Bernajis Community Health Project-Ghana; in Pictures
A state registered clinical nurse, when he saw with his own eyes, too many people rushed to the emergency room with complications of highly preventable diseases like diabetes and hypertension, decided to take action in local communities to help reduce the prevalence.
Out of his meagre financial capacity as an intern, the founder of BERNAJIS PREVENTIVE HEATH EDUCATION (BPHE.), bought portable blood glucose, blood pressure and weight monitoring machines and embarked on a campaign of door-to-door screening of locals for diabetes and hypertension in Tema, a city in Ghana’s capital region where he was living and working at the time in 2016.
During this humble effort in communities, Bernard discovered that many of those who voluntarily got screened had clear problematic, persistently elevated either blood sugar, blood pressure or both. The most shocking aspect is that, many people in the community have little knowledge on diabetes or hypertension. Those who are aware of the conditions stopped any management regimen, including taking of pills.
Bernard Agbonoshie founded the organization (BPHE.) with an initial primary goal of educating people on determinants of health; putting much emphasis on diabetes and hypertension in communities. Later, it included getting as many people screened as possible and making sure those who have abnormal screening outcome see a doctor for further evaluation and treatment. Individual Follow-up is done by way of phone call from time to time to ensure those with the health condition(s) comply with management plan to reduce the risk of complications.
The organization was duly registered with the Ghana Registrar General Department in 2019 as business entity because at the time, the founder could not afford the higher cost of getting it registered as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO.) which is still the original purpose and operations of BPHE.
Mr. Agbonoshie is an author and he first wrote a public friendly medical book titled, THE ROLE OF PUBLIC MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE IN DISEASE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT. The book consists of common health conditions that require active involvement of the public for effective prevention or management. He is also
He is also the author of three books titled: “Love is not Unconditional”, “Understanding the Nursing Care Plan on the Ward” and Bernajis Health and Social Diary-all of which are can be purchased on Amazon.com
Mission
The mission of BPHE. is simple; active community engagement to improve health literacy, help people prevent diseases or mitigate dilapidating effect of inappropriately managed chronic diseases and to promote holistic wellbeing.
Vision:
Our vision at BPHE. is to galvanize more support among the public and leaders to properly embrace primary healthcare and take concrete steps to establish one of the best primary healthcare models in the world here in Ghana. We hope to partner with other benevolent corporate bodies and individuals to support our efforts in bringing the best form of health service- primary healthcare to the door step of the general public in communities across the country.
For more enquiries or support, kindly contact us.
