The District has the following health facilities:

-    1 Government Hospital
-    4 Health Facilities
-    1 CHPS Zone

Priority Areas of intervention

1. Guinea Worm Disease Eradication
2. Increase Accessibility
3. Improvement in RCH Activities
4. Increase in Surveillance activities
5. Increase in Clinical Services
6. Improve Staffing Situation
7. Improvement in the poor Transport situation
8. Improve quality of care and efficiency

Human Resource    

Accountant                            -    2
Administrator                        -    1
Anaesthetist                         -    1
Medical Record Assistants      -    4
Staff Cook                           -    3
Kitchen Assistant                  -    2
Community Health Nurses     -    13
Pharmacy Technicians           -    2
Drivers                                -    3
Enrolled Nurses                    -    5
Senior Executive Officer        -    1
Field Technicians                 -    2
Laboratory Technicians        -    1
Labourers                          -    11
Mortuary Attendants            -    2
Medical Assistant                -    1
Medical Officer                   -    1
District Director                  -    1
Midwives                           -    4
Nurses                             -    5
DDNS                               -    1
PHN                                 -    1
Orderly                            -    8
Revenue Collector             -    1
Security (General)             -    8
Storekeepers                   -    2
Technical Officers             -    4
Tradesman                     -    2
Typist                             -    1
Health Aides                   -    11
Laundryman/Women       -    4

Factors leading to the high infant mortality rate

1.    Limited accessibility to health care
2.    Inadequate staff i.e. midwives
3.    Bad breastfeeding practices
4.    High malnutrition situation 

The rate of infant mortality with reference to the years under review is fluctuating.  This phenomenon occurs as a result of the three (3) cleans (clean cord, clean surface and clean hands) which are not being put into play during child delivery as well as the postnatal practices such as bad breastfeeding and weaning. The picture of maternal mortality in the District is not different from the infant mortality and this is attributed to the same factors as enumerated in the infant mortality above.  And below is a table illustrating the situation in the districts for the various years:

Even though, there is an increase in the number of malaria cases from 2002 to 2005, the sudden rise of malaria cases diagnosed from 2004 to 2005 is as a result of the take off of the hospital and the improvement in the staff situation.  Considering the malaria prevalence, the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCM) and UNICEF in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service embarked on the following interventions:

• Bed net distribution
• Use of SP (Sulphadoxine Pyremithamine) for pregnant women
• Intensive health promotion activities etc.

As a result of the above intervention, there has been a gradual declined in the number of cases reported in the district.

The  above depicts a sharp decline in the number of Guinea Worm cases in the district from 2002 to 2006.  This trend of case decline is due to the following interventions:

1. Establishment of case containment shelters
2. Distribution of filters and usage
3. Health Eradication and Promotional activities e.g. Film shows, Dramas, Durbars
4. Active Surveillance
5. Abating of Dams
6. Fencing of selected dams etc
7. Guards to protect water bodies
8. Guinea Worm Week Celebration
9. Provision of potable water in endemic communities

HIV/AIDS

The District has not reported any HIV/AIDS case in 2002 to 2004 due to the absence of diagnostic facilities in the district.  In 2005 the district recorded only (5) five cases from blood donors.  And in 2006, half year, a total of 325 people were screened from blood donors and pregnant women attending antenatal and people who came in for Voluntary Testing and Counseling and 87 tested positive. 

In 2002 the District did not meet its EPI target mainly due to the inaccessibility to most communities, inadequate staff and transportation constraints.  But as indicated on the table above, there has a remarkable increase of the coverage on the subsequent years which can be attributed to the:

• Mini mass campaigns
• Refurbishment of transport system
• Good timing for programmes
• Establishment of the CHPS centre at Juo

Nutrition

Malnutrition remains the single most important risk factor for all diseases and death.  Even though the district produces a variety of food crops its nutritional situation is quite alarming. A survey carried out with a sampled population of 604 children below 5 years, revealed that 35.5% of the number were malnourished for that matter a number of initiatives or intervention include those below were instituted to reduce the level of malnutrition in the district.

1. Promotion of exclusive breastfeeding
2. Promoting the consumption of iodised salt in all households
3. Institution of community base growth promoters
4. Formation of mother to mother support groups
5. Providing Vitamin A Supplementation for children 6 – 59 months and postpartum mothers 
6. Providing targeted Supplementary for children 0 – 5 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers
7. De-worming of children and IEC campaigns through out the district

However, the three underlying causes of malnutrition are:

• Insufficient household food security
• Insufficient health services and unhealthy environment 
• Poor care for women and children

Tuberculosis

Even though there are T.B. cases in the district it is difficult to identify and confirm cases as a result of the lack of basic equipment in the laboratory to conduct sputum microscopy on suspected cases.  Based on this, the district has put in place plans to equip laboratory, train staff to be able to identify cases and carry  out extensive sensitization in the entire district.