Post MDGs’ discussion: health directors confab to look into role of chps


Patients waiting for services at a CHPS compound

The 2014 Annual General Conference of the District Directors of Health Services Group of Ghana is billed to look into the role of the country’s national primary health care policy?the Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS), in sustaining gains the country made over the years towards achievement of the MDGs.
Speaking in an interview in Bolgatanga, a member of the conference planning committee, Dr Thomas Mensah Afful who is also the Municipal Director of Health Services for Bolgatanga said with just a couple of months to the 2015 count down to the MDGs targets, there is no better time to give prominence to the post 2015 discussion rapidly gaining currency on global health agenda, a reason which informed the choice of the theme: “SUSTAINING THE GAINS OF MDGS 4, 5 & 6 BEYOND 2015 : THE ROLE OF CHPS” by the District Directors group’s for their 22nd annual conference.
Dr Afful said since the MDGs were adopted some 14 years ago, Ghana has since made some measurable gains from the tremendous efforts of national and international support, and as we approach the 2015 end line, the most important question could not be whether or not we have achieved the goals, but what can we do to sustain the gains made going beyond 2015? It is against this back ground according to him, that the District Directors of Health Services in Ghana want to use their annual meeting this year to look into how the CHPS policy could be positioned to prevent the gains made by the nation from dissipating.
Unpacking the program, Dr Afful noted the Honorable Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Agyemang Mensah and the Director General of the Ghana Health Service; Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira as the Special Guest of Honor and Key Speaker respectively at this year’s conference. He also disclosed that, a host of reputable experts in health and the related services will address the conference on a number of topical issues including: CHPS as a Policy to Achieve MDGs 4, 5 and 6: Dr Erasmus Agongo, Director, Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation of the GHS; Improving Maternal and Newborn Survival Beyond 2015, Dr John Koku Awoonor Williams, Regional Director of Health Services, Upper East Region; Decentralization and Achievement of the Health MDGs, Mr. Calistus Mahama, Head of Local Govt. Service; Health Financing and Capitation, Mr. Sylvester Mensah C.E.O, National Health Insurance Authority; The Contribution of Health Partners in Achieving Health MDGs, Health Development Partners: Clinical Supervision and Referral at the Sub-district: The way Forward, Dr S.A. Kaba, Director, Institutional Care, GHS Headquarters.
The conference scheduled for September, 3rd to 5th 2014 comes off at the ultra-modern Assembly Hall of the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School in the Upper East Region for the opening ceremony, whiles the main conference will be held at the In-Service Training and Conference Center of the Ghana Health Service, Upper East Region.
Commenting on preparation ahead of the next month’s meeting, Dr Afful indicated that the local organizing committee with support from the Regional Health Directorate is fervently putting finishing touches to the planning and promised participants’ one of the best conference experiences.