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MCH Programme to focus on promoting family health
A section of the gathering yesterday
By Sharmain Cornette
Intended to review the strengths and weaknesses of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Programme and to outline ways to improve its performance, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) yesterday commenced a three-day workshop at the Regency Suites, Hadfield Street, Georgetown.
The meeting saw the attendance of Regional Health Officers, Senior Health Visitors and other health workers from across the regions. According to Director of Maternal Child Health, Dr Janice Woolford, the aim of the MCH programme is to significantly reduce maternal and infant mortality.
According to PAHO/WHO Representative, Dr Kathleen Israel, while the sector is nowhere near where it desires to be in terms of maternal and child mortality, the trends are certainly headed in the right direction. And these trends, she said, could not have been achieved without the hard work and support of health workers. “Those of us who work at the central level for the most part we think that our job is difficult and challenging, and it often is, but for me, the real work happens at the frontlines…at the periphery, where you come in contact with patients and clients in very remote areas.”
As such, she commended the workers in attendance for the work they have been able to do over the past year, even in the face of grave challenges.
And the achievements that have been attained in health development could not have been realised without evident preparation that exists within the sector, Dr Israel further underscored.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud, said that although the task of the programme is to deliver comprehensive services to all those who seek them, there is the additional need to venture out and find those who are yet lacking these services. And a tremendous goal, he said, has been reached during the past year, in that persons beyond health centres and other health facilities have been located.
The CMO noted that this has become a reality through the Ministry of Health’s initiative to deliver a package of publicly guaranteed health services. “This package outlines for all our health care delivery services, at all the levels of the basic services that we would give and additional care that we need to deliver, so that the quality remains at a high level.”
And one of the most important aspects of delivering the package of service, he highlighted, is that of human resource. With the dedication of human resources, the Ministry of Health has been able to make important moves in transforming the Maternal Child Health Department into one that promotes family health.
According to Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, for safety to remain the main focus “we have to have as the very foundation of that ambition good family health. There is no way that we will ensure healthy maternal life, and there is no way that we can ensure safe childhood, unless we have healthy families.”
Guyana, with the support of PAHO/WHO, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has over the years recognised the need to transform MCH into family health. And this year, he added, efforts will be made effectively to move from the MCH Programme to the Family Health Programme.
“The building blocks have been put in place, we now have to make the transformation effective,” the Minister added.
But for that to happen, he noted, there is need to revisit the life-phases approach, thus the need to focus on a number of thematic areas including safe pregnancy and healthy children and a healthy start in life through good nutrition.
With a presentation of reports of the respective regions’ performance over the past year, the workshop is slated to continue until tomorrow.
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