The Coalition of NGOs in Health has launched a health – based project dubbed Strengthening and Building Capacity to Combat Skin Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in the Upper East Region.
The two year project is expected to be implemented in five districts in the Upper East Region by the Ghana coalition of NGOs in health in collaboration with the Development Research and Advocacy Centre (DRAC) in partnership with the Ghana Health Service. The project seeks to eradicate and eliminate skin NTDs as well as reduce their burden on both the affected people and the health systems.
The beneficiary districts include Talensi, Nabdam, Bongo, Binduri, and Builsa South districts in the Upper East Region.
Speaking at the Health Based Project launching ceremony in Bongo, the Director of Programmes at DRAC, Milton Aberinga, said the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Ghana have not been given the needed attention over the years.
According to Mr. Aberinga, the Upper East Region is struggling with leprosy, elephantiasis, and yaws due to many factors, which include limited finding, stigma, and cultural norms, among others, which he says is cause for concern, hence their intervention.
“Stigma associated with certain disease conditions tends to affect how people affected by diseases are accepted and supported in rural communities, especially where cultural practises are ingrained? Lifestyles. High levels of stigma associated with NTDs are endemic in some districts in the Upper East Region. This results in poor access to health services.”
“However, the right to health is a constitutional right, and Ghana has ratified several global level instruments and accords promoting the value of health and the right to health for all Ghanaians. It is therefore important that awareness of the right to access health services be increased for beneficiaries to begin to demand more from duty bearers for health.”
Mr. Aberinga further shared some of the objectives of the project in the selected districts. They include reducing deaths associated with skin NTDs through early detection, strengthening the health care system, especially at the primary health care level; toward integrating NTDs with other programmes. Advocacy for the inclusion of skin NTDs into the National Health Insurance Scheme.
The two years project is funded by the ANESVAD Foundation. Meanwhile, the Upper East Regional Focal Person for Leprosy, Eric Dakura told A1 News that cases of NTDs in the region are of great concern and should be of priority to stakeholders. He described Bongo, Tempane, Kassena-Nankana West, and the Kassena-Nankana Municipality as endemic for leprosy in the region.
Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|David Azure |Bongo|
