CHWs Module Under YEA/NYEP Should Be Sustained

Dr Patrick Aboagye, the Director at the Public Health Division of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has called on the Government to sustain the Community Health Workers (CHWs) Module under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).

This, he said, would make healthcare services more accessible to majority of the people in rural communities.

Dr Aboagye made the call at a ceremony to award certificates to 1,900 youth who worked under the CHWs Module and have successfully completed their two-year service with health facilities in the Ashanti Region.

The community health workers must be motivated and empowered through regular training to enable them to work harder to sustain the impact they had been making in the healthcare delivery system in the rural and underserved communities in the country.

He pointed out that the engagement of the community health workers under the (NYEP) had helped reduced maternal mortality, infant mortality, neonatal deaths and the spread of communicable diseases in health facilities as well as Community Based Health and Planning Services (CHPS) compounds in the Region.

Dr Aboagye said currently eight out of 10 pregnant women were accessing healthcare in the anti-natal clinics, adding that by 2030, under-five mortality rate would drop by 25 per cent in Ghana.

He attributed this to the successful implementation of the CHWs Model and called for early recruitment of the next batch to continue the good work of their predecessors.

Dr Prince Ewudzi Yeboah, the Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of Health in charge of Public Health, said the CHWs Module had helped improve healthcare delivery in the Region.

Dr Margaret Chebere, the Human Resource Director at the GHS, said the CHWs, recruited in 2016, had worked to bring healthcare services to the doorsteps of rural households.

Mr Christoper Arthur, the Director of NYEP, said more youth would be engaged to support public service delivery across the country.