Marian Kuukua Amponsa-Achiano, Municipal Director of Health Services at Ayawaso Central
The Municipal Director of Health Services at the Ayawaso Central Municipal Health Directorate, Marian Kuukua Amponsa-Achiano, has highlighted the numerous challenges facing the municipality’s healthcare system.
Speaking with GhanaWeb TV on February 20, 2025, she emphasized, “The challenges are enormous, but primarily involve basic logistics such as computers, BP apparatus, and Infantometers. We also face challenges with registers both for child health and maternal health, including ANC and delivery registers.”
Marian Amponsa-Achiano further noted that family planning services have been affected by a shortage of essential commodities, limiting access for individuals who require them.
“We also had challenges with some family planning commodities that were in short supply, making them unavailable to those who needed them,” she explained.
The issue of funding remains a major concern, impacting the municipality’s ability to conduct critical healthcare activities.
“Funding is a major problem because we are unable to carry out some essential activities due to financial constraints. We simply don’t have the resources to support these efforts. As a result, some of our key health indicators remain very low, particularly in areas such as the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI),” she noted.
She also highlighted vaccine hesitancy as a significant challenge, particularly during COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.
“Vaccine hesitancy was a major issue in this municipality, especially when we were administering the COVID-19 vaccine. Last year, we conducted three vaccination campaigns, two led by the regional and national health authorities and one organized by an NGO. However, participation was very low, which posed a significant challenge,” she stated.
Additionally, tuberculosis (TB) detection remains a serious issue, particularly given the presence of numerous ghettos in Ayawaso Central.
“TB detection is also a serious issue because we have to actively seek out cases, often in ghettos. Ayawaso Central has a lot of these settlements, which means we have to go to them,” she noted.
She added that outreach efforts are hindered by financial constraints, making it difficult to reach affected individuals.
“When conducting outreach in these areas, we need to offer incentives to encourage participation. However, due to funding challenges, we struggle to do so. This significantly impacts TB detection rates, making them very low,” she remarked.
Despite these challenges, the Municipal Health Directorate continues to explore measures to improve healthcare delivery in the municipality.
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