An Evaluation of the Health And Nutrition Programmes of World Vision Ghana. A Case Study of Bongo Health And Nutrition Programme

Abstract

The study evaluated the World Vision Ghana’s Health and Nutrition programme at Bongo in the Upper East Region. Issues of health and nutrition are very crucial since they are closely related to the development of the individual and by extension, nations. There is widespread malnutrition and ignorance of health issues in most rural communities in Ghana. World Vision is operating in most of these rural communities in Ghana, and interventions in Health and Nutrition are undertaken in all these communities. The study therefore evaluated the World Vision programme at Bongo. The study used the case study method. A sample of 24 respondents was purposively selected from eleven communities, and an officer of World Vision Ghana was selected for interview. The semi-structured interview was used as the data collection instrument. The major findings of the study indicated that: , • Beneficiary communities were not involved in the design of the programme, although they participated actively in programme implementation. • Even though World Vision is collaborating well with the District Health Management Team (DHMT), there is no official collaboration between World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, and Rural Health Integrated, who are also undertaking the same interventions in the district. • Community education on health is not done regularly in the communities. It is however done in times of disease outbreak and during immunisation. • Supplementary feeding is provided for Nursery and Primary School pupils, malnourished children, expectant and lactating mothers, resulting in reduction in malnutrition. • There has been considerable reduction in maternal and child mortality due to increased immunisation coverage and health awareness in the communities. Significant issues coming out of the study which health and nutrition implementation programmes need to take note of include: • All health and nutrition programmes should take care of pre-school children, children of school going age, expectant and lactating mothers and the elderly since these are more prone to malnutrition. • Poverty alleviation through the giving of credits to small-scale enterprises and ensuring food security through Agricultural Support should be integral parts of Health and Nutrition Programmes to ensure sustained impact. Health and Nutrition education is an indispensable component of health and nutrition programmes.