Pearl Edinam Baah, Adaklu District Community-based Health Planning Service (CHPS) Coordinator has said empowering Community Health Management Teams (CHMTs) would strengthen the healthcare delivery and management systems at the local level for efficiency.

She said training sharpens the skills of all stakeholders and leads to better implementation for outcomes that are positive.

Madam Baah made these statements at a People for Health (P4H) organised workshop to train CHMTs on resource mobilization and advocacy at Adaklu-Goefe in the Adaklu District.

SEND GHANA leads a consortium of three organisations working on P4H’s five-year project - 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 organisational and institutional capacities of the government and other stakeholders, to attain mutual accountability in the formulation and implementation of policies in health, water, sanitation and nutrition.

Madam Baah said CHMTs are key players or liaison between the communities and its leadership and the health sector players.

She said ‘this will ensure that health systems work efficiently, and the community gains satisfaction from the mandate expected from CHMTs.”

She called on the CHMTs to be innovative in their responsibilities in the era of COVID-19 where many of the structures at the community and implementation levels are hampered.

Mr Richard Anani Adortse, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, People for Health (P4H) said resource mobilization and advocacy are critical components of efficiency in the implementation of the project, where CHMTs and Community Health Officers team up to deliver healthcare at the local level.

He said as the project comes to its lifespan in December, this year, it was imperative partners including the CHMTs and CHOs are brought to their roles and responsibilities for sustenance and efficiency after its deadline.

Mr Eben Carboo-Hartog, Field Officer, SEND Ghana said “We have started well and we want to end well,” noting that ending and maintaining sustainability of the project was as crucial to the partners as its beginning.