Friday, July 30, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 16/17)
By: Lucy Adoma Yeboah and Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The 18th International HIV/AIDS Conference ended last week in Vienna, Austria, with the chilling disclosure that about 10 million people are in dire need of treatment from the pandemic. In poor countries, the situation is further aggravated by the multiplicity of ignorance, the fear of knowing one’s status and the stigma associated with it. But, in all, Ghana appears to be making giant strides.
THIRTY-SIX-year-old Emelia (not her real name) did not know her HIV status when she got pregnant in 1999. Although she was delivered of a baby boy, he died from complications of pneumonia after a month.
In 2002, she got pregnant again, did not check her HIV status and was delivered of a dead foetus prematurely in her seventh month.
Testifying about her experience in Accra, she said she had always believed she was a healthy person, knowing little about her HIV positive status until her first child died and her second was aborted prematurely.
Today, because of the informed decision to undergo voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), she now has a five-year- old daughter delivered successfully at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and a year-old son delivered at the Ridge Hospital in Accra.
According to Emelia, with her knowledge of her HIV status, she informed her doctor, together with her husband who, however, tested negative, when they were ready to have children.
She was put on special drugs and the two were counselled on techniques of sex without passing on the infection to the husband or the children who might result from the union.
Within a month of close monitoring by her doctor, Emelia got pregnant and was referred to Korle-Bu, where she was put on a prevention of mother to child therapy (PMTCT) when she was 14 weeks into the pregnancy.
With all the effort, her laboratory results proved that she and her baby were healthy and she opted for normal delivery, which was successful.
She repeated the same process for her second child, who is a year old and was negative as of the first test conducted on him when he was six months, although subsequent tests would have to be done to confirm his status.
For Emelia and others like her, the introduction of the PMTCT has facilitated the safe delivery of healthy babies who are HIV free.
Apart from the counselling, it involves the education of HIV positive mothers by health professionals on safe breast-feeding techniques in order not to pass the virus on to their children,
Emelia now encourages all women to arm themselves with the knowledge of their HIV status to help them make informed decisions for the health of their children.
Currently, she belongs to a women's support group made up of those living with HIV and, according to her, through informed choices, they and their children, together with their husbands, are living positively.
Doctor’s perspective
Dr Joseph Oliver-Commey of the Fevers Unit at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital said positive cases such as Emelia's were possible if women took the destiny of their unborn children into their own hands and opted for VCT.
According to him, the unit taught discordant couples, that is, couples who have the woman positive and the man negative, the technique of having sex to achieve pregnancy without the woman infecting the man.
He made reference to a case in which a couple who had the woman positive had three children, with the eldest, nine, being HIV positive, the second, seven, negative, while the third, six months, was yet to be tested when it was a year and a half.
He said the PMTCT, which reduced new infection, was doing well in the country and called on pregnant women not to think about themselves alone but also think about the health of their babies to reduce new infections in the country.
He said women whose CD4 count was above 400 were, however, put on prophylactics when they were 28 weeks pregnant, while those who, although positive, had not undergone any treatment, were given a single dose drug to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
Sometimes, according to him, to ensure double safety, babies delivered were put on infant formulas to ensure that they were totally prevented from getting into contact with the virus, as the virus was easily transmitted through fluids, such as breast milk and vaginal fluid.
Treatment
Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) is when an HIV-infected pregnant woman passes the virus on to her baby.
This can occur during pregnancy, labour and delivery, or breast-feeding.
According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) research, without treatment, around 15-30 per cent of babies born to HIV positive women will become infected during pregnancy and delivery.
A further 5-20 per cent will be infected through breast-feeding.
The PMTCT, according to the WHO, accounted for more than 700,000 estimated new HIV infections in children world-wide annually.
Without intervention, experts say, HIV-infected mothers have a 35 per cent overall risk of transmitting the virus to their children during pregnancy, delivery and breast-feeding.
However, an effective prevention of MTCT can occur when HIV testing and other preventive interventions are made available in services related to sexual health, such as, ante-natal and post-partum care.
Clinical trials have demonstrated that anti-retroviral (ARV) prophylactics, when administered to mothers and their newly born babies, can reduce the risk of MTCT by approximately 75 per cent.
A PMTCT guideline by the WHO indicates that mothers, when identified in pregnancy as being HIV positive, should have a CD4 test to determine whether they need to take medication for their own health or that of their unborn infants. If their CD4 count is below or equal to 350, they are required to start taking anti-retroviral drugs for their own health. If a woman has a CD4 count higher than 350, then she does not need to take medication for her own health. However, she will need to take medication to prevent HIV transmission to her infant.
In a November 2009 HIV and AIDS guidelines on PMTCT, HIV and breast-feeding by the WHO, the international body on health prescribed that all HIV positive mothers, identified during pregnancy, should receive a course of anti-retroviral drugs to prevent MTCT. Also, all infants born to HIV positive mothers should also receive a course of anti-retroviral drugs and should receive exclusive breast-feeding for six months, with other complementary feed for up to a year when the breast-feeding had to be stopped.
According to Dr Oliver-Commey, providing appropriate counselling and support for women living with HIV to enable them to make informed decisions about their reproductive lives and prevent the transmission of HIV from positive mothers to infants during pregnancy, labour, delivery and breast-feeding were gold standards approved by the WHO.
Benefits
The Fevers Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra started the PMTCT intervention in 2005 and since then a lot of HIV positive mothers and their babies have benefited from the service.
A resent survey of 80 pregnant women who underwent treatment at the Children's Hospital at Korle-Bu saw only three being positive, emphasising the recommendations of doctors at the unit that pregnant women opt for VCT to save the lives of their unborn children.
Dr Oliver-Commey said to help reduce MTCT, a single dose of nevirapine was given to the mother at the onset of labour and to the baby after delivery and that roughly halved the rate of HIV transmission.
