Vulnerability Analysis

Vulnerability is the degree of exposure to risks. Vulnerability analysis is therefore a tool for determining which segments of society are exposed to risk factors. It helps in policy formulation to address challenges and problems of these vulnerable groups which invariably include women, children, the aged, the poor, people living with disabilities (PLWDAs) and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIVs) and orphans.

The vulnerability factors in the district include shocks (high cost of petroleum products, high cost of inputs, high lending rates) resulting from government policy, perennial bushfires, drought, postharvest losses, deforestation, vagaries of the weather and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Programmes/Projects to Support the Vulnerable

There are a number of programmes and projects that have been designed to assist vulnerable groups in the district. These include the district rehabilitation centre, support to the district association of the Physically Challenged, support packages under the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty Program, and Scholarship programs.
 

The District Rehabilitation Centre

There is a Rehabilitation Centre at Nkenkaasu which offers training for the physically challenged in employable skills such as shoemaking, dressmaking and carpentry. The Assembly is currently constructing a dormitory block for the centre.

Support to the District Association of the Physically Challenged

The Assembly has offered financial support to the District association of the Physically Challenged for running its programs and activities. It has also started the construction of a dormitory block for the Physically Challenged School at Nkenkaasu which is near completion.

Community Support Packages under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Program

LEAP is a cash transfer program for the poorest households in Ghana. The Offinso North District Assembly, through the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development provide community support packages under the LEAP Program to thirteen (13) communities in the district. These communities are Asempaneye, Nkwankwaa, Biemuso, Apenteng, Bobra, Akrofoa, Dwendabi, Papasisi, Grumaline, Konkon, Kyeredagya, Sarfokrom and Nsenoa. There are Two Hundred and Twenty- Nine (229) beneficiaries of the LEAP Program in the district. There are also four payment centers which are Asempaneye, Apenteng, Amponsakrom and Konkon. The objectives of the program are to;

• assist the poorest families with basic needs, including food,

• improve health and education status of children in the poorest families,

• Help the poorest families come out of their poverty situation.

A household qualifies to benefit from the LEAP program if the it has orphans and vulnerable children, the Aged (65 years and above), and severely disabled people who cannot work.

Scholarship Program

The district since its inception has offered financial support to 22 briliant but needy students at both basic and secondary levels of education.

Civic and Child Responsibilities

The Children’s ACT, 1998 (ACT 560), stipulates children’s rights to education and well-being, opinion, protection from exploitative labor, protection from torture and degrading treatment in Sub-Part I, section 8, 11, 12 and 13 respectively as enshrined in the Act.

Parental duty and responsibility as enshrined in the Children’s Act, (Act 560), Sub-Part I, Section 6, Sub-Section 2 stipulates that “Every child has the right to life, dignity, respect, leisure, liberty, health, education and shelter from his parents”.

Towns and villages in Offinso-North District are mainly farming towns and villages. Most of the natives depend on proceeds from farming to cater for themselves and their families.

In 2016, the Department of Social Welfare undertook public education on the rights of the child in 27communities. It also visited two (2) Early Childhood Development Centers and further handled six (6) maintenance cases. There are indications that parental neglect is high in the district.

The factors responsible for these child maintenance cases are as follows;

• First, most of the relationships are out of wedlock or not under the three main legitimate marriage ordinances in Ghana. The fathers refuse to fulfill their duty as such because they think they are not bound by law to do so to their wards.

• Divorce is one reason why parents fail to maintain their child. One party fails to maintain their children when the children are in the custody of the other party. Parental duty and responsibility is not clearly spelt out in moments of divorce.

• Again, residents in Offinso-North District are mostly farmers. They depend on monies accrued from farm produce to make a living. This affects their ability to maintain their children accordingly as expected.

• Moreover, most of the couples are immature as mothers and fathers. They have not developed the skills, experience and exposure to act as mothers and fathers, thereby, preventing them to maintain their children properly.

• Last, but not the least, residents and parents in Offinso North District are ignorant of the duty and responsibility of parents and guardians to their wards as enshrined in the Children’s Act. This is due to inadequate education and awareness on the parental duty and responsibility to a child as enshrined in the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560).

