The Sekyere Afram Plains District in the Ashanti Region has received a Japanese government grant for the construction of a health center in one its deprived communities.

It was selected out of about 100 applications for the 89, 395 dollar package under the Japanese Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects.

District Chief Executive, Fuseini Donkor tells Nhyira FM the funds to be used to build a clinic at Hamidu will relieve the burden of residents who travel to about 100 kilometers to access healthcare elsewhere.

The deprived Sekyere Afram Plains District has since its creation in 2012 been lacking in   health infrastructure.

 Only one clinic and two CHIPS compounds serve residents in the south, while northern part has been cut off, with no health facility.

Over 20, 000 residents travel long distances to seek healthcare in far away Eastern Region .

Even for nearby Agogo which provides an alternative, people travel about 100 kilometers.

The area leads with the highest number of infant and maternal mortality in the Ashanti Region.

Mr. Fuseini Donkor told a contract-signing ceremony lack of health facilities in the north of the district accounts for poor performance in pre and post-natal service delivery for instance.

“People have to travel more than 100 kilometers to access healthcare in surrounding districts. As a district with high active reproductive age, maternal and infant mortality rates rank highest in the [Ashanti] region. With inaccessible roads and absence of of proper transport system, it takes pregnant women minimum of three days to attend antenatal care and delivery. In 2012only 11 % and 4.3 % of women attend antenatal and post-natal care respectively”. Fuseini Donkor lamented.

He is hopeful completion of the project will help change the current face of poor healthcare delivery currently enjoyed by residents in the area.

“This project is therefore going to change the face of health care delivery in the district. It is therefore a project we hold in highest esteem. It is worth more than a million in the eyes of the people”. Mr. Donkor reiterated.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Government has also awarded grants to the Tamale Metropolitan and the Kintampo Municipal Assemblies for the construction of classroom block at Datoyili and CHPS compound at Kobeda, respectively.

Street Children Empowerment Foundation, an NGO, is receiving the grant for the Project for Expansion of Community Centre for Women and Children in James Town in Accra.

Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Kaoru Yoshimura, has implored beneficiaries to own the projects to improve the lives of beneficiaries whilst enhancing Ghana-Japan relationship.