He explained that it was possible for an infected mother to successfully wean her child, as the ART taken during and after birth was aimed at reducing the viral load, a situation which suppresses the virus, making it impossible to be transmitted.
Many children's lives had been saved since the intervention was introduced, the doctor said, adding that the unit could boast of its oldest child who was currently five and who had benefited from PMTCT and was living an HIV free life.
Today, he said, over 50 women were on PMTCT at the unit, since the hospital was a referral centre and received a lot of cases from other health centres from across the country.
To achieve better results, an integrated HIV care, treatment and support for women found to be positive and their families, known as PMTCT plus (PMTCT+), was recommended by Dr Oliver-Commey.
He said the PMTCT+ targeted partners who, when tested and found to be negative, were encouraged to support their wives who were positive. However, when they were found to be positive themselves, both were linked to appropriate care at the unit.
All is not rosy at the unit, as indicated by Dr Oliver-Commey, as it faced difficult challenges which made it impossible for it to meet recommended WHO standards on PMTCT.
He indicated that although it was ideal that HIV positive women went through caesarean sections (CS) to prevent the mother transmitting the virus to the baby when delivering, the problem in the country, however, was that a lot of hospitals and clinics did not have the capacity to perform CS on HIV positive mothers and, therefore, referred them to the three teaching hospitals and other few health facilities that provided the service.
Risks
Dr Oliver-Commey indicated that most of those women ended up opting for normal delivery because they would have to join a long queue of women who were also waiting for CS to be performed on them, placing their babies at a higher risk of being infected with the virus.
However, he pointed out, when babies were born through the normal delivery process by an HIV infected mother, within the first week they were taken through an early infant diagnosis with polymerise chain reaction (PCR), which is a device used to determine their status, or they were put on ART and linked to the Child Health Department where they were referred to special clinics for children exposed to HIV.
Those babies were then tested after a year and a half when, by then, they were believed to have shed off their mothers anti-bodies and were able to produce their own anti-bodies.
In spite of the availability of life-saving interventions for both mother and child, some pregnant women who test positive for HIV refuse to avail themselves for medical care.
Stigma
That deadly decision could be attributed to the fear of stigmatisation people who are known to have contracted the virus go through.
Some of the women take that decision, having at the back of their minds the notion that their partners may abandon them if they get to know of their status.
At a recent review meeting organised by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) in Accra, a private midwife and proprietress of God’s Gift Maternity Home at Ekumfi Ekrawfo in the Mfantseman District in the Central Region, Madam Gifty Mante, talked about how some pregnant women who tested positive pleaded with her to keep the information to herself.
The sad aspect of the situation, according to her, was that those HIV positive pregnant women failed to return to the facility for the needed medical care which could save them and their unborn babies. For fear of stigmatisation, they would rather prefer to keep the infection to themselves and die, instead of visiting the hospital where they could be provided with anti-retroviral therapy for their survival and that of their babies.
The fear of others knowing about their predicament was enough to keep them away from the appropriate medical care.
A typical example could be drawn from the case of a member of an association of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) in Koforidua in the Eastern Region (Matthew Chapter 25) in which a middle-aged woman narrated to journalists how her husband of 15 years abandoned her and her children when he got to know that she had tested positive for HIV. Her husband refused to heed a doctor’s advice to also go for counselling and testing but left her and went ahead to stay with another woman.
Currently, health workers the world over are trying hard to prevent as many babies as possible from getting infected by their mothers.
Another member indicated that she was dismissed from a private school where she was teaching and also ejected from her rented accommodation when a nurse allegedly told her employer about her HIV status.
The provision of anti-retroviral therapy in the public healthcare system started in Ghana in June 2003 at two pilot sites in the Manya Krobo District. This was part of a comprehensive care package that also included the provision of Counselling and Testing, and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (CT/PMTCT).
Currently, 138 sites are available nation-wide for the administration of ART and other HIV prevention services, including PMTCT.
A success story of that programme (PMTCT) could be found at the St Dominic Hospital at Akwatia in the Eastern Region where the hospital was considered the first health facility in Ghana to prevent the highest number of children from being infected with HIV from their HIV-positive mothers.
Statistics
Reports from the hospital gathered in 2009 indicated that only one out of 32 babies whose mothers were HIV positive and were, therefore, put on treatment under the PMTCT tested positive.
The figure represents 96.9 per cent of the children whose mothers received the intervention.
The Head of the Public Health Department of the hospital, Dr Nana Owusu-Ensaw, said as part of the preventive measures, mothers of the children were given special medication during labour and their babies placed under formula feeding for 18 months.
He said that was to prevent the children from being breast-fed, which could have exposed them to HIV infection from their infected mothers.
In an interview with The Mirror, Dr Owusu-Ensaw said the PMTCT programme was established at the hospital in 2005 to educate all pregnant mothers on HIV and AIDS due to the high prevalence of MTCT of HIV in the district and the country as a whole.
He explained that from July 2007 to May 2008, 62 children born to mothers who were given special care during labour were put under monitoring for 18 months.
Dr Owusu-Ensaw said out of the 62 children, 32, which stood for 51.6 per cent, could be traced, while 30, representing 48.4 per cent, could not be traced and were, therefore, not monitored.
He said after the 18-month period, the 32 children who were traced were tested for HIV and that was when it came out that only one had the virus.
Negative
“That means 31 of them, which represents 96.9 per cent, were negative, while the remaining one, which is 3.1 per cent, was positive,” he stressed.
Dr Owusu-Ensaw said the facility was able to trace those 32 children because they were placed under formula feeding which was given to them by the Public Health Unit of the hospital free of charge.
“The above results indicate that PMTCT works and we hereby encourage all pregnant women to undergo HIV testing to know their status so that interventions can be put in place to save their babies,” he said.
He said a challenge involved the high cost of baby formula for feeding the babies, noting that one baby consumed about six tins a month.