In view of these adverse factors affecting welfare of Children in the District of their rights to proper maintenance and parental duty and protection, the Department of Social Welfare has started education and awareness creation on Child Rights and Parental Duty and Responsibility in some communities and hopes to extend to other communities to benefit accordingly.

GENDER

Gender analysis refers to the relationship between the male and female sexes and how this relationship affects their rights, responsibilities, opportunities, power relations, access and control of resources as well as decision-making.

These existing social protection programs and projects are aimed at reducing vulnerability to the barest minimum if not eradicated. The import is that these interventions would reduce the vulnerability factors and also provide safety nets to poor, women and children and the socially excluded. This would ensure that no segments of the society are left behind in terms of development

It also means that infrastructural development should take into consideration designs that are friendly to the vulnerable especially the physically challenged.

It further requires that in the face of extreme deprivation in the district, more pro-poor programs for especially among the rural population aimed at ensuring equity [ access to quality healthcare, quality education, good roads, micro-finance, improved technology, inputs storage and marketing should be embarked upon).

Implications for Development

These existing social protection programs and projects are aimed at reducing vulnerability to the barest minimum if not eradicated. The import is that these interventions would reduce the vulnerability factors and also provide safety nets to poor, women and children and the socially excluded. This would ensure that no segments of the society are left behind in terms of development

It also means that infrastructural development should take into consideration designs that are friendly to the vulnerable especially the physically challenged.

It further requires that in the face of extreme deprivation in the district, more pro-poor programs for especially among the rural population aimed at ensuring equity (access to quality healthcare, quality education, good roads, micro-finance, improved technology, inputs storage and marketing should be embarked upon).

HIV/AIDS

The district has a Multi-Sectoral HIV/AIDS Project (MSHAP). The project is responsible to educate, sensitize and report on HIV/AIDS situation in the district. The MSHAP project is made up of the District Planning Officer who is the Desk Officer of the project, the District Director of Health, the District HIV coordinator, and the Gender Desk Officer. The team prepares an MSHAP Plan which is a blueprint for the decentralized response to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the district. The district receives support from the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) to carry out all MSHAP activities in the MSHAP plan. In addition to the support from GAC, the Assembly also contributes 0.5 % of its share of the Common Fund to the MSHAP Account. Beside other benefits, the MSHAP has provided a number of supports to PLHIV Association in the district (Life Assurance Association).

Knowledge of HIV/AIDS is high, except that it has not been translated into positive Behavioral change. High risk sexual behavior still remains high with low condom use and multiple sexual partners. Indeed  there is a big gap between knowledge on HIV/AIDS and its effects and the people’s readiness to change their negative lifestyles.

Behavioral change takes a long time to effect. It is a difficult and a gradual process achieved through vigorous and a sustained education over a long period of time. In pursuit of effecting a positive behavioral change therefore, the DAC, NGOs and CBOs are currently working in the district on HIV/AIDS in collaboration with GHS.

Between year 2015 and 2016, HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in the district. Data gathered from the District Directorate of Health gives the situation of disease in the district as indicated in table 34. These figures have been obtained through PMTCT, CT and during “Know Your Status Campaigns”. The district has no sentinel survey centre. Stigma is also quite high. The implication for development is very disturbing as the human resource which is the most critical stands the risk of being wiped out. The human being is the object of development and must be protected at all cost. This therefore calls for intensified and concerted effort by all stakeholders in the provision of education through regular durbars to demystify the condition. Awareness creation should be carried out amongst herbalists, bone setters and spiritualists on the disease.

Source: District Directorate of Health, 2016

The following are some of the activities carried out in the fight against the disease in the district;

• Know Your Status Campaign

• Counseling and Testing

• Prevention from Mother to Child Transmission

• Screening of Blood Donors Opportunistic Infections and STIs

Mostly there is co-infection of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. All patients tested for tuberculosis are tested for HIV/AIDS and vice versa. The following are other opportunistic infections from HIV/AIDS apart from tuberculosis;

1. Herpes Zooster

2. STIs

3. Acute Respiratory Tract Infections

4. Diarrhea

The following are the STI cases reported in the district;

1. Gonorrhea

2. Syphilis

3. Hepatitis B

Although the district is new there is an effective disease surveillance system on the ground to capture these diseases.

