[ 2016-11-29 ]

YEA trains 1,000 e-Health Technical Assistants to collect health delivery data
The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has recruited
and trained 1,000 people to work as e-Health
Technical Assistants (ETAs) to fast-track the
achievement of the universal health coverage in
Ghana.
The ETAs, who would collect data on health
delivery at the community level, would also help
Ghana to meet the increasing data demand under the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Under the youth in health module of the YEA,
additional 19,500 community health workers have
been trained and deployed across the country to
work with the ETAs.

ETA module

At a ceremony to launch the ETA module in Accra,
the Chief Executive Officer of the YEA, Mr Kobina
Obu Beecham, said the programme would support the
Ghana Health Service (GHS) to go digital.

With the application of technology, it is
envisaged that the GHS and other stakeholders will
generate the information required for the
formulation of precise health policies to enable
the country to meet its health needs.

Such policies based on accurate data are expected
to help meet financing needs and provide the
opportunity to seek and provide basic services for
those who are not being captured by the health
system in its present state.

Mr Beecham explained that through community-based
health data systems, the ETAs, who had been
equipped with electronic devices such as tablets
for the collection of data on health delivery at
the community levels, would transmit the
information gathered electronically to the Ghana
Health Service.

The beneficiaries of the ETAs programme, who are
between 18 and 35 years will be engaged for two
years after which they will exit the module.

They will work closely with community health
workers in the community-based health planning and
services (CHPS) and other health care centres,
especially those in the rural and remote areas.

Mr Beecham said the YEA was considering the
acquisition of more sophisticated electronic
devices by 2017 which could help the ETA to assist
the community health workers to feed information
to patients, analyse and diagnose the health
condition of the patients in real time.

Training

In a welcome address, the Director of Planning and
Research at the YEA, Ms Matilda Antwi, said the
ETAs would help strengthen community health
handling processes to facilitate prompt decision
making for improved health delivery.

The ETAs, who had undergone one-week training at
the Kintampo College of Health and Well-Being, in
the Brong Ahafo Region, would be deployed to the
District Health Administration Offices across the
country to work under the direct supervision of
the district health information officers.

Donation

To facilitate the work of the ETAs, an
international non-governmental organisation (NGO),
One Million Community Health Worker Campaign,
through their Ghana branch, donated 500 tablets,
500 uniforms and 1,000 water-resistant knapsacks
to the YEA yesterday during the launch.

The One Million Community Health Worker Campaign
will also assist the ETAs with technical support
and regular training of the beneficiaries.

Before handing over the items, the Country
Director of One Million Community Health Worker
Campaign, Ghana, Chief Nathaniel Ebo Nsarko, said
the support formed part of efforts of the
organisation to advance sustainable development in
communities across rural Africa using innovative
solutions.

Source - Graphiconline

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