Gobulga (N/R) Aug 02, GNA - The health of children in the Mamprusi West District has improved remarkably over the past 30 years. Measles is a thing of the past, mothers are very much aware of health problems and what to do in order to prevent convulsion when the children have a fever.

They know how to prepare the weaning diet, Mrs. Dora Schnecbelis, a Swiss, said this after a one week evaluation of the welfare of women and children in five communities in the district.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Gobulga, near Walewale Mrs Schnecbelis, who was with her husband, Mr. Christian Schnecbelis, said they had done Primary Health care in the area in the late 1970s and were evaluating the health and social conditions in the area to see if there had been changes.

They said unlike the 1970s when health workers were not easily accessible to the rural people, community Health Nurses and Traditional birth Attendants (TBAs) now lived with the people. "With the women, we see that they talk freely in the presence of the men, whereas in the past, they stayed away in separate groups from the men if there were group discussions to be done", the Schnecbelis said.

They said women wee now more involved in income generating activities including dry season gardening and were contributing more financially to the upkeep of the family. Mr Schnecbelis, who used to promote Ecological farming in the area, said he was impressed to see that the people of Gobulga had stopped burning charcoal, which was their second source of income next to farming.

The chief had prohibited the community from cutting trees as their vegetation was getting depleted.

While the women were given loans by a non-governmental organisation to engage in small-scale businesses, the men were guided to adopt ecologically sound farming practices in order to protect the environment.