He also said monitoring the mothers was expensive in terms of the transportation cost involved and expressed concern over the issue of pregnant women who gave wrong addresses for fear of stigmatisation, which resulted in the inability to trace them.
That, according to the doctor, was why some babies could not be traced for final testing after the 18-month period.
The first AIDS cases were reported in Ghana in 1986. By the end of September 2003, a cumulative total of 72,541 AIDS cases had been reported. This figure is probably 30 per cent of the estimated AIDS cases in the country. Current estimates, however, put the actual number of cases closer to 370,000.
Cases have been reported in all the 10 regions, as well as in all age groups. There are, however, important regional variations in the reported AIDS cases. This can be attributed to various factors, such as the composition of the population of the regions, availability of public health institutions, the stage of the epidemic and the health seeking behaviour of the people.
To eliminate stigmatisation and discrimination against PLHIV, the Director-General of the GAC, Dr Angela El-Adas, and the other officials in her outfit has, on numerous occasions, spoken against that, knowing very well that if not stopped, it will continue to hamper control of the pandemic.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
'Devote more resources to curb HIV'
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 23)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
The 18th International AIDS Conference has ended in Vienna, Austria, with a call by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa to African leaders to devote more resources to curb the spread of HIV on the continent.
In a video conference, Archbishop Tutu said "The HIV issue is a human rights issue. HIV prevention, treatment, care and support is a human right priority, as much as a challenge for leadership as is it to vulnerable communities".
He said 5.5 million precious lives still in need of treatment in poor countries had to be assisted, adding that “Our leaders, especially in Africa, have a key role to play not only in mobilising resources creatively, but in influencing attitudes, laws and philosophies".
He indicated stated that in spite of these challenges, accessibility to treatment could healp address the issue of stigma associated with HIV.
Archbishop Tutu observed that doom and gloom had been the order of the day as the global recession had spread a blanket over much of the world, adding that fortunately "a ray of hope has come from an unexpected quarter”.
He explained that although there was no cure for HIV and AIDS yet, there was treatment to make the disease treatable and manageable.
"Lives can be saved, children need not be orphans, parents can continue to provide for their families. The hopelessness of the past can be transformed into hope for the future" he said.
He said there were great possibilities, adding that much had been achieved in the area of anti-retroviral therapy and called for support in supplying drugs and other treatment items.
For her part, Dr Patricia Perez , Chair of the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), said lack of resources allocated to HIV and AIDS had been evidenced throughout the event.
"Let us look for money to stop the epidemic among the resources that nations allocate to buying weapons. For instance, US60 billion will be wasted in armaments in Latin America by the end of the year" she said.
Among other speakers who addressed the closing ceremony were both the Chairman and the Local Chair of the event, Dr Julio Montaner, and Dr Briggitee Schmied respectively.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
The 18th International AIDS Conference has ended in Vienna, Austria, with a call by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa to African leaders to devote more resources to curb the spread of HIV on the continent.
In a video conference, Archbishop Tutu said "The HIV issue is a human rights issue. HIV prevention, treatment, care and support is a human right priority, as much as a challenge for leadership as is it to vulnerable communities".
He said 5.5 million precious lives still in need of treatment in poor countries had to be assisted, adding that “Our leaders, especially in Africa, have a key role to play not only in mobilising resources creatively, but in influencing attitudes, laws and philosophies".
He indicated stated that in spite of these challenges, accessibility to treatment could healp address the issue of stigma associated with HIV.
Archbishop Tutu observed that doom and gloom had been the order of the day as the global recession had spread a blanket over much of the world, adding that fortunately "a ray of hope has come from an unexpected quarter”.
He explained that although there was no cure for HIV and AIDS yet, there was treatment to make the disease treatable and manageable.
"Lives can be saved, children need not be orphans, parents can continue to provide for their families. The hopelessness of the past can be transformed into hope for the future" he said.
He said there were great possibilities, adding that much had been achieved in the area of anti-retroviral therapy and called for support in supplying drugs and other treatment items.
For her part, Dr Patricia Perez , Chair of the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), said lack of resources allocated to HIV and AIDS had been evidenced throughout the event.
"Let us look for money to stop the epidemic among the resources that nations allocate to buying weapons. For instance, US60 billion will be wasted in armaments in Latin America by the end of the year" she said.
Among other speakers who addressed the closing ceremony were both the Chairman and the Local Chair of the event, Dr Julio Montaner, and Dr Briggitee Schmied respectively.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Use AIDS funds efficiently — AIDS Campaigners
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 (Graphic Business Pg 11)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
TWO distinguished AIDS campaigners, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder Bill Gates have called for more efficient use of funding in the fight against AIDS to ensure that people who need it actually get it.
In separate addresses at the ongoing six-day 18th International AIDS conference in Vienna, Austria, the two said that in many countries, foreign assistance, including money for AIDS, did not get to the people the assistance was intended for.
Addressing a large crowd of participants at the conference centre, the former president said "I think in too many countries, too much money goes to pay for too many people to go to too many meetings, get on too many airplanes.Keep in mind that every dollar we waste today puts a life at risk."
Mr Clinton also called on aid groups to remember that the world was "awash in trouble" and hurting under the impact of the financial crisis and, therefore, do well to make do with was provided for combating the epidemic.
"It is easy to rail at a government and say why doesn't the government give us more money if they're giving somebody else money," he said. "But the government gets its money in most of these countries from tax payers who have lower incomes today than they did two years ago."
In order to have the "moral standing" to ask for more funding, organizations should make governments believe that "we're doing our job faster, better and cheaper."
He however urged governments nad organisations of the developed countries to stand by rhe promises to assist in HIV and AIDS activities for the benefit of all people.
"I will soon be 64 years and my wish is to see all my grand children and all other grand children who will not die of AIDS", he stressed.
On other related issues, President Clinton pointed out that his travels through Africa had made him aware that there were still many challenges because systems and structures in those countries did not work and called strigent measures in that direction.
