GHS, 7 others sign MoU to promote healthy life interventions nationwide

 A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Health Promotion Division (HPD) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and seven private sector entities to promote health interventions across the country.

The agreement,to the tune of GH¢4.2 million in support of health promotion activities, ties in with the broader vision of the HPD in order to empower the citizenry to make informed health choices, and adopt healthy lifestyles as means of reducing the rate of preventable diseases in the country.

Drawn from sectors including the media, waste management, aca­demia, manufacturing and hospital­ity industries, a total of 56 com­mitments were secured from the private sector partners with the aim of contributing to public health ef­forts through their corporate social responsibility activities.

The Acting Director of the HPD, Mrs Mabel Kissiwah Asafo, and representatives of each of the private organisations, signed the MoU at a National Inter-Agen­cy Coordination Committee for Health Promotion (ICC-HP) review meeting in Accra yesterday.

In a remark, Mrs Asafo high­lighted the importance of private sector engagement in realising health goals for improved out­comes and a healthier population.

According to her, the partner­ship agreement would see the private entities commit resources, both monetary and in kind, to sup­port social and behaviour change activities, while enhancing their visibility and brand recognition across the country.

“We have seen a tremendous outpour of support and we believe there are many more private actors poised to contribute to support­ing public health initiatives in the country.

Their involvement is a crucial step towards our unwavering com­mitment in achieving sustainable health outcomes for all Ghana­ians,” she said.

Singling out the media for instance, the acting director noted that their collaboration was crucial to help debunk myths, misconcep­tions, cultural and religious barriers that deter people from observing positive health seeking habits and participating in health promotion initiatives.

“People have various ideas and backgrounds in assessing health services and no one intervention does it all, rather the people need to understand, no matter their background and where they are coming from to enable us develop and send the rights messages for their acceptance,” she said.

The Chairperson of the Na­tional ICC-HP, Professor Elsie Effah Kaufmann, stressed the need for effective coordination of health promotion initiatives at all levels to achieve desired outcomes.

She noted that although there had been several initiatives to promote health over the years yet it had yielded little or no results due to a lack of coordination and synergy among implementing agencies.

“It is important that moving forward, we collaborate on these initiatives and ensure appropriate documentation of actions so that we can make better use of the limited resources we have to help improve the well-being of Gha­naians,” Prof. Kaufmann urged.

Established in July last year, the national ICC-HP comprises of 14 members and has the mandate of driving national efforts to empower Ghanaians to take con­trol of their health by adopting healthy lifestyles for improved health outcomes.

 BY ABIGAIL ANNOH

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