A section of the public at the fair
Healthcare delivery has improved in 20 selected districts in four regions of the country after the deployment of a vibrant online platform.
The online platform, developed by Penpulsbytes with funding from SEND-Ghana’s People for Health Project, makes use of a dashboard built on the web-based app— ‘Kaku — to facilitate citizen’s access to health information, especially the patients’ charter and provide an avenue for citizens to report their experiences in accessing health.
Showcasing the findings of the project at a fair in Accra, Chief of Party, People for Health Project, SEND-West Africa, Siapha Kamar, explained that the project has positively impacted the lives of nearly 25,000 Ghanaians in the Northern, Eastern, Volta and Greater Accra Regions and created district citizens monitoring committees (DCMCS) to support the engagements of citizens and duty bearers.
“The project reconstituted and developed action plans for over 70 community health management committees (CHMCs) to support their various community-based health planning and services (CHPS) compounds geared towards improving service delivery in the communities.
In all, 200 pledges and commitments have been made by the CHMCs, including providing basic infrastructure for staff accommodation, urinal and toilet facilities, provision of water, furniture and carrying out community sensitisation to improve healthcare delivery,” he disclosed.
He further explained that the key output of the dashboard is the provision and facilitating of the sharing of information about the project’s five key areas like maternal and child health/ family planning, malaria, water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition and HIV/AIDS health service delivery at the district, regional and national levels.
“It is also to provide a seamless and anonymous, interface platform for reporting cases of stigmatisation and discrimination in receiving proper health care especially among the project’s key populations and people living with HIV/AIDS,” Mr. Kamar concluded.
The project, he believes, has empowered citizens, strengthened organisational and institutional capacities of government and civil society organisations for mutual accountability in the five selected health areas.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri