<<Print>>

Ms. Mavis Ama Frimpong, the Eastern Regional Minister-designate, has pledged to give strong backing to efforts at improving maternal and child health.

She would give every necessary support to the drive towards reducing maternal and neonatal deaths as well as the fight to prevent the spread of the HIV/AIDS infection.

She was speaking at the opening of a three-day regional health performance review meeting in Koforidua.

Ms. Frimpong, herself a health professional, said there should be no doubt about the correlation between the health of the people and productivity – the direct impact of health on socio-economic development.

It was for this reason that priority attention would be given to quality health care delivery.

She noted that the target, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) had set, to ensure that 90 per cent of the people in the region accepted to go for voluntary testing to know their status was achievable.

What they need to do is for all to accept to work together with a lot of energy and commitment.

Dr. Charity Sarpong, the Regional Health Director, told the meeting that there had been appreciable decline of cases of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

She did not provide statistics except to say that these had been the outcome of enhanced disease surveillance, public education and the free distribution of insecticide treated nets.

The same could, however, not be said for non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes.

She said reported cases of hypertension in the region for example rose to 109,681, last year, from the year 2014 total of 94,962, while diabetes climbed from 31,887 to 36,857 during the period.