Tumu, Feb. 1, GNA - The Sissala East District Health Service has made improvement in childhood immunisation, recording 91.7 percent for Tuberculosis in 2008 as against 97.6 per cent in 2009. Measles was 90.3 per cent for 2008 as against 92.5 per cent for 2009 with 90 per cent as set targets for the year, Mr. Joseph Bolibie, Sissala East District Director of Health Services, has announced. He said polio coverage however stagnated and decreased from 90.4 per cent in 2008 to 88.2 per cent in 2009. Mr. Bolibie said this at the 2009 Annual Performance Review forum at Tumu the weekend.

He said malaria continued to be the leading cause of morbidity in hospitals and other health facilities, accounting for more than 40 per cent of all Out-Patient Department cases. The period under review saw a decrease in the number of malaria cases from 26,131 to 23,921 and attributed that to proper screening and case management with the use of the Rapid Diagnostic Test Kits among others. Supervised delivery services increased from 1401 in 2008 to 1727 in 2009 and there was also a reduction in the number of maternal deaths from three in 2008 to only two in 2009.

Mr. Bolibie said counselling and testing services were available in many of the health facilities in the area and urged health workers to encourage the people to go for free testing to know their HIV/AIDS status. He said the district recorded 68 HIV/AIDS cases in 2008 and 70 cases for 2009. Mr. Bolibie appealed to health workers in the district to share the best practices among the people to enable them to live healthy lives and contribute to the development of the communities. 01 Feb 10