For his part, Mr Gates identified failure of more doner support to reach the people it was intended to help as one of the major challenges to the AIDS prevention effort.
He touched on the fact that many prevention efforts were not targeting the communities where HIV transmission was the highest and went ahead to mention high risk groups such as men sleeping with men (MSM) injection drug users and sex workers as those who needed help but had been neglected.
Speaking on the topic "Building on Success: A Roadmap for HIV Prevention" he said many countries were not using available data to make funding decisions "instead politicians are making decisions based on fear and stigma".
Mr Gates said many of those policitians did not want to associate themselves with people who engaged in behaviour that made them uncomfortable, forgeting the fact that recognising such people and providing appropriate interventions for them would help in fighting the epidemic.
Quoting from the "Know Your Epidemic" report published this year by UNAIDS, AIDS campaigner said 10 per cent of HIV infections in Kenya for example were due to sex between men adding trhat in some coastal regions, the figure could be as high as 20 per cent.
In Russia, the epidemic was contentrated among injecting drugs users yet the Russian government had gutted them and cut budget for programmes towards such groups to zero and rather shifted the money to the general population.
Currently more than 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, at least 7,400 people become infected each day and nearly 5,500 die daily from AIDS related diseases.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
TWO distinguished AIDS campaigners, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder Bill Gates have called for more efficient use of funding in the fight against AIDS to ensure that people who need it actually get it.
In separate addresses at the ongoing six-day 18th International AIDS conference in Vienna, Austria, the two said that in many countries, foreign assistance, including money for AIDS, did not get to the people the assistance was intended for.
Addressing a large crowd of participants at the conference centre, the former president said "I think in too many countries, too much money goes to pay for too many people to go to too many meetings, get on too many airplanes.Keep in mind that every dollar we waste today puts a life at risk."
Mr Clinton also called on aid groups to remember that the world was "awash in trouble" and hurting under the impact of the financial crisis and, therefore, do well to make do with was provided for combating the epidemic.
"It is easy to rail at a government and say why doesn't the government give us more money if they're giving somebody else money," he said. "But the government gets its money in most of these countries from tax payers who have lower incomes today than they did two years ago."
In order to have the "moral standing" to ask for more funding, organizations should make governments believe that "we're doing our job faster, better and cheaper."
He however urged governments nad organisations of the developed countries to stand by rhe promises to assist in HIV and AIDS activities for the benefit of all people.
"I will soon be 64 years and my wish is to see all my grand children and all other grand children who will not die of AIDS", he stressed.
On other related issues, President Clinton pointed out that his travels through Africa had made him aware that there were still many challenges because systems and structures in those countries did not work and called strigent measures in that direction.
For his part, Mr Gates identified failure of more doner support to reach the people it was intended to help as one of the major challenges to the AIDS prevention effort.
He touched on the fact that many prevention efforts were not targeting the communities where HIV transmission was the highest and went ahead to mention high risk groups such as men sleeping with men (MSM) injection drug users and sex workers as those who needed help but had been neglected.
Speaking on the topic "Building on Success: A Roadmap for HIV Prevention" he said many countries were not using available data to make funding decisions "instead politicians are making decisions based on fear and stigma".
Mr Gates said many of those policitians did not want to associate themselves with people who engaged in behaviour that made them uncomfortable, forgeting the fact that recognising such people and providing appropriate interventions for them would help in fighting the epidemic.
Quoting from the "Know Your Epidemic" report published this year by UNAIDS, AIDS campaigner said 10 per cent of HIV infections in Kenya for example were due to sex between men adding trhat in some coastal regions, the figure could be as high as 20 per cent.
In Russia, the epidemic was contentrated among injecting drugs users yet the Russian government had gutted them and cut budget for programmes towards such groups to zero and rather shifted the money to the general population.
Currently more than 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, at least 7,400 people become infected each day and nearly 5,500 die daily from AIDS related diseases.
Test kit to fight malaria
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 (Graphic Business Pg 11)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
A SURVEY commissioned by the late Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashiga (retd) revealed that about $760 million dollars is spent on malaria in Ghana each year.
The amount include cost of treatment and the man hour wasted by workers who fall victim to the disease.
Malaria has long been the number one cause of fever and the leading cause of child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended treating any fever episode in African children with anti-malarial drugs to save lives.
Currently, the situation has changed since there is the existence of the Reliable, Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) to allow for laboratory confirmation of malaria at all levels of the health system.
According to WHO’s 10 facts on malaria (March 2009), about 3.3 billion people are at risk of malaria. Every year, about 250 million malaria cases and nearly one million deaths are recorded globally.
The issue is health professionals worldwide and in Ghana, officials of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) believe that not all the illnesses presented as malaria are really the case. There is the fear that some of these people die of other severe diseases and not malaria.
This, according to the officials is so because people tended to take all headaches, all feverishness and body weaknesses to be malaria since they might remember being bitten by some mosquitoes while we slept or sat outside late the other day.
Malaria is not the only disease which present such symptoms. Other diseases like typhoid fever, urinary tract infection, meningitis, influenza, viral infections, HIV and AIDS, appendicitis and even early pregnancy may present with similar symptoms.
These are reasons why it should be confirmed by laboratory tests before one could conclude categorically that it is malaria or not. Confirmation could be done either by microscopy in laboratory or the use of RDT.
It is therefore, heart warming to hear that the Ministry of Health (MOH) is to introduce a malaria test kit into the country’s health care system in a move to promote the early detection of malaria cases.
The good news is that the EZ-Trust kit, a potable disposable device, can be used at home to detect malaria.
At a meeting in Accra to introduce the product to the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, the Managing Director of TG Medicals from South Africa, Mr Theo J. Roelofsz Jnr, indicated that the product had been evaluated and approved by laboratories world-wide including the WHO and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It was explained at the meeting that the test kit had also become necessary in order to reduce the time people spent in hospital since with the test-kit, people will be able to perform a quick and accurate test in the comfort of their own homes.
