Health authorities in the Ashanti Region have said Health facilities remain the safest places for the treatment of all kinds of illnesses, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities have noted that some members of the public are still reluctant in accessing healthcare at designated facilities for fear of contracting COVID-19.

The Ghana Health Service as part of efforts to address the development has tasked Health Promotion Officers to intensify education on the safety of health facilities to enhance access to healthcare despite the presence of the pandemic.

A communication specialist with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Charity Nikoi who spoke at a three-day training for Health Promotion Officers and representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in health in Kumasi said participants are expected to encourage community members to seek medical attention at designated health facilities.

She said Health Promotion Officers have a key role to play in ensuring that patients, especially pregnant women and nursing mothers, attend antenatal and child welfare clinics.

She observed that “When COVID came we realized that our immunization and antenatal services went down, so we want to build the resilience of communities to believe and to know that even in the face of pandemics, they should still have confidence and access our facilities”.

Deputy Regional Director of Health Services in Charge of Public Health in the Ashanti Region, Dr. Michael Rockson Adjei also urged participants to correct the erroneous impression created about COVID-19 vaccines by conspiracy theorists when they visit the communities.

He indicated that vaccines were developed to fight disease and not administered to track the movement of people as claimed by some people.

The training which was put together by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) with support from UNICEF and its partners focused on Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) communication during emergencies.

It aimed at building the capacities of participants to understand the critical role of social and community mobilization to social and behaviour change and to know how to plan and execute community mobilization to support the implementation of MNCHN.

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