A three-day training workshop for Community Health Officers (CHO) is underway in Accra.

The workshop will provide the platform for CHO to deepen their appreciation of the key Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) concepts and hone their skills for continued essential service provision for those left furthest behind.

The workshop is under the project, "Strengthening Community Health System to Support the Continuity of Essential Services for the Vulnerable During and Post -Pandemic of COVID-19".

The project is a grant assistance of the government of Japan through United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with a total funding of more than $1.8.

Mr Hiromoto Oyama, the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Ghana, said for more than a year, the COVID-19 crisis had overwhelmed health systems around the world and that many countries faced challenges of managing the COVID-19 pandemic and maintaining essential health services.

The pandemic, he said was putting stress on limited resources and support of international community in responding to developing countries' own efforts, to continue providing essential health services was increasingly important.

Mr Oyama said community-based healthcare was critical to enhancing access to primary healthcare services and that the project focused on strengthening the capacity of quality health service planning and delivery to the targeted communities in Ghana.

He said Japan had been supporting Ghana's own efforts to ensure the continuity of essential services through such projects to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and relevant goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"Our development policy also focuses promotion of human security in a wide range of areas so that everyone can live in dignity through the protection and empowerment of individuals," he said.

He said the government of Japan launched the Africa Health and Wellbeing Initiative, aiming to establish sustainable healthcare systems suitable for Africa during the TICAD VII in 2019.

The objectives of the Project are in line with UHC, human security and the Africa Health and Wellbeing Initiative.

He said Japan had been Ghana's close partner and had supported various essential health services, particularly in areas of maternal, newborn, and child health services in the African country.

Madam Angela Lusigi, UNDP Resident Representative, said the CHIPS strategy aimed to promote access and equity in health service provision especially in deprived, hard-to-reach or vulnerable communities.

Through this concept, she said communities had been actively and meaningfully engaged in planning and delivering healthcare and had become empowered and energized to become partners in their own well-being and improve their own health outcomes in the process.

Effective implementation of this CHPS concept, she said, would be critical if Ghana's effort to attain UHC and the Sustainable Development Goal 3, to ensure healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages.

Dr Anthony Ofosu, Deputy Director General, Ghana Health Service, said the training was key in facilitating access to health care services to improve health care delivery in the country.

He commended the Japan government for the support and all stakeholders involved and urged the participants to make good use of the opportunity and impact the knowledge acquired to the development of health care in the communities.