At the ceremony, the company also introduced to the minister, two other products - an HIV home test- kit and a water purification tube.
Mr Roelofsz Jnr said the water purifier, known as “lifestraw,” could “purify a minimum of 700 litres of water, that is enough clean drinking water for two years and added that the water purifying device removed 99 per cent of bacteria and viruses from unclean water.
“It is light enough to carry around your neck, and with this product children will now be able to drink water almost anywhere, irrespective of the state of the water, ” Mr Roelofsz Jnr said.
He said funding organisations including the USAID were ready to make funds available for the supply of the products to Ghana at no cost to the country. All that needed to be done was the ministry’s would endorsement.
When is was his time to respond, the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, said the ministry would use any innovation that would help reduce deaths that resulted from malaria and cholera.
He said the malaria test-kit would be a very useful tool for combating malaria since the early diagnosis of the disease could save many lives.
He, however, indicated that the ministry would look into the efficiency of the products to find out how best they could be used to address the health needs of the people.
In spite all the interventions towards reducing malaria cases, last year, a total of 3,600,000 of outpatient malaria cases were said to have been recorded throughout public hospitals in the country with 3,900 deaths.
One thousand five hundred of the deaths involved children under five years and 80 were pregnant women. Malaria infections in Africa are said to cause 400,000 cases of severe anaemia, contributing to maternal mortality across the continent.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
A SURVEY commissioned by the late Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashiga (retd) revealed that about $760 million dollars is spent on malaria in Ghana each year.
The amount include cost of treatment and the man hour wasted by workers who fall victim to the disease.
Malaria has long been the number one cause of fever and the leading cause of child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended treating any fever episode in African children with anti-malarial drugs to save lives.
Currently, the situation has changed since there is the existence of the Reliable, Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) to allow for laboratory confirmation of malaria at all levels of the health system.
According to WHO’s 10 facts on malaria (March 2009), about 3.3 billion people are at risk of malaria. Every year, about 250 million malaria cases and nearly one million deaths are recorded globally.
The issue is health professionals worldwide and in Ghana, officials of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) believe that not all the illnesses presented as malaria are really the case. There is the fear that some of these people die of other severe diseases and not malaria.
This, according to the officials is so because people tended to take all headaches, all feverishness and body weaknesses to be malaria since they might remember being bitten by some mosquitoes while we slept or sat outside late the other day.
Malaria is not the only disease which present such symptoms. Other diseases like typhoid fever, urinary tract infection, meningitis, influenza, viral infections, HIV and AIDS, appendicitis and even early pregnancy may present with similar symptoms.
These are reasons why it should be confirmed by laboratory tests before one could conclude categorically that it is malaria or not. Confirmation could be done either by microscopy in laboratory or the use of RDT.
It is therefore, heart warming to hear that the Ministry of Health (MOH) is to introduce a malaria test kit into the country’s health care system in a move to promote the early detection of malaria cases.
The good news is that the EZ-Trust kit, a potable disposable device, can be used at home to detect malaria.
At a meeting in Accra to introduce the product to the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, the Managing Director of TG Medicals from South Africa, Mr Theo J. Roelofsz Jnr, indicated that the product had been evaluated and approved by laboratories world-wide including the WHO and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It was explained at the meeting that the test kit had also become necessary in order to reduce the time people spent in hospital since with the test-kit, people will be able to perform a quick and accurate test in the comfort of their own homes.
At the ceremony, the company also introduced to the minister, two other products - an HIV home test- kit and a water purification tube.
Mr Roelofsz Jnr said the water purifier, known as “lifestraw,” could “purify a minimum of 700 litres of water, that is enough clean drinking water for two years and added that the water purifying device removed 99 per cent of bacteria and viruses from unclean water.
“It is light enough to carry around your neck, and with this product children will now be able to drink water almost anywhere, irrespective of the state of the water, ” Mr Roelofsz Jnr said.
He said funding organisations including the USAID were ready to make funds available for the supply of the products to Ghana at no cost to the country. All that needed to be done was the ministry’s would endorsement.
When is was his time to respond, the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, said the ministry would use any innovation that would help reduce deaths that resulted from malaria and cholera.
He said the malaria test-kit would be a very useful tool for combating malaria since the early diagnosis of the disease could save many lives.
He, however, indicated that the ministry would look into the efficiency of the products to find out how best they could be used to address the health needs of the people.
In spite all the interventions towards reducing malaria cases, last year, a total of 3,600,000 of outpatient malaria cases were said to have been recorded throughout public hospitals in the country with 3,900 deaths.
One thousand five hundred of the deaths involved children under five years and 80 were pregnant women. Malaria infections in Africa are said to cause 400,000 cases of severe anaemia, contributing to maternal mortality across the continent.
'Co-operate to achieve results'
Saturday, July 24, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 19)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Austria, Vienna
THE President of the Ghana National Association of HIV Network, Mr Victor Attah Ntumi, has challenged civil society organisations (CSOs) working in the area of HIV prevention to avoid competing among themselves and rather co-operate to achieve results.
He said although such CSOs had the objective of working for the prevention of an epidemic which was causing the world so much pain, the leadership of some of the organisations spent much time competing with each other to the detriment of the work ahead.
Mr Ntumi said this on Thursday at a workshop in Vienna, Austria, as part of the six-day 18th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) which ended yesterday.
The topic for the four-hour workshop was: "United Nations General Assembly (UNGASS) Monitoring and Evaluation: How can we improve on the involvement of community organisations".
Presentations were made by representatives of CSOs from Ghana, Nigeria, Libya, Kenya, Uganda, Philiplines, among other countries.
The representatives and other participants at the workshop had the opportunity to share experiences and ideas and also learn from each other.
Some of the umbrella health related CSOs in Ghana are GHANET, National Association of People Living with HIV (NAP+) and the Coalition of NGOs in Health.
