The West Africa Centre for Peace Foundation, the official chapter of PeaceJam in Ghana over the weekend, held a free health screening exercise for residents of Chemunaa, a suburb of the coastal town Chorkor in the greater Accra Region.
Beneficiaries underwent free health education and medication as well as general medical screening including blood pressure, body mass index and respiratory infections. The exercise which was carried out in collaboration with the Weija Community Hospital was a community service carried out by PeaceJam Ghana.
Speaking at the exercise, the Director of WACPF, Mr. Wisdom Addo stated that the Foundation was aimed at training young people in their various communities on conflict resolution, human rights and peace building.
He explained that the exercise was aimed at creating awareness on the health status of the residents adding that it formed part of the Foundation’s service project to society which is held annually”.“As part of activities for the year, we go into communities to identify a problem which we can provide a solution to and we came up with this exercise we call service project to create awareness on the health status of residents of Chemuena”, the Director said.
The Chief of Chemuena, Nii Tan II, in his remarks, expressed appreciation to the Foundation for the gesture and urged repetition of such exercises to enable residents acquaints themselves with their health statuses.
For his part, a General Consultant at the New Weija Community Clinic, Dr Ikefrani Ayeba said the screening was expedient as it served as a platform for interaction between residents and health practitioners as most of the residents felt reluctant to visit health facilities.
“When we approached people living within Chemunaa, we realized that they were not going to the hospitals to have a medical screening because they feared of being shouted at but through the initiative of PeaceJam Ghana, we have been able to bring health care to the door step of the people,” he said.
The Chief of Chemunaa, Nii Tan II, together with beneficiaries of the project expressed their appreciation to PeaceJam Ghana for the kind gesture.
The West Africa Centre for Peace Foundation is the official Ghana Chapter of PeaceJam (USA), which is an international education program that connects youth with Nobel Peace Laureates with the goal of creating a generation of young people committed to the world.
Source: GhanaWeb
