Ndapewurche Hajia Sulemana Fuseina, Bole District Director of Health Services, has reiterated that provision of healthcare is a shared responsibility; therefore everyone has a role to play to ensure its sustainability and provide health outcomes.
The Director was speaking at at workshop held on May 10, 2024 organised by the District Health Directorate to build the capacity of Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) sub-committee in the District.
The training seeks to equip participants with the relevant skills in handling emergency situations in communication and community engagement.
Made up of key institutions with the mandate to create awareness on diseases and other public health threats, the RCCE- sub committee remains an important body in the management of health emergencies, especially pandemics.
Ghana in the last few years has encountered public health emergencies including COVID-19, Monkey, Lassa fever, Marburg, and yellow fever.
It is for this reason that the GHS is strengthening the committee.
Mr. Saaka Shaibu, the District Disease Control Officer, said preparedness towards public health emergencies enabled the health system to function promptly, effectively, and efficiently to significantly reduce attributable deaths or disabilities.
He said there were four major phases in emergency management including mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, adding that risk communication and social mobilization were critical in this regard.
Risk communication, according to him, was a two-way exchange of information and stressed the need to allow people to share their perspective of the issue to agree on the way forward.
He said it was important to adopt a science-based approach in addressing issues when communicating because the dynamics in various communities were not the same.
Members of the RCCE- sub committee must respect reporting channels amid emergencies and be discreet about sensitive information which could trigger public anxiety, Mr. Shaibu implored the participants.
Madam Janet, a staff with the Regional Health Directorate, said the primary responsibility of the sub-committee was to provide a coordinated and harmonised approach across all RCCE activities for improved health promotion.
In line with the One Health approach, the committee is supposed to work collaboratively in finding solutions to public health emergencies, she indicated.
She reminded them of their responsibility to create awareness on any disease and other public health threats and encourage households and community members to adopt preventive and protective behaviors.
Three other personnel’s from the National Health Directorate took the participants through misinformation and rumors and their repercussions on health delivery as well as how to manage misinformation and rumors.
Source: yagbonradioonline
