By: Rachel Kakraba
An urban health research project ongoing in Ghana to build resilient urban health systems has revealed urban residents rely on pharmacies for their healthcare needs. This is attributed to limited awareness of the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) available in their communities. The CHPS concept is a strategy adopted by Ghana to improve primary healthcare of the population.
This came up during a media training and stakeholder’s workshop in Accra to discuss early research findings and lessons from the CHORUS project.
The Community-led Responsive and Effective Urban Health project, also known as the CHORUS project, which began in 2020, is a six-year initiative running across Ghana, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Nigeria. It is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The interventions focus on community engagement, enhancing healthcare services, and tackling environmental health issues. In Ghana, the project is led by the School of Public Health at the University of Ghana, Legon and working in Ashaiman and Madina, with Nima and Maamobi, serving as control communities.
Research Uptake Officer for CHORUS, Delali Kumapley, speaking to GBCNEWS, said findings so far, have shown urban residents rely on pharmacies for their healthcare needs, as a result of limited knowledge on existence of CHPS in urban areas. She said under the project they are collaborating with the Ghana Health Service to increase visibility of CHPS in urban areas.
“We provided some logistics and then we are also trying to create awareness on what the CHPS does in the urban setting. So that’s what our interventions have mainly focused on in the last couple of years”
Adding on “we have trained the health workers so that they’re able to understand their communities better and provide the sort of healthcare that they need. So we did some posters and some banners on CHPS, so when you go to our intervention site, which is Ashaiman and Madina, you see some of these banners, you will also hear the jingles being played. We did all that together with the Ghana Health Service”
She said training journalists as part of the project is to bring them along in understanding issues of urban health to better inform the larger society.
“we saw that the media is also an important stakeholder, you are able to understand our work and then take the information back to the ordinary Ghanaian so that they are more aware of what we are doing and where they can also seek healthcare when it comes to the preventive part”
Executive Director of Women, Media and Change, WOMEC, Dr Charity Binka, highlighted the crucial role of the media in meeting the healthcare needs of society, noting that many people rely on it as their primary source of information. This role is especially important in urban areas, where busy lifestyles often lead individuals to self-medicate rather than visit health facilities.
“Some will if you go to hospital, it takes so long, you waste your time and you spend money. But it’s very important to know that all those things are very dangerous practices. You may be getting treatment for something which is not the real problem you have. So we want journalists to understand, particularly when it comes to health issues in the urban centers that they have a key role to play.
She emphasized the importance of regularly enhancing journalists’ skills, particularly in the area of health reporting.
A lecturer from the University of Ghana Department of Communication Studies, Prof. Abena Yeboah, noted when research findings are confined to academic circles and not presented in ways the public can understand, their potential to impact lives, particularly in the area of urban health is significantly diminished. She therefore encouraged journalists to develop a network of science experts who can serve as reliable sources on health and science matters.
“We shared a few ideas about how to make sense of these journal articles so that we can water down their content and make them be able to speak to the masses of people that we are producing content for”
The Community-led Responsive and Effective Urban Health project, also known as the CHORUS project, is expected to close next year March. The researchers remain hopeful that with evidence-based solutions they will contribute to building healthier urban areas.
