communication system is helping us to save lives. When there are problems with delivery, the CHOs call us and we dispatch a vehicle to convey the mother to the district health center.”
- Tei Djangmah, District Director of Health Services
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Initiative
To increase access to health care services, USAID supported the training of ten community health officers (CHOs) and their deployment in the remote parts of the Birim North district. Communities selected their own volunteers to be trained to assist the CHOs and to help mobilize community members to participate in health activities.
Traditional birth attendants (TBAs) were also trained to work closely with the CHOs to ensure safe delivery of babies. At the district level, the health management team comprised of the director and the sub-district heads of health centers, disease control, and nutrition acquired skills to effectively supervise and help improve the performance of the CHOs and the volunteers. USAID also installed a radio communication system to facilitate prompt referral of the sick.
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Public awareness is an integral part of the work conducted by these programs. Each province has a “commission” for sexual violence that is made up of local and international groups working with USAID and other organizations implementing complementary activities. They coordinate their activities to raise public awareness, and to design approaches to condemn on-going violence and prevent future violence.
Results
Health problems decreased dramatically in Birim North due to USAID’s efforts. Once known for the second highest number of Guinea worm cases among the region’s fifteen districts, Birim North registered zero cases in 2003. From 2001 - 2003, women seeking assistance of CHOs and TBAs in child delivery rose from 2,792 to 3,094, and no maternal deaths have occurred in the district since 2001. In complicated deliveries, the CHOs used the USAID-funded communication system to contact the health center at the district capital of New Abirem for assistance. The increased access to health care in Birim North has encouraged CHOs’ training institutions in the southern part of the country to send their students to the district for practical training in the CHPS program.
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