In the quest to promote better maternal and child health in the country, the United States government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has donated items worth $5.7 million to the Ministry of Health.
The items, which consisted of treated mosquito nets, microscopes, rapid diagnostic test kits for malaria, maternal and child health guidelines and other health education materials, are intended to help with the prevention and control of malaria in the country.
Presenting the items, the US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Donald Teitelbaum, said the items were also to enhance the quality of basic healthcare service delivery, particularly in rural and under-served communities.
He said the partnership between the US government and Ghana included a strong focus on health, adding that USAID was working together with the ministry to reduce malaria-related deaths and illnesses.
“The presentation of these equipment and supplies represent a broader commitment on the part of the American people to help improve the health of the Ghanaian people,” he said.
Mr Teitelbaum said the US Government was also providing 955,000 insecticide-treated nets to be distributed among pregnant women and children under five in the Northern and Eastern regions.
He said young children and pregnant women represented the most vulnerable population in terms of malaria and it was important that they slept in ITNs every night.
Receiving the items, the Minister of Health, Mr Benjamin Kunbuor, said the US Government, through the USAID’s Maternal and Child Health Programme and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), had supported the government to improve maternal and child health and also implement a comprehensive strategy to prevent and control malaria.
He said over the past five years, USAID had supported the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to scale-up the implementation of the Community-based Health Planning and Services initiative in 30 priority districts in seven regions in the country.
Mr Kunbuor explained that the project aimed at strengthening the pre-service and in-service training of community health nurses to deliver basic healthcare services to rural and under-served communities and strengthen the use of data for planning and delivering healthcare services.
“I would like to assure your Excellency that this gesture will not be taken for granted but rather its deployment will be met with equal excitement and urgency to benefit the majority of the people of Ghana,” he said.
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