They are involved in the expanded technical working group meetings where they send feedback from the community to the regions upwards to the national level as part of the UNGASS process of monitoring and evaluation process every two years.
As part of his presentation, Mr Ntumi, who was part of the 15-member government delegation, explained how the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) and the UNAIDS served as the lead organisations in the fight against HIV and AIDs in Ghana and the role they played to support the CSOs to operate.
Touching on the challenges the CSOs faced to achieve greater involvement, the GHANET president identified what he called the 'Five Cs' and mentioned lack of co-ordination among CSOs; lack of commitment on the part of some leaders; lack of connections; cost which hampered operations and also unnecessary competition among the CSOs.
To achieve set objectives, Mr Ntumi called for co-ordinated efforts and networking, adding that there was no need for individual CSOs to try and outdo each other for individual gains.
"The work is enormous and there is no way to try to prove a point individually whiles we do that together," he stressed.
He pointed out that just as in Ghana, CSOs in other African countries, especially those who dealt in health related issues, had a greater responsibility to help in the fight against HIV and AIDS and all the other diseases, which claimed the lives of large numbers of the people each year.
"Our main job is to help improve on communities’ efforts to reduce diseases and poverty, " he pointed out.
For his part, the main facilitator of the workshop, Mr Innocent Liaison from the Africa Civil Society Organised (AFRICASSO) headquartered in Senegal, pushed for much civil society involvement in the UNGASS process to get systems in the individual countries to function properly.
He said if the need be, the leadership of the CSOs should protest if they realised that inaccurate reports were being sent to the UNGASS but not just sit down and endorse everything.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Austria, Vienna
THE President of the Ghana National Association of HIV Network, Mr Victor Attah Ntumi, has challenged civil society organisations (CSOs) working in the area of HIV prevention to avoid competing among themselves and rather co-operate to achieve results.
He said although such CSOs had the objective of working for the prevention of an epidemic which was causing the world so much pain, the leadership of some of the organisations spent much time competing with each other to the detriment of the work ahead.
Mr Ntumi said this on Thursday at a workshop in Vienna, Austria, as part of the six-day 18th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) which ended yesterday.
The topic for the four-hour workshop was: "United Nations General Assembly (UNGASS) Monitoring and Evaluation: How can we improve on the involvement of community organisations".
Presentations were made by representatives of CSOs from Ghana, Nigeria, Libya, Kenya, Uganda, Philiplines, among other countries.
The representatives and other participants at the workshop had the opportunity to share experiences and ideas and also learn from each other.
Some of the umbrella health related CSOs in Ghana are GHANET, National Association of People Living with HIV (NAP+) and the Coalition of NGOs in Health.
They are involved in the expanded technical working group meetings where they send feedback from the community to the regions upwards to the national level as part of the UNGASS process of monitoring and evaluation process every two years.
As part of his presentation, Mr Ntumi, who was part of the 15-member government delegation, explained how the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) and the UNAIDS served as the lead organisations in the fight against HIV and AIDs in Ghana and the role they played to support the CSOs to operate.
Touching on the challenges the CSOs faced to achieve greater involvement, the GHANET president identified what he called the 'Five Cs' and mentioned lack of co-ordination among CSOs; lack of commitment on the part of some leaders; lack of connections; cost which hampered operations and also unnecessary competition among the CSOs.
To achieve set objectives, Mr Ntumi called for co-ordinated efforts and networking, adding that there was no need for individual CSOs to try and outdo each other for individual gains.
"The work is enormous and there is no way to try to prove a point individually whiles we do that together," he stressed.
He pointed out that just as in Ghana, CSOs in other African countries, especially those who dealt in health related issues, had a greater responsibility to help in the fight against HIV and AIDS and all the other diseases, which claimed the lives of large numbers of the people each year.
"Our main job is to help improve on communities’ efforts to reduce diseases and poverty, " he pointed out.
For his part, the main facilitator of the workshop, Mr Innocent Liaison from the Africa Civil Society Organised (AFRICASSO) headquartered in Senegal, pushed for much civil society involvement in the UNGASS process to get systems in the individual countries to function properly.
He said if the need be, the leadership of the CSOs should protest if they realised that inaccurate reports were being sent to the UNGASS but not just sit down and endorse everything.
'Increase funding for female condoms'
Saturday, July 24, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 11)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria,
WOMEN'S health advocates at the International AIDS Conference (2010) underway in Vienna the capital city of Austria, have criticised the lack of funding and policy support from international donors and governments for female condoms, which they consider a critical woman-initiated tool for fighting the HIV epidemic.
At media a briefing held as part of the six day international event, the National Co-ordinator of the Community Initiative for TB, HIV and AIDS and Malaria (CITAM+) in Zambia, Ms Carol Nawina Nyrienda said,.“If you have access to a female condom, you can protect your partner, and if you are HIV positive you can protect yourself from reinfection and unwanted pregnancy”.
Ms Nyrienda, who contracted HIV from her husband, underscored the need for a woman-initiated protection option, adding that women could not depend on thier partners to save their own lives.
It was evident at the conference that women's health advocates all over the world had expressed a demand for the female condom but donors and governments were yet to provide corresponding funding and programme support.
The United States Government is said to have have increased its investment in female condoms, yet women’s health advocates noted that more significant resources were needed to achieve a woman-focused approach to HIV and AIDS.
“The true travesty is in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Lucie van Mens, Co-ordinator of the Universal Access to Female Condoms Joint Programme, which has Oxfam as a partner.
She noted that women made up an estimated 60 per cent of adults living with the virus, yet female condoms were only available at a rate of one for every 300 women per year.
"We have to approach the HIV and AIDS epidemic with women in mind, and female condoms are a critical component to that”, she stressed.
The Head of the Oxfam delegation at the conference, Jim Clarken, reiterated that female condoms were vitally important in the fight against HIV and AIDS, particularly as it empowered women to take the initiative in their own sexual health.
