USAID SUPPORTS IMMUNISATION CAMPAIGN (PAGE 32)

THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed $400,000 towards this year’s polio immunisation campaign at community health planning and services (CHPS) sites around the country.
The US Ambassador to Ghana, Donald G. Teitelbaum, joined volunteers at Fasin in the Western Region to administer the vaccine and help create awareness of the need to immunise children against polio.
He said the country was considered polio free until last year when a polio case was registered in northern Ghana, explaining that to confront that reality and ensure that the country was free from polio to save the future generation, the USAID had committed itself to its eradication.
Among other contributions to improve health in the country, he said, the USAID had provided technical assistance and financial support to establish and reinforce CHPS zones in 30 districts and provided motorbikes, bicycles, basic medical equipment and training for community health officers (CHOs) and health volunteers in 139 CHPS zones.
At Busua in the Ahanta West District, the Ambassador joined the chiefs and people at the community park where the community theatre group performed a play on the dangers of malaria and its prevention.
Mr Bob Hellyer, the Head of USAID, said it was very important to adopt proactive measures in the case of polio and malaria by communicating their prevention and effects to the people through drama.
"Community theatre is an important feature of USAID’s Ghana Sustainable Change Project (GSCP), and with support from district health directorates, we have developed and implemented communication campaigns on malaria, family planning, breastfeeding and complementary feeding at the community level," he said.
Mr Hellyer said the USAID had worked with the country’s health officials to develop and generalise the CHPS approach to bring basic health services to rural communities.
Ambassador Teitelbaum visited the CHPS compound at Fasin, where he observed health volunteers championing the use of insecticide-treated nets to prevent the spread of malaria.
The Ambassador also visited other sites supported by USAID in the Western Region, including the Agona Nkwanta Health Centre and the Dixcove Hospital.