Maternal mortality ratio also reduced from 420 per 100,000 live births in 2010 to 131 per 100,000 live births as of September 2016.

However, there were high records of teenage pregnancy, especially among school-going girls who recently wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), in the district at various stages of pregnancy.

The District Director of Health Services, Ms Elizabeth Corney, who disclosed this at the inauguration of a new public health unit completed at a cost of GH¢ 75,000 for the people of Nkroful and its environs, indicated that poor environmental sanitation still remained a great challenge in the district.

The unit was to provide key public health services such as general health screening for HIV, hepatitis, blood sugar level, tuberculosis, leprosy, family planning counselling and services, adolescent counselling and services and international vaccination.

The project, financed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembele, who is also the Minister of Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, with his share of the common fund, will also serve as a district vaccine storage cold room and office for the district disease control unit.

NGO support

Ms Corney disclosed that through the support of Eni Foundation and Prolink Organisation, both local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the district was always either leading, or among the best performing districts in the region so far as CHPS compounds were concerned.

The director, however, appealed to the government to fast-track the upgrading of the Anyinase Health Centre to a polyclinic status and the other at Nkroful to district hospitals as had been requested by the traditional authorities.

She said another challenge facing the health directorate was the lack of adequate medical staff at the various health facilities as well as the delay in the reimbursement of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) payments.

Ms Corney expressed her profound appreciation and gratitude to the MP for the area for providing funds towards the construction of the unit.

Regular body exercises

The petroleum minister appealed to the people to take very good care of themselves by engaging in regular body exercises, adding that the new unit would help store important drugs and other vital items which, hitherto, were sent to Takoradi for preservation.

Mr Buah noted that the renovation of the various health centres in the district by the government was to provide avenues for building the capacities of health personnel and also ensure the expansion of health services in the communities.

The District Chief Executive for Ellembele, Mr Daniel Eshun, noted that there was too much pressure on the health facility at Ekwe in respect of out-patient department (OPD) attendance, hence the need for the health centre at Nkroful to be upgraded to a district hospital to absorb part of the burden.

He also expressed concern about the posting of nurses to serve outside the district after completing their courses at the local training school, thereby leaving a shortfall of qualified nurses to provide health care at the local facilities.

Motorbikes/standing weighing scales

At the same function, 10 CHPS compounds were presented with weighing scales, while four others received motorbikes and Blood Pressure (BP) apparatus, donated by corporate bodies to facilitate their outreach health care.

The beneficiary communities of the weighing scales were Asanda, Azuleloanu, Nyamebekyere, Akropong, Ananekrom, Aidoo-Suazo, Asomase,  Atuabo, Basake and Kwasikrom.

The communities that benefited from the motorbikes and BP equipment donation were Akropong, Azulelaonu, Kwasikrom and Atuabo CHPS compounds.