Ghana, Africa – Ministry of Health director called for a meeting in a pursuit to improve linkage between community health centers and hospitals in support for newborn care.
Continuous Support and Care
The Ministry of Health’s Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation director Doctor Erasmus Agongo called for a meeting last Thursday in Bolgatanga. The meeting was primarily to ask for a stronger linkage between community health care centers and hospitals. Dr. Agongo said that a stronger linkage between the two entities will provide a continuous support and urgent care for newborn. A similar proposal will also provide continuous care for clients who are discharged from health facilities. The director emphasized that maintaining a close contact with clients and providing follow-up support for the newborn was a cohesive approach, helping reduce health complications in babies and children who were discharged from hospitals.
Effective Strategies and Proven Interventions
The Ghana Health Service and other partners participated in the Northern Sector Newborn Care meeting. Participants deliberated on strategies to reduce under-five mortality. Agongo said that focusing on newborn care should need an effective link to the community level. This will allow health professionals to provide consistent support for the newborn. The director stressed that discharged patients who go home to their respective communities should still have a link to an urgent care clinic for supportive care. This integrated approach will help in achieving the Millenium Development Goals. Agongo added that strategies were already in place along with proven interventions. This will allow them to discuss newborn cases since a significant number of deaths had occurred in the same category.
Identifying Patients’ Needs
An effective health care system will be delivered by identifying the needs of patients. Urgent care clinics can help in identifying the needs of pregnant women, infants, newborn, adults, as well as the aged population. Agongo added that model interventions will be implemented to address every issue. The Health Services director of the Upper East Region, Doctor Koku Awoonor-William agreed with the efforts made at the meeting. He also said that previous strategies in reducing newborn deaths in Ghana had slowed down.
Implementation of Effective Practices
Statistics have implied that the main causes of infant deaths were associated with infections such as asphyxia as well as pre term pregnancies. Continuous follow-up sessions through the community level can provide patients with an urgent care near me kind of support. Dr. Koku said that despite the alarming statistics, cost-effective treatments, prevention, and interventions have been implemented. He outlined that the periodic meetings had allowed the northern regions in sharing ideas and experiences to arrive at the best newborn care practices.
