Community Scorecard: Ghana NCD Alliance holds stakeholder engagement to address NCDs

The Ghana NCD Alliance (GhNCDA), as part of its project dubbed “Our views Our Voice” has held a stakeholder’s engagement meeting on the implementation of the Community Scorecard for Community Health Management Committee (CHMC) across the country. This is to improve health care delivery across selected CHPS Zones.

The Community Scorecard is a quarterly assessment and scoring process of Nine primary quality of care indicators led by Community Health Management Committees (CHMCs).

The initiative empowers community members to assess the level of healthcare delivery at their respective CHPS Compound and initiate self-help programs aimed at improving health care delivery in that community.

National Coordinator of the Ghana NCD Alliance, Labram Musah, in an address noted that, the “Our Views Our Voices” project is an initiative of the Global NCD Alliance aimed at promoting meaningful involvement of People Living with NCDs and community members affected by non-communicable diseases in the health care and decision-making processes.

He further asserted that, Ghana is fortunate to be involved in the initiative which is facilitated through Community Led Monitoring to empower and strengthen communities and People Living with NCDs through capacity building, to monitor and participate meaningfully in strengthening the healthcare delivery system at the primary health care level.

Labram revealed that, through the collaborative efforts with the Ghana Health Service and other key stakeholders, the GhNCDA in 2022 successfully implemented Community Led Monitoring using Community Scorecard within five CHPS Zones in the Greater Accra and the Ashanti Regions.

“Through the innovative utilization of the Ghana Health Service community scorecard, designed to assess and address NCD servicing, this initiative not only foster accountability, transparency, but also engenders, the sense of ownership and urgency among committee members, ultimately leading to more equitable and effective health care outcomes,” he added.

Deputy Biostatistics Officer of the Ghana Health Service, in Charge of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Divine Kwame Amanieh, in a presentation explained that the Community Scorecard was incorporated into the CHPS initiative operating in 7,540 communities across the country. He noted that the Community Scorecard provides the Ghana Health Service, timely and accurate data for policy decisions.

Mr. Amanieh stated that, through the implementation of the community scorecard, many communities identified gaps in healthcare delivery in their communities and strategically raised resources to cater for these needs.

Hr however, enumerated inadequate motivation for volunteers and low female participation in some areas as the main challenges facing the implementation of the community scorecard.

A Consultant on the Community Scorecard, Emmanuel Ayire Adongo, on his part, emphasized the need for Community Health Management Committee (CHMC) members to share experiences and knowledge to enhance their work. He noted that the Community Scorecard is an integral part of the CHPS Initiative for feedback purposes and over the period it has served its purpose diligently.

In his presentation, Godfred Tweneboah, a member of the GHNCD Alliance, revealed that the initiative has had several achievements as well as some challenges.

Among the achievements, it was stated that the CHMCs were still functioning as most of them held regular meetings except in Tomefa. Some CHMCs also had additional members to the initial members to enhance their capacity and efficiency.

There has been the provision of NCD screening and diagnostic tools like glucometer and sphygmomanometer with the communities continuing to access the facilities and develop action plans with some already being achieved.

All these achievements mean there has been overall improved healthcare delivery and cleanliness in the various districts.

In all these achievements, the challenges of the CSC and CHMCs were also embedded in the report.

Lack of basic medicine at some facilities, limited NHIS coverage of some medicines and services, knowledge gap on the concept of Community Led Monitoring, low capacity of the CHMC’s work due to lack of refresher training, and also death and resignation, poor monitoring, and reporting on action tracker issues and dependence of the CHMC on the health staff or district for web-based action tracker update were among some challenges that were encountered.

The report also makes key recommendations for action and policy formulations, including, an integrated approach in scaling up the scorecards, involvement of civil society and people living with NCDs in improving health services, an intentional allocation of funds to support mental health services at all levels and empower community health workers to educate community members about mental health conditions.

By Derick Botsyoe||  ghananewsonline.com.gh