Wednesday, 15th June, 2022

Page 8
The World Bank on
Friday June 10, 2022
approved financing
of $300 million for
Ghana. According to
the Bank, the funds would go to
support two programmes – $150
million for the Public Financial
Management (PFM) for Service
Delivery Programme and the
other half would support the
Primary Health Care Investment
Program to help Ghana improve
public resource mobilization and
accountability for better service
delivery and the quality and equity
of primary health care.
The Primary Health Care
Health
Investment Programme is co-financed
by $31 million in grants
by the Global Financing Facility
(GFF), including $16 million to
restore and protect essential
health services amid multiple
crises, including COVID-19, the
Bank indicated.
It explained that the Primary
Health Care Investment programme
will support Ghana’s
strategy for strengthening
primary health care at the
sub-district level and improving
the accessibility and quality of
essential health services. It will
also support networking of primary
health care services, and
DAILY ANALYST Wednesday, 15th June, 2022
World Bank approves
$300m for Ghana to improve
Primary Health Care
strengthen key management
and financing systems, closely
coordinated with the PFM
Programme, as well as support
improvements in coverage of
the National Health Insurance
Scheme, including for poor and
vulnerable groups, and in its
financing of primary health care
services, the Bank said.
The Bank stated further that
the PFM for Service Delivery
Programme will support the
government in improving public
resource mobilization, allowing
for increased fiscal space and
greater resource allocation for
public investment, and mitigation
of Ghana’s debt situation.
It will also support the
government’s programme in
improving resource allocation
consistent with government
priorities by managing subsidies
and transfers to state owned
enterprises towards improving
Cuban Medical Brigade holds free
health screening in North Tongu
Members of the
Cuban Medical
Brigade in Ghana
have provided
a free health
screening service to the people of
the North Tongu District in the
Volta region.
The exercise, which was held
within the Mepe community,
attracted hundreds of people,
who took the opportunity to
seek medical attention for their
various health problems.
The initiative was put
together through a collaboration
between the office of the
Member of Parliament (MP) for
the area and the Cuban Embassy
as part of efforts to promote
the health and wellbeing of the
people.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto
Ablakwa, the MP, commended
the high attendance and said
health was among top priorities
within the developmental needs
of a people.
He enumerated various
interventions he was
championing to promote good
health, which included major
facility upgrades at hospitals and
health centres across the district,
as well as free healthcare for the
aged and the vulnerable.
The MP promised that the
collaboration with stakeholders,
including the Cuban Embassy
and traditional leaders, would be
sustained towards the well-being
of all.
Mr Ablakwa, who chairs the
Committee of Ghana-Cuban
relations in Parliament, said
the work of the medical brigade
in the community would
strengthen the bonds of bilateral
relationships, noting “it is a
very powerful example of the
friendship between Ghana and
Cuba.”
Annette Chao Garcia, the
Cuban Ambassador, said the
passionate commitment of the
MP had attracted the attention of
her office as well as the support
of the medical brigade, adding
that the medical outreach, for
them, formed part of activities
to mark the anniversary of
Cuban revolutionary leader Che
Guevara.
Ghana currently has more
than 2,000 Cuban-trained
professionals supporting
technology, education and
health.
The Ambassador told the
Ghana News Agency of efforts
between the two countries
to increase the number of
professionals.
About 15 members of the
Medical Brigade supported the
programme, which was highly
patronised by the community
members, who benefited from
the screening, including Malaria,
consultation, and medication.
their performance, transparency,
disclosure, and accountability
through effective oversight.
“The two programmes
support important government
priorities in improving service
delivery and accountability and
are even more relevant as Ghana
begins recovering from the
COVID-19 context.
Supporting the Government
of Ghana to raise additional
budgetary resources, control
spending, and ensure that spending
efficiency is maximized for
health and education services,
as well as other sectors, will be
an invaluable for investment in
the human capital of Ghana’s
population,” said Pierre Laporte,
Mr Henry Asoma,
the Deputy
Director at the
La Dade-Kotopon
Municipal
Assembly, has called on
environmental officers to utilize
waste-management capacitybuilding
programmes to update
their skills on new trends in the
sector.
He said with the evolving
challenges in the sector, it is
pertinent that attention is paid
to best practices being done as
we target to achieve a zero-waste
situation in the Greater Accra
Region.
Mr Asoma was speaking at
a workshop organized by Green
Africa Youth Organization
(GAYO), in partnership with
La Dade-Kotopon Municipal
Assembly, SESA Recycling
Limited, and the Small Grants
Programme (SGP).
“As an assembly, our core
mandate is to ensure the total
development of the municipality,
especially sanitation and
general health. So, the training
for the environmental officers
is a way of equipping them
with what they need to know
while undertaking their duties
to safeguard the people of the
community.
“There are many programmes
by the Accra Metropolitan
Assembly to ensure a clean Accra
and I think this fits into that
objective, especially with the
‘Operation Clean Your Frontage’
programme,” he said.
He said the training would
also equip the environmental
officers with knowledge of the
legalities and bye-laws of zerowaste
so that they can punish
offenders who litter around the
communities so as to reach the
zero-waste target.
In an interview with the
Ghana News Agency, Madam
Betty Osei Bonsu, the Project
the World Bank Ghana Country
Director for Ghana, Liberia, and
Sierra Leone.
Monique Vledder, Head of
Secretariat The Global Fund,
commenting, said: “The Global
Financing Facility (GFF) is
proud to support the Government
of Ghana’s leadership and
commitment to strengthening
health systems while ensuring
access to essential health services,
especially for women and
children in the most vulnerable
communities. By enhancing the
quality of primary care services
in communities and promoting
sustainable financing, Ghana
can drive a more equitable and
resilient recovery.”
Workshop held for
environmental health officers
on waste management
Coordinator at GAYO, said the
training formed part of the Zero
Waste Accra project and the
Sustainable Plastic Management
project, which seek to build
the capacity of environmental
officers so as to enable them
to undertake their duties
efficiently.
She noted that said
environmental officers do face
challenges in undertaking their
duties because of the need to
refresh their minds on what is
expected of them on the field.
“This programme is geared
toward waste management
and we are looking to build the
capacity of communities to
effectively collect waste. This
can be achieved through our
environmental health officers,
who are mandated by law to
undertake such duties.
“By doing so, we are targeting
a zero-waste objective in
our communities, especially
limiting the waste that goes into
our drains and preventing the
flooding situation that has been
a perennial challenge in the
country,” she said.