Child and maternal health emergency looms at Wli-Todzi

GNA feature by Sepenyo Dzokoto
Accra, June 25, GNA - Joana Essel is a Community Nurse. She is young and her station is Wli-Todzi, in Hohoe Municipality in the Volta Region.

The location of Wli-Todzi is a puzzle. On the undulating top of the mountain ranges stretching across Ghana into Togo.

That is where Miss Essel works as a nurse in a Community-Based Health Planning Service compound.

The enigma about Wli-Todzi is that, one could access the community only through Togo. It is about three hours from Leklebi-Kame in Ghana.

Miss Essel who came down to Likpe-Bakua to collect vaccines, told Ghana News Agency (GNA) that in the middle of the journey, at Kpeveta, she stopped to take a rest but was jostled by strange noises.

'I looked round and did not find anything. After a jiffy, the noises resounded. My eyes searched after the noise and found them. Big monkeys, peering at me, from tree tops on the hills.

'I tore away, as the primates raised their voices. Help came from two men, who did not appear worried,' she said.

Miss Essel said the two men told her, that the next time she is on the path and she sees the monkeys, she should take a stick long as a gun and point it at them, and they would vamoose.

The type of primates Miss Essel encountered was uncertain, but by her description it appeared they were Gorillas and she risked being rape or killed.

Kosikuma Hovi, Journalist and native of a down mountain community, around Wli-Todzi, said the primates could be some species of gorillas, but certainly not chimpanzees.

The story of Miss Essel highlights the pressing health issues at Wli-Todzi.

As a journalist on the prowl in the rural areas, I concede there could be many other areas in similar situations, perhaps worse.

Geographically where Wli-Todzi is placed is dainty, but it is home to child and maternal health emergencies.

The midwife there had retired many years ago and not replaced. Delivery is done by a sole traditional birth attendant (TBA). Normal delivery is normally down the mountain at Gbledi or Likpe-Bakua.

When there is an emergency, strong men carry the woman in labour or any very sick person for that matter, on a hammock. The hammock is the ambulance.

The carriers are a team of eight perhaps. Four at a time, two in front, one at each side, and the same numbers behind.

It is the same hammock that is used to carry a dead person down the mountain to board a vehicle for the mortuary.

There is no potable water Wli-Todzi and residents drink from rivers bodies such as Agumatsa which drops from the Wli- Water Falls.

Happily the community enjoys electricity, under a self-help project. Residents lifted the poles up the hills to make the project successful and to the Chief of the town; Togbe Agbenoto III, it was a feat, showing the self-help spirit of the people.

Dr Felix Doe, Municipal Directorate of Health told the GNA that he appreciates the challenges and is working within the limits of funds and other logistics to meet them.

He said so far Hope for Future Generations (HFFG) has come to the aid of the directorate by donating a motorbike, roofing sheets, bags of cement, tables and chairs.

Dr Doe is suggesting a 'Maternity Waiting Centre' for Wli-Todzi, where expectant women could camp and be monitored and ready for help. The nearest medical officer is at Hohoe.

He cited the case of pregnant nearing the time of giving birth with very low HB level that needed tracking.

'But it is very difficult to convince her to leave home, on the mountains at Wli-Todzi, down the hills, nearer help,' Dr Doe said.

'Those are the type of cases for my proposed maternity waiting centre. The gifts from HFFG, has come handy.'

Dr Doe said a shed, which community members are building would be completed and would facilitate the gathering of women and children to be seen by the nurses.

Cecilia Lodonu-Senoo, Executive Director of the NGO told the GNA that items were aimed at boosting the quality of child and maternal care and widening access in the mountain top communities, typified by sharp gradients and overcast by dense vegetation.

'Our interest is getting support to hard-to-reach areas and Wli-Todzi fits our policy well,' she stated, adding: 'The NGO is looking forward to give additional support to the community.'

Miss Essel is not alone in the mountainous community. Her colleagues are Mawunyo Sika Ametefe also a Community Health Nurse and Christopher Ninsaw, Enrolled Nurse.

The three look happy, but said they don't have a social life. The one room clinic has tattered rafters and the ceiling made with materials that are dropping.

'Here is where we treat patients,' Mr Ninsaw told the GNA, adding that the major cases receive are malaria, respiratory infections and cuts.

The three health workers say they are very apprehensive when they are offering services at Wli-Todzi.

Miss Essel, who had the encounter with the gorillas, with a wry smile confirmed she is panicky when she is being led to Wli-Todzi and for days she shed calabashes of tears,

'But I am happy now, working to help the under privileged,' she said.