During the period under review, the Assembly demonstrated good faith, in assisting the Health directorate to improve upon its service delivery.  The Assembly has been at the fore front of mobilization of vehicles for District Health Administration to carry out the National Immunization Days Campaign in the District. We have also provided funds for the upkeep of the Nutrition and Rehabilitation centre.

So far, the Assembly has paid ¢13.4 million for the haulage of supplementary food relief items for the Health Directorate to enable them distribute food to malnourish children in the district. We have also demonstrated serious concern for the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, by providing funds for the District HIV/AIDS committee to embark on aggressive educational and sensitization exercise in the district.

In addition, as part of measures to control malaria, the Environmental Health Unit of the Assembly is networking with the District Health Directorate to procure the necessary items with the 1% common fundspecially earmarked for that activity. The assembly are  proud to mention that, we have stretched our tentacles to include support for construction of the needed infrastructure in the health sector in order to improve Health care delivery in the district.

Last year, under the E.U. Micro projects program, the Assembly succeeded in fencing the Bulenga and Gurungu Health Centres. Under the same package, a Rural Clinic was constructed at DUCCIE. This year, 2 Rural Clinics and a Nurses Quarters are being constructed at Dabor, Domye and Duccie. I must state that, the Rural Clinic at Domye is constructed with the HIPC relief fund.

Touching on Mutual Health Organization, I wish to state that, we are in league with the Health Administration, playing effective facilitatory role to promote the establishment of Health insurance schemes in the communities. A District task team has been formed to educate and sensitize the people on the importance of Health insurance. So far, Funsi and Poyentanga are the only communities in the district where Health Insurance is being practiced to some extent.

Funsi has reached an advanced stage of the operationalisation of the Health Insurance scheme, as they have launched a constitution to that effect, and are just in the process of determining the premium to be paid by prospective beneficiaries. It is our hope that other communities will emulate the Funsi example so that, we will succeed in scraping the cash and carry system.

Structure of the District Health Services

The Health Services of the District are organized around a full-fledged District 60- bed Hospital at Abura Dunkwa where the District Health Management Team is also headquartered. The team is composed of the Physician, a Medical Assistant, two Nurses, one Nutritionist and one Accountant. Underpinning the Hospital are one Health Centre at Moree in the extreme south, one Mother-child -Health (MCH) Centre located at Abakrampa. Obviously, the spatial distribution and the number of static Health installations are unsatisfactory as the eastern and north-eastern part of the District does not have any clinic as in the case of the south-west and patients are known to seek medical care at Saltpond and Cape Coast.

Mainly because of the inadequacy of infrastructural facilities and nurses, a community-base 69 outreach so-called ’clinics" and 32 Traditional Birth Attendant outposts have been organized as strategic settlements which are visited by nursing teams from Headquarters on Wednesdays through Fridays as a regular outreach Health service delivery. In order to assure appropriate supervision, of these service delivery points.

The District has been divided into 3 sub-districts, namely, Moree with 17 service delivery points, Abakrampa sub-district, with 21 points and a very large sub-district, Abura Dunkwa with 31 service delivery points. Also as an integral component of this community-based outreach service delivery are 32 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) located in the Catchment Areas of the three sub-districts, 9 in Abakrampa Catchment Area, 12 in Moree and 11 in Abura Dunkwa Catchment Area.