She advocated for pregnant women to seek early antenatal care and to  deliver in accredited health facilities. She said the importance of regular antenatal checks helped to ascertain  the health of the mother and the fetus, and to identify and manage  danger signs if any.

According to her, during the year under review their major priorities  were  to strengthen Senya , Bontrase , Bawjiase, Papaase, and Awutu  Health Centers which  were the Sub District Health Teams, improve  quality of health care including mental health service in all health  facilities, increase access to reproduction health service and family  planning services.

The rest were to improve prevention and control of communicable and  non-communicable diseases, increase geographical access to health care  through the CHPS initiative and upgrading Bawjiase Health Centre to the  status of a Polyclinic.

She commended the sub-district teams for performing their duties  effectively and efficiently that enable the District Health Management  Team to achieve almost all the targets and objectives set for 2016. Under Clinical Care, the DDHS said they have established mental health  units at Bawjiase and Senya Beraku Health Centres, a Laboratory at  Bontrase Health Centre to improve on diagnosis and management of  patients who visit the facility.

Mrs Antwi stated that Out Patient Department (OPD) per capital for 2016  was 0.7, adding that the ten top diseases recorded  in the District  were preventable and they included malaria, upper respiratory tract  infections, skin diseases, rheumatism, intestinal worms, road transport  injures, home injuries and hypertension.

She stressed the need for people to adopt and practice healthy  lifestyle habits, such as to sleep under insecticide treated mosquito  nets, hand washing with soap and water, drinking a lot of water and  exercising regularly.

 She said with regard to disease control, a total of 18,344 children  were de-wormed, while immunization coverage increased from 95% in 2015  to 106% in 2016 and added that the district detected two cases of non- polio and five cases of suspected measles.

“Two suspected cholera cases were identified and in collaboration with  the district environmental health department we managed them,” she  said.

Family planning coverage increased from 18.6% in 2015 to 30.9% in 2016,  while skilled delivery also increased from 70.8% to 82.9 percent in  2016 and Family Planning coverage also increased from 18.6% in 2015 to  30.9 % in 2016, Mrs. Antwi added.