LifeNet International extends health sector project to the north

LifeNet International, a faith-based non-governmental organisation, has launched its Northern Sector project to transform Ghanaian health facilities into better health delivery centres to provide compassionate and sustainable healthcare to the people.Dr Idris Buabeng, Country Director, LifeNet International, speaking during the launch in Tamale, said faith-based healthcare facilities faced the same challenges as public and other private health care providers.The challenges include insufficient continuous professional development for clinicians, poor health worker attitude and behaviour, stockouts of essential medicines, inadequate inventory and financial management, and limited marketing capabilities, which lead to poor health outcomes.He said as part of the project, LifeNet International partnered health care facilities to receive a suite of high-impact interventions, comprising health worker behaviour change, clinical training, health facility management training, medical equipment supply, on-site men toring, digital learning tools, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) processes.Dr Buabeng said: 'This package of interventions has proven effective by dramatically improving the quality and sustainability of health care through measurable changes in health worker performance and financial practices.'The changes would enhance patient experience at the health facility to save lives, especially in the rural areas of the northern sector.'Over the past two years, LifeNet International partnered 25 faith-based health facilities in southern Ghana, which has resulted in building capacities of 1,500 clinical and managerial health workers that has led to significant improvement in patient visits in these facilities and in 2023, outpatient visits increased to 437,188. In addition, 2,428 mothers and 2,450 babies were saved,' he said.He said LifeNet International had, so far, expanded its coverage this year by partnering 12 more faith-based health facilities in the Savannah, Northern, and North East Regi ons to improve upon the health of the people.He advised health professionals to build trust and respect in the communities they served by providing compassionate health care to the people.Dr Josephat Ana-Immwine Nyuzaghi, the Savannah Regional Director of Health Services, advised the workers to build good relationships with the patients by being compassionate towards their plight when they visited the hospital.The Most Reverend Peter Paul Yelezuome Angkyier, the Catholic Bishop of Damongo, appealed to partners in the health sector to regularly organise staff training to uphold high-quality care standards for the safety of both provider and clients.Mr Abubakari Alhassan, the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District Director of Health, urged health care stakeholders to develop plans to increase access to quality essential care and population-based services for their residents.Source: Ghana News Agency