School Health Education Programme SHEP Meeting Held in Bolgatanga- Upper East

      

A stakeholder consultative meeting on sustainable health Programme for school children has been organized in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

The meeting was organized by the health Unit of the Catholic Diocesan Development Office CDDO of Navrongo –Bolgatanga.

The one year project, dubbed “School Health Education Programme” SHEP, seeks to address the health problems of school children in the areas of disease prevention and control, skills based health education, food safety, nutrition, safe and healthy school environment with sole aim of improving basic schools children health and academic performance.

According to the Development Coordinator Dr. Joseph Ayembilla indicated that the phase III project which cost four hundred thousand Euros  400.000 was sponsored by Kindernissionswerk of Germany, with Navrongo-Bolgatanga CDDO as implementing partners for the past three years.

About 76 participants drawn from the Ghana Education Service, the National Health Insurance Scheme NHIS, Catholic Education Unit CEU, and the Ghana Health Service attended the meeting.

In an interview with Radio Ghana, the Project health Coordinator, Mr. Bismark Akasoe disclosed that, the project has three phases which started in 2014. 

The first phase, 2014 to 2015 was piloting the project and 32 schools were covered within the six districts their health facilities are operating in.

Activities were basically education, health screening of school children and food vendors using the catholic health nurses and discussion with stakeholders, Ghana Education Service GES, Ghana Health Service, and the District and Municipal Assemblies.

Mr, Akudugu further indicated that, in the phase II, 2015 to 2016, the number of schools increased to 50. The current Phase III which started in 2016 and will end 2017, 118 schools have been covered. Out of this number he said, 11 schools within the six districts are to benefit from 22 sanitation facilities, a component package in the phase III.

The Regional Chief inspector of schools Mr. John Bobi, on behalf GES, handed over  an 8 seater place of convenient with ancillary facilities, consructed at a total cost of seventy-nine thousand Ghana cedis to the Headmistress of St Johns Junior High School Madam Fustina Agongo.

Madam Agongo was grateful saying the school has a student population of about four hundred and a place of convenient has been one of their major challenge over the years.