The Savannah Regional Health Directorate conducted its half-year performance review meeting on Tuesday, August 16th, 2022, in the regional capital of Damongo. The meeting was held under the theme “Achieving Health Objectives Using Research and Evidence-Based Practice.”
In his welcome address, Dr. Chrysantus Kubio, the Regional Director of Health Services, explained that the theme was chosen because research could be used to identify gaps and innovations for improvement among stakeholders. The theme was set aside for the rest of the year to enable the focus on research and evidence-based practices to identify the root causes of underperformance or improvement in some of the strategic indicators.
Dr. Kubio also highlighted some significant developments that have had positive impacts on health delivery activities across the region in the past few months. These developments include the posting of 140 newly recruited personnel, the training of 16 regional and district staff on health research manuscript writing, and the training of 76 community health officers to increase CHPS functionality. Additionally, the region received equipment to improve hospital service delivery, among other things.
Regarding COVID-19, the regional health director announced that the region had achieved a 48% fully vaccinated status and that approximately 59% of the population had received at least one dose. The TB treatment rate also improved from 87% in 2021 to 96% in the first half of 2022, while adolescent pregnancy reduced from 14.3% to 13.4%, and institutional neonatal mortality rate reduced from 3.2% to 2.4% per 1,000 live births.
Dr. Kubio also discussed some of the major challenges faced by the region in health delivery, such as inadequate transport for service delivery and high costs of service delivery, particularly in hard-to-reach communities in East, Central, and North Gonja Districts. Responding to multiple public health emergencies with limited human and financial resources was also a significant challenge. However, he stated that the regional health directorate was collaborating with stakeholders to address these problems and improve health outcomes.
For the remaining half of the year, the regional health directorate will focus on promoting operational research and evidence-based practice for quality improvement (QI), ensuring the availability of appropriate data capture tools for all indicators, intensifying data validation and entry into DHIMS 2, ensuring equitable distribution of health professionals to achieve better outcomes, intensifying financial resource mobilization, and ensuring that BMCs adhere to IGF guidelines for income generation and sound financial management.
Dr. Kubio expressed gratitude to the staff of the regional health directorate for their hard work and commitment to their jobs, as well as to their partners, including WHO, UNICEF, JICA, CRS, GLOBAL COMMUNITIES, and USAID-IMPACT MALARIA, for their continuous support to the regional health directorate both technically and financially during the period under review.
