Anomabo, Jan 25, GNA - The Mfantseman District Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Philip Abu, has directed sub-districts of the Directorate to budget for the quarterly meetings with community-based surveillance (CBS) volunteers and to ensure that people were selected from the communities and trained to handle petty health issues. Dr Abu noted that volunteers of the health service see their involvement in programmes such as meetings and in-service trainings as recognition of their services, which motivated them to do more. Volunteers must be motivated more than any other cadre of workers, he said.

The District Director who was addressing a refresher-training workshop for CBS at Anomabo commended the CBS for their contribution to health delivery in the district especially during the National Immunization days and gave the assurance that ID cards and an incentive package were being planned for them.

Mr. Francis Zuradam Saareson, District Disease Control Officer, said the course was to equip the CBS with skills to use simple case definitions to detect priority diseases, to recognise significant health events, to record in community registers simple cases and to report to the sub-districts on monthly basis.

They were also trained on how to report epidemic and some selected diseases and conditions immediately to the sub districts. Mr. Saareson said 167 CBS would benefit from the course being run for five centres, Anomabo, Saltpond, Dominase, Esseuhyia and Otuam.