Residents of Jaglu in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region are worried about the high infant mortality cases recorded there.
This is as a result of lack of access to basic health care in the Jaglu electoral area.
3news’ Stanley Nii Blewu after visiting the community, reports that a Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound earmarked for the community shares a classroom block with kindergarten pupils with no complementing logistics.
Jaglu is predominantly a farming community located more than ten kilometers away from Wechaw, the Wa West District capital of the Upper West Region.
The community plays host to more than 1,000 indigenes.
Last year, the Wa West District Health Directorate demarcated the Jaglu electoral area as a CHPS zone, but no structure was provided, even though a community health nurse was assigned to the community.
The community, in consultation with other stakeholders allocated one of two classrooms serving kindergarten pupils as a CHPS compound.
This was to enable the nurse posted there to attend to the basic health needs of the people.
Even that, the facility serves goat at night and human beings during the day as excreta of goats are visibly and evenly spread in the rooms.
With no logistics provided, health services rendered have been limited to community outreach programmes by the nurse assigned.
“In 2023, I was given structure but without logistics to work with’, Elvis Pelko, the health nurse said.
He further added that “because of that when I come to work, I only sweep the room and go for community visit.”
Residents, including expectant mothers and children are not happy about the current state of affairs.
The nearest accessible health facilities for basic care are located at Gurungu and Wechaw in the district capital, several kilometres away.
The Chief of Jaglu, Ibrahim Danyari lamented that health emergency cases have given rise to infant mortalities in the community.
He told the news team five children died between January and May this year while on their way to access care at the nearby health facility.
While at the community, neighbours, friends, and sympathizers from far and near have gathered on the compound of the assemblyman of the area to mourn the loss of his younger brother, who died on his way to seek medical care at the Wa West District Hospital after suffering an acute ailment.
The assembly man, for the Jaglu electoral area, Moses Dombala blamed the numerous premature deaths in the community on successive governments failure to improve access to basic health care for the people.
Although the government has initiated the construction of hospitals in districts with no major health facilities, residents in the Jaglu electoral area urge prioritization of their immediate health care needs to address mortality cases in the community.
By Stanley Nii Blewu
