Business News of Thursday, 8 November 2018
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2018-11-08
Tsutomu Himeno, (6th left), Japanese Ambassador to Ghana
The Japanese Government has provided a grant of US $265,224 for three organisations to undertake various health projects in the country.
An agreement to that effect was signed between the Japanese Government and the beneficiary organisations in Accra yesterday.
They are the Integrated Action for Community Development (INTAGRAD), the Mampong Municipal Health Directorate and the West Gonja Hospital.
The support, which is under Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroot Human Security Project, is to help provide quality health care for residents of beneficiary communities.
The Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Tsutomu Himeno, said the health and well-being of people was critical to any nation, which was the reason Japan was providing grants for organisations in Ghana to support the vulnerable.
He emphasised the need for the organisations to make full use of the funds to ensure that they impacted on the health of the people.
Japan, Mr Himeno said, remained committed to providing the needed assistance for people in difficulties and emphasised the necessity for beneficiaries to ensure that the funds were used judiciously.
The GGHSP is a Japanese government grant scheme introduced in 1989 to meet diversified needs of developing countries.
Since 2003, the GGHSP has paid attention to the concept of human security, with the aim of providing social and economic development at the grass-roots level.
It prioritises projects that seek to provide basic human needs for all.
In Ghana, it awarded over US$16 million grants for a total of 288 projects last year.
The projects included health centres, schools and Community Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds in rural communities.
The West Gonja Hospital in the Northern Region received US$87,832 for the construction of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; the Mampong Municipal Health Directorate was offered US$88,139 for the construction of a health centre at Bunoso in the Mampong municipality in the Ashanti Region, while INTAGRAD received US$89,253 for the construction of a CHPS compound at Seiyiri in the Wa municipality in the Upper West Region.
The beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the Japanese government for the support extended them and pledged to put the funds to efficient use.