In the same vein, women’s health advocates at the press conference said further research and development was needed in order to diversify the range of products on the market and to reduce costs.
That was because there were complaints associated with the use of the female condoms currently available on the market. Although, there are new types, they said, they were not easy to come by.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria,
WOMEN'S health advocates at the International AIDS Conference (2010) underway in Vienna the capital city of Austria, have criticised the lack of funding and policy support from international donors and governments for female condoms, which they consider a critical woman-initiated tool for fighting the HIV epidemic.
At media a briefing held as part of the six day international event, the National Co-ordinator of the Community Initiative for TB, HIV and AIDS and Malaria (CITAM+) in Zambia, Ms Carol Nawina Nyrienda said,.“If you have access to a female condom, you can protect your partner, and if you are HIV positive you can protect yourself from reinfection and unwanted pregnancy”.
Ms Nyrienda, who contracted HIV from her husband, underscored the need for a woman-initiated protection option, adding that women could not depend on thier partners to save their own lives.
It was evident at the conference that women's health advocates all over the world had expressed a demand for the female condom but donors and governments were yet to provide corresponding funding and programme support.
The United States Government is said to have have increased its investment in female condoms, yet women’s health advocates noted that more significant resources were needed to achieve a woman-focused approach to HIV and AIDS.
“The true travesty is in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Lucie van Mens, Co-ordinator of the Universal Access to Female Condoms Joint Programme, which has Oxfam as a partner.
She noted that women made up an estimated 60 per cent of adults living with the virus, yet female condoms were only available at a rate of one for every 300 women per year.
"We have to approach the HIV and AIDS epidemic with women in mind, and female condoms are a critical component to that”, she stressed.
The Head of the Oxfam delegation at the conference, Jim Clarken, reiterated that female condoms were vitally important in the fight against HIV and AIDS, particularly as it empowered women to take the initiative in their own sexual health.
In the same vein, women’s health advocates at the press conference said further research and development was needed in order to diversify the range of products on the market and to reduce costs.
That was because there were complaints associated with the use of the female condoms currently available on the market. Although, there are new types, they said, they were not easy to come by.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
HIV microbicide study shows positive results
Thursday, July 22, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 11)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
THE relation between the rights of women and HIV assumed a new dimension at the 18th International AIDS conference (AIDS 2010) in the Austrian city of Vienna when the results of a study into an anti-HIV intervention for women, CAPRISA 004 microbicide was released.
The study provided the first data demonstrating the effectiveness of an anti-retroviral-based vaginal microbicide gel in reducing a woman's risk of sexually transmitted infection which included HIV and genital herpes.
The trial is said to have tested the safety and effectiveness of one percent of a substance called tenofovir gel among nearly 900 women in two sites in South Africa.
In the trial that involved nearly 900 South African women, those who received a vaginal gel that contained the anti-HIV drug had a 39 per cent lower chance of becoming infected by the virus than those who received placebo (fake drug).
The study began in May 2007 and enrolled sexually active women between the ages of 18 and 40 who attended clinics in KwaZulu-Natal in south Africa, an area with an extremely high rate of new HIV infection in young females.
Researchers randomly assigned the women to receive either an inert gel or the gel mixed with the anti-HIV drug for 30 days. Participants were asked to insert the gel within 12 hours before and after having sex. They were also provided with condoms and HIV-prevention counselling.
According the report, the women were monitored to ensure that they applied the gel correctly and also used it as required. On average, the women used the gel as advised nearly three-fourth of the time.
"Subject analysis showed that women who used the gel most frequently had the most protection", stated the report.
A researcher, Dr John Moore, who studied a similar viginal microbicide at the WeillCornel Medical College in New York City said "It is a clear-cut result with obvious protection at a meaningful level".
At the plenary session on Monday, the main speaker, Ms Everjoice Win of ActionAid International (Zimbabwe), noted that women had a greater likelihood of being at the receiving end of violent or coercive sexual intercourse adding that the outcome of the study was a significant step toward a tool that puts the power of HIV prevention in women's hands.
She described the magnitude of violence against women and children around the world and drew strong links between violence and HIV.
Ms Win cited examples of the greater likelihood of women being on the receiving end of violent or coercive sexual intercourse and of an HIV-positve woman being the target of domestic violence from partners or family members who blamed or stigmatised her.
For his part, the President of the AIDS 2010 conference, Dr Julio Montaner said "We welcome news of progress on a prevention tool that would give women greater control over their lives".
Dr Montaner who is also the Director of the British Columbia (B.C) Centre for Excellence in HIV and AIDS in Vancouver, Canada added that "empowering women in this way as part of a broader agenda to ensure human right brings us one step closer to the goal of unversal access".
The Local Co-chairman of AIDS 2010, Dr Brigitte Schmied, said "we are reminded today of a strong link between scientific advancement and human rights protections" and went ahead to maintain that science was now poised to give the world another important new tool to help women protect themselves from HIV and save their lives.
Meanwhile a call for human rights as a fundamental component of efforts to prevent new HIV infections pervaded the AIDS 2010 conference as some delegates and human rights activists organised HIV and Human Rights March through the streets of Vienna as part of the event.
Conference participants gave voice to the conference theme: Right Here, Right Now through a number of plenary presentations, sessions, and Global Village and Youth Programme activities.
Part of the activities saw a number of people living with HIV (PLHIVs) who freely talked about their plight and readility shared ideas with others.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
THE relation between the rights of women and HIV assumed a new dimension at the 18th International AIDS conference (AIDS 2010) in the Austrian city of Vienna when the results of a study into an anti-HIV intervention for women, CAPRISA 004 microbicide was released.
The study provided the first data demonstrating the effectiveness of an anti-retroviral-based vaginal microbicide gel in reducing a woman's risk of sexually transmitted infection which included HIV and genital herpes.
