CHPS Compound in Volta Region upgraded to model sites
A project to upgrade Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds into model sites for the effective training of community health nurses in the country has commenced in the Volta Region.
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The pilot programme was launched at Hodzo in the Ho Municipality where two CHPS compound at Hodzo and Akome were adopted by the Ho Community Health Nursing Training School and had been upgraded by an international non-governmental organisation, JHPIEGO, under the Maternal and Child Survival Programme (MCSP).
The two CHPS zones are under the Ho Community Health Nursing Training School, one of the 12 selected health training institutions for the programme.
The CHPS compounds would be upgraded and equipped by the organisation for intensive practical work to impart practical clinical knowledge to students through practicals at the CHPS compounds.
The Country Director of JHPIEGO, Ms Karen Caldwell, said with USAID grant, MCSP was supporting and strengthening pre-service education for midwives and community health nurses in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Health Training Institutions Secretariat (HTIS) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) of Ghana.
Under the programme, selected Community Health Nursing Training Schools were expected to adopt four CHPS compounds each in their vicinity to be upgraded by MCSP into model CHPS compounds.
Healthy population
The project, she said, was to improve health delivery system to create a healthy population for national development.
The Principal of the Ho Nurses Training College, Madam Josephine Ansu-Gyeabour, described the model CHPS compound project as “timely and appropriate as it would ensure high standard or excellent quality nursing care.”
CHPS, she noted, offered the best opportunity for more effective and efficient healthcare in the rural communities in Ghana, stressing that effective training of community health officers must be a priority area for quality healthcare in rural communities.
Thanking the NGO for the initiative, Madam Ansu-Gyeabour said the model sites would not only benefit people within the community but “women, newborns and children in the surrounding communities would also have equitable access to quality healthcare services to save lives”.
The Deputy Director of Clinical Services of the Volta Regional Health Directorate, Mr Robert Adatsi, observed that people from other countries visited Ghana to learn of the CHPS concept.
He noted that CHPS would only survive with the involvement of the community and, therefore, called on communities to “ensure safety and proper care of CHPS in your communities because it is to address your health needs.”
