Attaining the MDGs through the Upper East model

Samuel Adadi Akapule

Bolgatanga, Sept. 21,  GNA - It was  historic when in September 2000,  189 countries, including 147 heads of state and governments,  met for the inauguration of the United Nations (UN) Millennium Declaration, dubbed: ' The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).'

This laudable initiative was crafted under the tutelage of Ghana's illustrious Son, Mr Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General.

     
The MDGs are to be achieved through partnership between the developed countries and the developing countries to create an environment - at the national and global levels, which is conducive to development and the elimination of poverty.  

The goals include 21 time bound targets and 60 indicators.

    
The eight MDGs are: Eradication of Extreme Hunger and Poverty, Achieving Universal Primary Education, Promoting Gender Equality and Empower of Women, Reducing Child Mortality, Improving Maternal Health, Combating HIV and AIDS, Malaria and other diseases, Ensuring Environmental Sustainability and Developing Global Partnership for Development.

    
The goals are expected to be met over a 15- year period, spanning 2000 to 2015.  

Achievement of the goals are hinged on core human values, investment in human capital, emancipation of women, reversing despoliation of the fragile environment, improving living standards and the quality of life for the majority poor, engender regional cooperation and collaboration among nations, eradication of diseases, and the achievement of high levels of literacy.

     
It is crucial to note that since Ghana begun the process, the MDGs have been mainstreamed into the country's successive medium term development plans. Ghana has so far made significant progress towards the attainment of some of the targets.

However the country is wobbling in achieving goal four and five due to the slow progress in improving child and maternal health.

   
From 1990 and 2011, the under-five mortality rate decreased by only 36 per cent. This was insufficient to meet MDG 4, which requires that a decrease of 66 per cent has to be achieved by 2015.

Under-five child mortality, reduced from 121 deaths in 1,000 births in 1990 to 78 deaths in 1,000 births in 2011. Maternal mortality also decreased by 40 per cent from 1990 and 2010, showing progress towards reaching MDG 5.

The fatalities reduced from 580 deaths in every 1,000,000 births in 1990 to 350 deaths in every 1,000,000 births in 2010.

However malnutrition remains a major obstacle.
The MDG 4 demands governments to reduce by two-thirds under-five mortality rate by 2015 and to achieve this goal, every country must cut under-five mortality to less than 50 deaths per 1,000 live births, but the ratio is currently above 70 per 1,000.

   
There is the need for Ghana to consolidate the gains chalked out, particularly in the area of the MDGs four and five. Comparatively, in terms of health performance indicators of the MDGs four and five and six, statistics show that among the 10 regions Upper East Region did better despite its meager resources.

Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, Minister of Health and Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira, Director- General of Ghana Health Service, lauded the efforts of the Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Koku-Awoonor-Williams and his team at the Annual General Conference of District Directors of Health held in Bolgatanga recently. 

     
The region has 13 districts, 90 sub-districts, 1,318 communities with a population of 1,097,692.

It has 302 health facilities, of which 206 representing 68 per cent are CHPS compounds.

Dr Awoonor-Williams told Ghana News Agency that five out of the 13 districts have a district hospital.

'CHPS, for us is an essential intervention that we continue to hold on to and guide religiously; it is a strategy to save lives in our remote and rural communities.

'CHPS has been introduced to make health care easily accessible to communities, a close to client strategy.

In this region, we have seen tremendous CHPS roll-out while at the same time the region is obviously the best performing region in the country in CHPS implementation.

' Functional CHPS zones have increased from 203 in 2013 to 212 in 2014 and we continue to recognise the tremendous support of municipal/district assemblies to CHPS roll out…We have posted 62 Midwives to CHPS zones while we distributed over 133 midwifery delivery kits and infant weighing scales to 133 CHPS zones,' he said.

Dr Awoonor-Williams said the key health indicators had seen positive trends over the past five years, adding: 'This is clearly referenced in both the 2011 and 2013 Ministry of Health Holistic Assessment Review report.

To address survival and emergency referral of mothers and newborns, he explained that 'motorking' ambulances were procured and deployed to Bongo and Builsa districts under a Regional Sustainable Emergency Referral Care Initiative in July last year.

Preliminary assessment had shown that the concept saved many lives both newborns and mothers.

'Our region is one of the best performing regions in terms of Preventive Mother to Child Transmission  performance indicators and indeed one of our districts, Bongo for three years running has 100 per cent Anti Retroviral Therapy client retention, the only district in Ghana to achieve this.

  
'Our Regional HIV prevalence rate dropped from 2.4 in 2010 to 1.7 in 2013. TB cure rate has improved over the years, from 83 per cent in 2011 to 87 per cent in 2012.

We also have best nurse-population ratio in Ghana, due to our prudent Human Resource Management practices. The region's many health initiatives largely explain our success story,' he said.

The Regional Director disclosed that building partnerships with local and community stakeholders was also key to the overall health improvement, while working with local collaborators and health development partners has also helped a lot.

The success story of Upper East Region is one of the best models Ghana should consider to meet the 2015 deadline of the MDGs since a 'stitch in time saves nine'.

 
A GNA Feature, Samuel Adadi Akapule