Characteristics of vulnerable population subgroups, particularly   children, orphans    made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS

The population subgroups in the district vulnerable to HIV/AIDS are women (including girls who are sexually active). The most vulnerable women are between the ages of 25-29. The predisposing factors are poverty, illiteracy, lack of parental care and control. Women are also more vulnerable than their men counterparts because of the nature of their genitals.

Most parents who die as a result of HIV/AIDS often have their children infected. However, as a result of stigmatization such children are not taken for testing.

High Risk and Transmission Areas

Based on the “Know Your Status Campaign” carried out in 2009, the Sraneso Zone has been classified as the highest risk area for HIV/AIDS infection.

Malaria Control

Malaria continues to be the highest cause of morbidity and mortality in the district.  In 2009 malaria cases at the OPD level stood at 26,391.  Table 36 outlines the trend of admissions and deaths from 2012.

Source: District Health Directorate, 2013

Whereas the admission cases dropped from 1,362 in 2012 to 1,078 in 2013, the number of deaths increased from 18 in 2012 to 28 in 2013.  This rise in the number of deaths was due to patients having to wait at home until their conditions got out of hand.

The strategies adopted in the control of the disease include;

• Intermittent Preventive Treatment(IPT)

This strategy is aimed at preventing pregnant women from being infected by malaria.    Sulphadoxine Pyrimethime is administered to pregnant mothers who have passed their first trimester (quickening). All pregnant women are supposed to administer it three times in a month interval before delivery ie; IPT1, IPT2 and IPT3.

• Insecticide Treated Bed Nets(ITN)

The Ghana Health Service sells subsidized treated mosquito bed nets to all pregnant women and mothers/guardians with children less than five (5) years of age.

• Education

Advocacy, communication and social mobilization are carried out in all communities within the district during outreach child welfare clinics. With the support from “Mobilize Against Malaria and Tim Africa Aid Ghana (an NGO)” some community-based volunteers have been selected to be trained to educate the general populace on malaria.

Climate Change

The phenomenon of climate change is realized in the district for some time now which has affected planting seasons and crop yield. It has also affected income levels of farmers and thus contributing to poverty levels in the district. The cause of climate change in the district is as a result of perennial bushfires, the slash and burn method of farming, illegal lumbering and deforestation which have led to;

1. Irregular rainfall pattern

2. Excessive Heat

3. Emergence of savanna grassland

4. Drying up of water bodies

5. Soil salination

6. Low soil productivity

7. Crop failure

8. Poor crop yield

9. Low incomes

10. Migration

11. Increased social vices

12. Increasing levels of poverty

To forestall climate change there is the need to embark on the following;

1. Afforestation

2. Sound agronomic practices

3. Growing of Tree Crops

4. Prevention of bushfires

The National Plantation Development Program

The district is among those which are selected to implement the National Plantation Development Program. In all, about 750 hectare of land have been targeted for afforestation. So far 180 out of 187 ha on privately owned lands have been cleared, pegged and planted, whilst on government reserve a total of 35 hectares out of 150 hectares of land have been cleared, pegged and planted. In the Offinso North District therefore, the program employs about 456 workers on both off and on-reserve lands. It is anticipated that the National Plantation Development Program when fully implemented would go a long way to improve the climatic conditions in the district thereby mitigating the effects of climate change in the district.

Form Ghana Limited

Form Ghana Limited specializes in afforestation projects. In 2008, it started large scale afforestation operations in the Asubema Forest Reserve near Akomadan. The company has a corporate vision to replant 10,000 hectare of degraded lands with at least 600ha every year. Some of the tree species are teak, mahogany, wawa, oframo and rubiaceae. Since 2008 it has planted about 1,556 hectares to restore the degraded forest.

It has a nursery capacity of over 2million teak trees per year. In terms of employment it employs about 350 workers during the planting season and maintains staff strength of 130 workers during the off-season.

The afforestation project carried out by Form Ghana is recognized as a big step to improve environmental conditions in the district as well as mitigate the effects of climate change in the district.