Access child protection services - GHS urges parents

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has said it is still offering all the child protection services even as efforts are being made to ensure that children are not exposed to the COVID-19 infection.

The acting Director of the Family Health Division of the GHS, Dr Isabella Sagoe-Moses, said though there was an outbreak of COVID-19, children are still being born, growing and developing and their health needed to be protected.

"All the routine health services given to children are to ensure that they survive, grow and develop. Measles, rotavirus diarrhoea and tuberculosis are still a threat to children and we know how to protect them from these diseases even during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic," she said.

Dr Sagoe-Moses said “as a country, we have the means to protect children from a lot of conditions that could otherwise disable them or lead to their death and immunisation and Vitamin A supplementation are two of the ways to protect children from diseases, disability and death.

Child Protection Week

She indicated that the GHS would observe this year's Child Health Promotion Week from May 11 to 15 on the theme, 'Promoting newborn and child health services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic'.

The main focus would be an awareness creation and the dissemination of messages on how to protect children from common diseases, as well as COVID-19.

Services

Dr Sagoe-Moses said services to be delivered as part of the Child Promotion Week include immunisation, weighing and height measurement, giving of Vitamin A supplements, talks on newborn care, use of insecticide treated nets to prevent malaria, breastfeeding, complementary feeding for older children among others.

Furthermore, she said there would be talks about the need to access antenatal services and delivery in health facilities, as well as the importance of family planning to help families take better care of their children.