Sunyani (B/A), Sept. 27, GNA - A three-day training of trainers workshop aimed at equipping regional officers with the concept of collaboration between the Ghana Health Service and District Assemblies to ensure quality health service delivery opened in Sunyani, on Tuesday. Dr. George Bonsu, Acting Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Health Services, in a welcoming address, noted that the need to keep a healthy population was paramount to the realisation of the government's vision of the country attaining a middle-income status by the year 2015. He said even though the Ghana Health Service was one of the main implementers of health activities, collaboration between it and other sectors in the decentralization process, was one of its weakest objectives under the primary health system.

Dr. Bonsu called on the participants to make use of the GHS manual "Collaboration with District Assemblies for a Healthy Population; A Manual for District Workers", so they could be in a better position to educate people on the need to lead a healthy life.

Mr. Ignatius Baffuor Awuah, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, called for a multi-sectoral approach to ensure quality health service delivery at the grassroots level.

He appealed to the GHS to co-operate with the Ghana Water Company, Ghana Education Service and District Assemblies to improve the health status of the people.

The Deputy Regional Minister urged the participants to take the workshop seriously to enable them to impart the knowledge they had acquired positively on the lives of the people they serve. Alhaji Dr. Mohammed B. Ibrahim, National Programme Facilitator, called on the participants to ensure that the workshop achieved its objectives since it was the first of its kind in the region and a follow-up to one held in Accra.

Participants included District Coordinating Directors, District Health Service Directors and District Planning Officers.