Mr. Eric Nana Takyi, the Kadjebi District Director of Health Service, has called for intersectoral and community involvement in the delivery of quality healthcare.

He said improving maternal and child healthcare in the district should be a special focus.

The Director made the statement during the launch of the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH) five-year (2019-2023) Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Project at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.

KOFIH is a government agency under the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of South Korea, which has been partnering with the health sector in Ghana since 2013 with a focus on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH).

The MNCH project started in the then Volta Region in 2013 with its first phase of support ending in 2018.

The MNCH project seeks to promote community engagement and participation to improve uptake of basic health services in the beneficiary districts and ultimately improve maternal and child health indicators.

It also provides funding for the procurement of basic medical equipment, logistical support and improvement in health infrastructure to increase access to qualitative service delivery points.

The project enjoys oversight and strategic management support from the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and Oti and Volta Regional Health Directorates.

Nana Takyi said maternal and child health was an important public health issue to end preventable deaths among women, children and adolescents and to improve their health and well-being.

The District Director of Health expressed his appreciation to the Korean government and the Country Director of KOFIH project for adding Kadjebi as one of the beneficiary districts.

Ms Priscilla Amaning-Ampong, the Project Manager, KOFIH Ghana Office, said Kadjebi District was one of the control districts of the project until 2019 when a baseline survey was conducted to measure MNCH health care service utilisation.

She said the survey preliminary findings showed that mothers access the nearest health facility based on the availability of needed equipment and medicine, good patient-provider relationship and conducive environment.

She said based on these, KOFIH saw the need to support the District to improve on infrastructure, equipment, capacity building of staff and service delivery in the five Health Centres and thirty-six CHPS Compounds.

"Fortunately, Kadjebi joined the second phase which commenced from 2019 to 2023 KOFIH MNCH project and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the KOFIH and Ministry of Ghana," she added.

She said in 2019/2020 period the district was supported to familiarise itself with the project through workshops and learning visits to other project sites.

The Project Manager said in the 2021 planned budget, KOFIH would assist the District to expand the Kadjebi Health Centre Maternity ward to include a waiting area, office and washrooms, in addition to the completion of two family health sheds at Butabe and Konsuaso and the construction of a pavilion at Kadjebi Cocoa Market for family health outreach services.

She said her outfit would procure medical equipment, motorbikes and laptop computers for use under the project.

Ms Amaning-Ampong said KOFIH would also support the District to organise data validation, monthly ANC outreaches, EPI mop-ups, review meetings, durbars, among others.

She said these interventions, in Kadjebi and its surrounding districts, would be enhanced to reflect in the MNCH key performance indicators at the regional and national levels.

Mr Ayangba Damasus, Oti Deputy Director of Administration, Ghana Health Service, said KOFIH was at the forefront of supporting the region in the provision of quality healthcare to the people.

He said KOFIH supported the provision of infrastructure, medical equipment and capacity building for staff for quality health delivery.