Dr Baffour Awuah, the Medical Director of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), has called for more support for community collaborative health research initiatives to assist address health challenges facing rural population. This he said, was the way to go to bring health care closer to the local people and urged the government and other partners in health care delivery to focus efforts on such interventions. Dr Awuah was speaking at the 10th anniversary review meeting of the Barekuma Community Collaborative Development Project (BCCDP) in Kumasi on Thursday. The BCCDP is a collaborative effort between the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) School of Medical Sciences (SMS), KATH, University of UTAH (UU), and the Atwima-Nwabiagya District Assembly, which involves carrying out community-based research activities and to use the outcomes to improve the health status of the people.

Through the project, a number of research activities had been conducted by students of the KNUST-SMS and UU on various health issues affecting child-bearing women, children and the larger adult population in the area and interventions put in place. The concentration was on worm infestation among children, adult hypertension, childhood vaccination and health promotion.

Other high points of the project include the construction of three Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds and school blocks in some of the communities in the study area. Dr Awuah said the success story of the BCCDP was a clear indication that the approach, given the needed push and support could transform health care services to people in rural and peripheral-urban communities.

The challenge is how to scale it up and to disseminate the lessons learnt in other parts of the country to improve healthcare delivery. He spoke of the determination of KATH to continue to commit resources to the project to build on its success.

Dr Alex Ofori of SMS said students, lecturers, doctors and other medical staff had benefited tremendously from it, adding that, the people in the Barekuma community had also seen huge improvement in their health, education and social life. The project, Dr Ofori said has been offering serene research location for the staff of the KNUST-SMS.

Dr Joseph Oduro, Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services in-charge of Public Health, said the project tied in with the services goal of improving access and quality of health care to the rural population. The project, was contributing to the achievement of the fourth and fifth goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), he added.

Professor Steve Alder, Team Leader from the UU, said the project was designed to change the health and living conditions of the people. Nana Asare Bediako, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Atwima-Nwabiagya, in an address read for him, said he was impressed by the joint efforts to upgrade health care in the country.

Dr Daniel Ansong, the Project Coordinator, said the review meeting was to find a way forward for integrating it into the district-wide health and development initiative and expand it to benefit more people in the area.