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Hypertension, stroke, and diabetes are recording disturbing figures in the Bono Region, Dr Kofi Amo Kodieh, the Bono Regional Director Health has said.
Additionally, he added that kidney and liver-related diseases had also soared, urging the people to be guarded and checked what they ate, and entreated them to avoid unhealthy lifestyles too.
Addressing the opening session of the 2024 Annual Performance Review Meeting of the Directorate in Sunyani, Dr Kodieh said the region's recorded cases of hypertension jumped from 15,020 in 2020 to 22,193 cases in 2024.
The two-day meeting is on the theme "expanding access to quality healthcare through collaboration: the impact of Network of Practice (NOP) on clinical and public health services."
It is being attended by health workers, traditional authorities, civil society organisations and other key stakeholders in the health sector.
By the end of 2024, Dr Kodieh said the region had 7,991 cases of diabetes, 652 cases of stroke and 469 cases of kidney and liver-related diseases.
The Regional Director expressed concern about the widespread use of agro-chemicals, contaminating food products and illegal mining activities, polluting water sources, saying that were partly contributing to the spread of the Non- Communicable Diseases.
Touching on the NoP introduced by the Ghana Health Service, Dr Kodieh said the region had launched 12 out of the 23 NoPs, assuring that all the NoPs would be launched by the end of 2025.
The NoP initiative reinforces the commitment of the GHS to identify innovative approaches to increase access to quality essential health care and population-based services for all and it in line with the strategic focus to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030.
Dr Kodieh said despite some success achieved, inadequate critical staff remained a huge challenge confronting the NoP implementation in the region.
He therefore underlined the need for the posting of more medical officers, Physician Assistants, Health Information Officers, as well as Dispensary and Laboratory Technicians and Pharmacists.
Dr Kodieh said lack of accommodation for health workers in rural communities also remained a daunting challenge, worrying that some landlords increase rent charges of health workers posted to serve in rural communities.
"The landlords do that basically because they are health workers," he lamented, calling on chiefs and queens to intervene and help reverse the trend in the supreme interest of the local communities.
