03/30/2023 Travel Report 6, Ghana Trip
The first visit was to a special institution, a large Don Bosco school in the district of Domaso, an area on which large parts of the city of Sunyani were built. Knowing the future Paramount Chief of this district, we felt it was important to tour this facility. It offers space for more than 750 students* and training opportunities in various disciplines, such as carpentry, metal construction, etc..
We were surprised to find a small infirmary with 2 berths. These two places could no longer be described as beds. Two interviews with a nurse and the facility manager will soon be available on our YouTubeChannel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1zWW3JrtH5z93YMK3CybSw.
This much in advance, the small infirmary is staffed by two nurses who care for the students and staff. Mainly they treat cases of malaria and fatigue caused by dehydration, not enough food and heat. The underage students* are sometimes treated for days in this ward.
After an arduous journey, the school is located on a main connecting road between two middle centers, but this road is not paved. The condition of the road is hard to describe. For the 5 kilometers from the asphalted main road to the school we needed almost half an hour. (there will also be a video about this shortly, on our YouTube Channel). Such difficulties therefore make it almost impossible to keep to a schedule, however planned. It is best to get on Ghanaian Time, and it can be 1-2 hours later than originally planned.
2 beds in a first-aid room of the Don Bosco School
Our next stop was the Sunyani Regional Hospital, a facility of the second highest level of care. Above these regional hospitals, there are only the two Teaching Hospitals in Ghana: KorleBu in Accra and KATH in Kumasi. The SRH offers space for up to 750 patients in 16 different departments. Since Thomas visited the hospital 3 years after it opened in 2007, we were amazed at how little has changed since then. The basic equipment seems to be almost the same as back then. In this hospital, too, we were told how important regular maintenance of medical equipment is and how difficult it is to maintain the proper use of beds and other equipment without the necessary spare parts.
The last visit today was at Sunyani Municipal Hospital - a municipal hospital. It is rated one level lower than the SRH. Accordingly, the general situation of this hospital should also be considered. No question, this facility also urgently needs beds from us and other sources!
Meeting with representatives of Sunyani Regional Hospital (SRH)
The highlight for us today was the launch of a new pilot project in Sunyani with midwife Pat Obeng-Asare. She has been trying for a long time to support expectant mothers in their needs by means of WhatsApp messages and small videos. So far, she cares for about 200 group members this way. Birgit Meyers-Carow, who was researching her master thesis in Sunyani last year, told us about this engagement and suggested to support this initiative.
We are happy to comply with this. As a starting point, we gave Pat a SmartPhone to help her implement her idea. She shed tears of joy because only recently important functions in her cell phone failed. When we also assured her that we would cover her communication costs for an initial 6 months, she was completely speechless. Please support this project with your donation at www.hita-ev.org.
Launch of a new HITA pilot project: "RemoteSupport4PregnantWomen&YoungMothers".