A case is being made for the strengthening of the community-based health planning and services (CHPS) system in urban areas to improve the health outcomes of the urban poor.
According to Madam Selase Odopey, a researcher working on an urban health project, the poor can benefit from convenient and affordable basic health services through a well-equipped CHPS structure in urban areas.
This is due to the strategic positioning of these health structures which are closely linked to local communities.
She was speaking at a two-day media engagement training programme organized in Accra by the Community-led Responsive and Effective Urban Health (CHORUS) project, in collaboration with Women, Media, and Change (WOMEC).
The programme is a follow-up to a similar training in 2023 to engage media practitioners with the dual aim of building their capacity and cultivating a sustained interest in urban health systems and policy issues.
This year’s workshop was meant to deepen media engagement as well as equip journalists with relevant tools to effectively report on the challenges of urban health dwellers and their health issues, among others.
The CHORUS project is running for six years (2020- 2026) and is a multi-country research programme consortium.
It is focusing on building resilient urban health systems with funding from United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The project is undertaking research that responds to the practical challenges of delivering equitable health services in urban areas of four (4) partner countries: Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal and Nigeria.
Madam Odopey, who is the project coordinator in Ghana and a qualitative researcher, said the research is being carried out in four urban communities in the Greater Accra region, namely: Nima, Maamobi, Madina and Ashaiman.
Giving a brief overview of the project, she said the project is “linking communities, local government and health workers to support life cycle health promotion and preventive policies, programmes and services at the household and community level in urban poor neighbourhoods in Ghana.”
She touched on some findings made so far in the research and noted that in the four communities there was plurality of healthcare providers for clinical care as compared to the rural areas.
According to her, it was obvious during the research that majority of these urban dwellers prefer using the pharmacies as their first entry point to access health care for their health problems.
This trend is followed by the use of public health facilities, with CHPS being the lowest point of entry for seeking solutions for health issues among the urban dwellers.
She noted that CHPS is supposed to be the most affordable and convenient means of solving the health needs of the public at the community level for basic health care.
Madam Odopey said there is the need to drive uptake, ownership and sustainability of the CHPS services in these urban areas.
Adding that the redesigning of Urban CHPS would be very beneficial to the poor because apart from the basic health services it provides, it also largely focuses on preventive and promotive primary health care.
Madam Odopey however noted that the research in the four communities found out that there are worrying issues the CHPS concept in urban areas linked to various issues including the unavailability of basic tools to enable the health personnel working in local communities, such as the community health nurses, to work effectively.
The CHORUS project is being undertaken as an intervention research and this has made it possible for the project to donate some basic equipment to some community health nurses in some of the project areas to enable them provide basic services such as checking blood pressure and blood sugar levels, among other services.
The project is conducting the research to understand, explore and evaluate interventions to build resilience and respond to the health challenges of increasing rapid and uncontrolled urbanization across low and middle-income countries.
By Eunice Menka
The post Researcher calls for strengthening of urban-based basic health facilities appeared first on Ghana Business News.
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