CHILD HEALTH PROMOTION WEEK LAUNCHED AT BIITENGE (MIRROR, PAGE 35)

From George Folley Quaye, Biintenge

The Wa East District Health Director, Mr Thompson Dumba, has stressed the need for parents and child care givers to be educated on the use of child health records to ensure a healthy growth and development of children.
Launching this year’s child health promotion week at Biitenge in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region, Mr Dumba noted that though the growth and well-being of children was the responsibility of all, it behoved parents to show more interest in the development of their children.
The celebration was on the theme: "Follow your child's growth- Use your child health records”.
Mr Dumba explained that “knowledge about the child health records would give parents and caretakers the opportunity to take the necessary actions to ensure the steady growth and development of their children.”
He appealed to health workers to “Use child health records more effectively to ensure the delivery of quality services to children”.
Mr Dumba described as unacceptable the high rate of under-five mortality of 120 deaths per 1000 live births in the Upper West Region and called for efforts to reduce it.
The Upper West Deputy Regional Health Director in charge of administration, Mr Edward Kaba, bemoaned the high maternal mortality rate of 213 per 100,000 live births in the region and attributed the situation to some negative cultural practices.
He pointed out that in some cultural settings, women were not allowed to deliver at health facilities leading to complications and death, adding that such pregnancy-related deaths could have been avoided if such complications were reported early to the health facilities.
Mr Kaba appealed to members of the Biitenge community to register with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHS), since it was an effective tool in poverty reduction.