Professor Kwadwo Djang- Forjour, Rector of the Sunyani Polytechnic, has reiterated the need for hygiene to be taught in schools to ensure quality health and clean environment.
He suggested that could be achieved with the institution of awards and prizes by the education authorities for the cleanest schools as a motivational factor to encourage the teaching, learning and best practices of hygiene.
Prof. Djang-Forjour was speaking at the opening of the 2012 annual performance review meeting of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Health Services, under the theme: "Accountability for Improvement of Health Outcomes" on Tuesday in Sunyani.
The three-day meeting is being attended by 230 participants including District Health Directors, members of District Health Management Teams, Hospital Management Teams and representatives of health training institutions in the region.
Others included members of Civil Society Organisations, Development Partners as well as some Directors from the headquarters of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ghana Health Service (GHS).
The Rector said issues of health had a direct relationship with the environmental situation of the country, citing that food vendors selling their stuffs along and closely on open gutters some of which were filled with faecal matters contributed to the poor health situation of the country.
Prof. Djang-Forjour catalogued other environmental challenges such as cattle drinking from gutters and streams and eating on dump sites, cases of malaria, elephantiasis and guinea worm confronting the country.
Mr, Eric Opoku, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, said in a speech read for him that some health personnel had negative attitudes towards their work and clients and therefore appealed to them to be human-centred in their dealings with patients.
He appealed to health personnel to accept postings to the deprived areas to cater for the health needs of the people while the government continued to make efforts to improve conditions of service and incentive packages for them.
Dr. Joseph Amankwaah, Deputy Director of Public Health, appealed to the participants to apply the management philosophy and principle of reliance on and managing with available resources in the face of dwindling financial resources. He therefore emphasized the use of local human resources (community volunteers) whilst exploring local means of financial resources for effective and efficient discharge of their duties and operations.
Dr. Timothy Letsa, Regional Director of Health Services, said the region introduced two new vaccines, Rota 2 and Pneumo 2 into the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to reduce the incidence of diarrhoea and pneumonia in children under five years.
He said the region also distributed and hung up 1.3 million pieces of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Bed Nets supplied by the National Malaria Control Programme with support from Department of Foreign and International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom and the UNICEF.
Dr. Letsa said the region's performance in the distribution of the nets was assessed to be the best nationwide and therefore praised the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), chiefs, opinion leaders and field volunteers for their support.