Date: 2017-10-06 09:16:00 ID: 1722
The West Africa Health organisation (WAHO), Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana together organised with their partners from 2 to 3 October 2017 a massive social mobilisation campaign for Family planning and HIV screening at the Noé (Côte d’Ivoire) – Elubo (Ghana) trans-border hub.
The launch on the Ghana side took place on 2 October at the border town Elubo and on 3 October at Noé on the Côte d’Ivoire side.
This campaign witnessed the participation of the health authorities of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the administrative and traditional authorities, Experts and Social Marketing Agencies of the two countries. Several technical and financial partners such as USAID and UNFPA also participated.
The Deputy Director General (DDG) of WAHO led the WAHO delegation.
The campaign is organised within the framework of the “Regional programme for Reproductive Health and HIV prevention in the ECOWAS region and seek to provide access to Reproductive and Family Planning (RH/FP) services to at least 3500 persons within the Noé (Côte d’Ivoire) – Elubo (Ghana) border cluster.
On behalf of WAHO, the Deputy Director General, Dr Laurent ASSOGBA, made a speech with emphasis on “regional integration, so much desired by all ECOWAS countries”. The DDG pointed out that “the cross-border areas have, overtime, become the real pilot sites for the construction of the sub-region”.
The campaign is therefore organised, among others, “to respond to the needs and expectations of the inhabitants experiencing the ‘cross-border situation’ in their daily lives”, added Dr ASSOGBA.
Dr ASSOGBA indicated that this third edition of the massive campaign, the first and second having been organised respectively at the border clusters of Kantchari (Burkina Faso) – Makalondi (Niger) in 2015, Hillacondji (Benin) – Sanvee-condji (Togo), will not be there last; rather, it will be replicated in the future with a view to diminishing the significance of the notion of “border” among the people and moving rapidly towards regional integration, so much desired by all countries of our region.