Mr Livingstone Dravie, Nkwanta North District CHPS Coordinator, has lauded the role of Community Health Management Committees’ (CHMCs) in health service delivery.
“CHMCs are major partners in health service delivery in our zones and what they do directly or indirectly affect the health outcomes. They also liaise with their communities and health service providers.”
He said the Committees mobilised community members and resources for health service delivery, including renovation of health facilities.
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Mr Dravie was speaking at a re-orientation workshop on resource mobilisation and advocacy for CHMCs from Azua, Tinjasi and Kambonwule communities in the Nkwanta North District.
He said the workshop was to help the Committees mobilise resources to support Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) implementation.
The Officer noted that CHMCs were key in health service delivery at the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) level.
They also supervise health volunteers that support Community Health Officers (CHOs) or the nurses at the various CHPS compounds.
He said one of the ways to mobilise resources at the community level was advocacy.
“If you don’t advocate, no one will hear of you and the support that you are expecting will not come.”
Mr Dravie advised the CHMCs to create separate committees to oversee the Community Emergency Transport Service (CETS) in their zones.
The CETS is a transport service managed by the community and readily available in health-related emergencies.
“That Committee must have a constitution on how to manage the transport service and how they effectively serve community members,” he said.
He said the Committees were critical in resolving misunderstandings between Community Health Officers (CHOs) and community members.
People for Health (P4H) organised the workshop for Community Health Management Committees in the Nkwanta North District at Kpassa as part of the project’s WASH activities for the year.
SEND GHANA leads three organisations working on P4H’s five-year project, including Penplusbytes and the Ghana News Agency.
The project is aimed at improving access to quality health service delivery in 20 districts from five regions, including the Greater Accra, Eastern, Northern, Volta and the Oti.
It seeks to strengthen the organisational and institutional capacities of government and other stakeholders to attain mutual accountability in the formulation and implementation of policies in health, water, sanitation and nutrition.
Mr Richard Anane Adortse, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for People for Health (P4H), said, “our aim is that the work we have been doing is sustainable when the project ends.”
He said strengthening the capacity of CHMCs was one of the ways to sustain the project.
The Officer commended the Committees for their volunteerism and urged them to continue.
Mr Eben Carboo-Hartog, Field Officer, SEND GHANA, said the workshop would enable the participants to follow up on action plans they drew on improving health service delivery in their communities and how they had effectively executed them.
He said the participants would also identify new issues on which they would draw action plans to improve health service delivery in their communities.
GNA
