Sissala Research Committee

This report is the findings of a mini-study that was carried out in Zini in February 2005. At the beginning of 2004, 2 IMCC (Danish NGO working with health) volunteers worked in Zini at the health centre for 6 weeks. One of the things they noted was that there were very few children delivered at the clinic although there is a permanently employed midwife and all the facilities needed to carry out a successful delivery. Figures from the monthly report submitted by the Zini clinic supports this observation.

Cecelia Alhassan ^{Kunchugo HC}, Faustina Gamur ^{Kunchugo HC}, Karim Saka ^{Kunchugo HC}, Solvej S. Petersen^IMCC, Claus Peter Hansen^IMCC, Sean McCluskey^IMCC, Agnete Fjerbaek ^IMCC, 2004.

Malaria is the most common disease in Sissala district. The staff at Kunchugo health centre have experienced several problems with regards to this serious disease. One of the major problems is that the patronage of the clinic is low and that people don't seek the established health systems help when sick with malaria. Another trend that the staff has been noticing is that the people that do come to the clinic for treatment of malaria often come back after a short period of time. This has led the staff to believe that when the treatment for malaria is given, it is not taken accordingly.
The staff at the clinic was interested in finding out whether the question of non-compliance was the reason. They were hoping that by studying this phenomenon they would be able to come up with some possible solutions and ideas on how to go about solving the problem. The study was designed to explore the community member's view on health services with emphasis on their knowledge of malaria and possible causes of non-compliance.

Stephanie Tørslev-Thomsen, University of Copenhagen, IMCC Ghana, 2004

A survey based on Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) was carried out in Sissala District, Ghana, to evaluate immunization services.As indicator for the quality of immunization services, the criteria of fully immunization status, immunization given within the child's first year and timely immunized were defined, the target being 80 % of coverage. Of the 20 lots included 6 were rejected and 14 accepted for achieving 80% of coverage of fully immunized children. The target of fully immunized children before 1 year was achieved in 8 lots out of 20. In assessment of immunization given according to the national immunization schedule 19 lots were rejected out of 20. These results indicate that EPI is universally accessible, but that it is a challenge for health providers to let immunizations reach out to children within their first year.

Christina Dery, Martina Naamguemtoma, Joseph M. Benonkena ^{Kulfou Health Clinic} and IMCC, 2003.

Main objectives:

• To explore the community members knowledge of the services offered by the health clinic.
• To explore the community members view on the health clinic.
• To explore the use of traditional treatment in the community.
• To identify factors influencing choice of treatment.
• To explore the community members view on the economical aspect of health services.
• To introduce the PRA-methods to members of the team, with the intention that they would be able to use it in other aspect of their work.