World Vision Ghana (WVG), a non-governmental organisation, has handed over a fully furnished Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS Compound) to the Tarikpaa community in the Savelugu municipality of the Northern Region.
The facility was initiated by the community with support from WVG, and will serve residents of the area and its surrounding communities. It will also help to curb high mortality rates as well as enhance quality healthcare delivery.
It is also to ease the stress of community members, especially women who travel long distances to seek medical services.
The handing over ceremony coincided with the closing ceremony for the Savelugu Area programme dubbed ‘Celebrating 24 years of transformation and development in Savelugu Municipality’, and was the last project to be executed in the area after 24 years of investments in critical sectors of selected communities in the Savelugu municipality and parts of Nanton district to contribute to residents’ improved well-being.
Municipal Director of Health, Dr. Mark Ayaaba Abugri – who received the keys to the facility, commended WVG and assured of putting the facility to good use to benefit the community.
The Municipal Chief Executive for Savelugu, Hajia Ayishetu Seidu, commended WVG for their tremendous contributions to infrastructure development in the municipality.
She reiterated government’s commitment to partnering the private sector to bring about development.
National Director of WVG, Laura Cristina Delvalle, highlighted that quality healthcare delivery has been a priority for her organisation.
“The Savelugu Area Programme has impacted over 152,398 beneficiaries; comprising 35,101 girls, 33,309 boys, 43,404 women and 40,874 men, with interventions in sectors such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), primary healthcare and nutrition, education, community and child-led advocacy, and child protection and sponsorship programming,” she added.
She stressed that since its inception WVG has invested approximately US$2,673,278 (GH¢37,425,392) to support the most vulnerable children and communities.
“Many children have been transformed through WVG’s interventions in safe water provision; and as of today, a total of 107 boreholes and 10 limited mechanised safe water systems have been provided – serving over 56,000 people directly and over 152,000 indirectly.
“Additionally, the provision of these safe water systems contributed strongly to improved sanitation and hygiene behaviour among children and families within the programme areas. This accounts for the reduction in prevalence of diarrhoea cases among children under age five from 28 percent in 2017 to 6.44 percent in 2022, and households using improved sanitation facilities moving from 26 percent in 2017 to 30.44 percent in 2022,” she said.
She noted that WVG also invested heavily in promoting primary health care and nutrition in the Savelugu-Nanton area programme, with a special focus on children under age five.
“Apart from the above, women within the communities have been financially and economically empowered to promote inclusiveness through saving for transformation interventions; a good example is the Bunglung community shea butter processing centre, which serves over 5,000 women in six communities,” she said.
