|
NAVRONGO HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE A Field station of the Ministry of Health, Ghana (Member of the INDEPTH Network)
|
||||||||||
Location
:Kassena-Nankana district
Coordinator :
Investigators :Dr. John E. Williams
Collaboration : Ghana Health Service
Funding :Ghana AIDS Commission
Period Covered:
Size :
PROJECT SUMMARY
This project is aimed at integrating home-based care into the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) programme of the Ghana Health Service.
The Community Health and Family Planning (CHFP) Project has shown that it is possible to deploy nurses to work in village locations. At the time of the CHFP, care for People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) was not a big issue. Experience from other countries has shown that it is necessary to explore other forms of care for people living with a chronic disease such as HIV/AIDS so that as their numbers increase, hospitals do not get choked. It is also to ensure that when PLWHA are discharged from hospital, they will still have access to care and follow-up at home.
NHRC is working with the District Health Management Team (DHMT) closely on this project.
The project was started by conducting a baseline survey among all the PLWHA who NHRC could reach out to. A training workshop was then conducted for all the Community Health Officers (CHOs) in the district on the provision of home-based care.
The project is now in implementation phase. CHOs and PLWH have been linked up in their catchment areas and there has been followup service delivery to the PLWHAs. NHRC has some funds to provide support for medication and nutritional support. We have also procured some basic items such as weighing scales BP apparatuses and thermometers to support the DHMT to provide care for PLWHA. Remaining activities include a final evaluation as well as a manual to be developed to guide provision of home-based care by CHOs.
Ethics approval has been obtained from
The NHRC-Institutional Review Board.
Person to whom correspondence should be addressed:
Dr. John Williams
Navrongo Health Research Centre
Ghana Health Service,
PO Box 114,
Navrongo, Ghana,
Phone: +233 742 22310, Fax: +233 742 22320