On Saturday, 20th August 2016 TANF Ghana held a free health screening in Konkon village, Amasaman, in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. This exercise was aimed at helping the deprived rural communities like Konkon village to access free health care, know their health status and be educated on any health related issues they need to be aware of.
Prior to this screening we realized that there are lots of people in these remote communities (both children and adults) with diverse health issues who do not have any knowledge about their health condition hence do not see the need to seek medical attention. This situation is attributed to poverty, proximity of health facilities and lack of health education among others.
The rain came down on arrival to the location but we were well prepared for any eventuality. With our umbrellas we educated the participants on health topics. This includes the causes of malaria, hepatitis B, and other disease conditions which are prevalent in the area, their diet and lifestyle choices. We also educated them on complications of untreated diseases and infections, prevention and treatment regiments available as well. However just after the health education the rain stopped and the sun soon came out as we proceeded with the free health screening. We measured the height and weight of participants to calculate their Body Mass Index (BMI) to assess their risk for weight related diseases and then finally conducting blood tests to screen for malaria, hepatitis B, and random blood sugar/fasten blood sugar (for diabetes).
For those who tested positive for malaria, we were able to give them free medication and educated them by the help of our medical team on how to take them. We were extremely happy with the turn-out with more than 200 participants, many of whom waited for hours so that they could be tested. Out of the 200 participants 29 tested positive for malaria. 25 participants had high blood pressure and were duly counseled on causes of hypertension, treatments regiment available, educated on their diet and referred to the closers health facility for further management. We did not have any participants testing positive for diabetes or hepatitis B. We are very thankful to the 10 volunteers who participated in the health screening, without them it wouldn’t have been such a huge success. A special Thanks goes to Dr. Mawulorm Vuvor for the pre-health screening training.
We would like to expand this health screening to other communities as well. However, we don’t have enough funding to embark on this noble project, help us make the next free health screening a reality, please get in contact with us via email on info@tanfghana.org or via facebook.
We are looking for donations to help us buy the necessary testing equipment and medications and volunteers to help on the day. Your support allows us to continue to educate, raise awareness and screen as many people in the communities as possible to help prevent some disease conditions and also identify them for treatment. Click for more pictures