The trial is said to have tested the safety and effectiveness of one percent of a substance called tenofovir gel among nearly 900 women in two sites in South Africa.
In the trial that involved nearly 900 South African women, those who received a vaginal gel that contained the anti-HIV drug had a 39 per cent lower chance of becoming infected by the virus than those who received placebo (fake drug).
The study began in May 2007 and enrolled sexually active women between the ages of 18 and 40 who attended clinics in KwaZulu-Natal in south Africa, an area with an extremely high rate of new HIV infection in young females.
Researchers randomly assigned the women to receive either an inert gel or the gel mixed with the anti-HIV drug for 30 days. Participants were asked to insert the gel within 12 hours before and after having sex. They were also provided with condoms and HIV-prevention counselling.
According the report, the women were monitored to ensure that they applied the gel correctly and also used it as required. On average, the women used the gel as advised nearly three-fourth of the time.
"Subject analysis showed that women who used the gel most frequently had the most protection", stated the report.
A researcher, Dr John Moore, who studied a similar viginal microbicide at the WeillCornel Medical College in New York City said "It is a clear-cut result with obvious protection at a meaningful level".
At the plenary session on Monday, the main speaker, Ms Everjoice Win of ActionAid International (Zimbabwe), noted that women had a greater likelihood of being at the receiving end of violent or coercive sexual intercourse adding that the outcome of the study was a significant step toward a tool that puts the power of HIV prevention in women's hands.
She described the magnitude of violence against women and children around the world and drew strong links between violence and HIV.
Ms Win cited examples of the greater likelihood of women being on the receiving end of violent or coercive sexual intercourse and of an HIV-positve woman being the target of domestic violence from partners or family members who blamed or stigmatised her.
For his part, the President of the AIDS 2010 conference, Dr Julio Montaner said "We welcome news of progress on a prevention tool that would give women greater control over their lives".
Dr Montaner who is also the Director of the British Columbia (B.C) Centre for Excellence in HIV and AIDS in Vancouver, Canada added that "empowering women in this way as part of a broader agenda to ensure human right brings us one step closer to the goal of unversal access".
The Local Co-chairman of AIDS 2010, Dr Brigitte Schmied, said "we are reminded today of a strong link between scientific advancement and human rights protections" and went ahead to maintain that science was now poised to give the world another important new tool to help women protect themselves from HIV and save their lives.
Meanwhile a call for human rights as a fundamental component of efforts to prevent new HIV infections pervaded the AIDS 2010 conference as some delegates and human rights activists organised HIV and Human Rights March through the streets of Vienna as part of the event.
Conference participants gave voice to the conference theme: Right Here, Right Now through a number of plenary presentations, sessions, and Global Village and Youth Programme activities.
Part of the activities saw a number of people living with HIV (PLHIVs) who freely talked about their plight and readility shared ideas with others.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Anti-retroviral treatment saves lives of HIV positive people
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 23)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
THE President of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and the co-Chair of the 18th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), Dr Julio Montaner, said there was strong evidence to show that access to anti-retroviral (ARVs) treatment could save the lives of people infected with HIV and help stop the spread of the epidemic.
He explained that when infected persons were put on treatment, their ability to transmit the disease to others reduced significantly and, therefore, underscored the need for governments to take the issue of accessibility of ARVs seriousy if they sincerely hope to combat its spread.
At a press conference held ahead of the opening of the AIDS 2010 conference in Vienna, Austria, he maintained that for the first time since the development of life-saving treatments for HIV, there were evidence of game-changing scenarios demonstrating that sustained and widespread access to ARV treatment could save lives and help reverse the epidemic.
Dr Montaner, who is also the Director of the B.C Centre for Excellence in HIV and AIDS in Vancouver, Canada said evidence had shown that about 90 per cent of some infected people who were put on treatment, were doing well. He indicated that the figure could move up to 100 per cent if treatment were sustained adding that "at this promising moment, we must stay on course".
He however expressed dissappointment at the attidude of the rich countries (G8) who had failed on their promise to help attain universal access to prevention and treatment by 2015 and doubted that, that target could be achieved.
Dr Montaner pointed out that there were serious problems with the world's political leaders when it came to the issue of HIV treatment adding that there was the need for commitment if any significant achievement could be made.
For her part, the local co-chair of the AIDS 2010 conference, Dr Brigitte Schmied expressed delight that in the past five years, the coverage of HIV treatment in low and middle income countries had increased ten fold to the current figure of five million.
Throwing more light on her earlier statement, Dr Schmied who is also the President of the Austrian AIDS Society said that "just 10 years in Durban, we have shown the sceptics that universal access is achievable; that this is a goal we can and must reach".
She narrated how in developing and poor countries health workers decided who should get treatment and who should not, a situation she pointed out gave them the power to decide who should live and who should die just because drugs were not adequate to be given to all who needed them.
At the press conference to share ideas were community representatives, Vladimir Zhovtyyak and Alexandra Sasha Volgina from Ukraine and Russia respectively. Youth activist Rachel Arinii Judhistari from Indonisia was also present.
Organisers of AIDS 2010 conference chose Vienna partly due to its proximity to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a region with a growing epidemic fueled primarily by injecting drug use.
Conference delegates, will among other things, examine the epidemic in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as in other regions such as Southern Africa.
Ahead of the opening of the conference on Sunday, July 18, a large number of people living with HIV and some AIDS activists marched through the Messe Conference Centre in Vienna.
Dubbed "Die-in" march, the activists delayed the session for some minutes to illustrate how governments around the world are slowing and scaling back thier commitments towards Universal Access to HIV care, treatment and prevention.
Many of the marchers held tombstones with the inscription 'Broken Promises Kill, No Retreat, Fund AIDS' to remind conference particiapnts and the world of the about 15 million people who are in immediate need of treatment.
The demonstration started with a massive banner drop at the site of the conference and in addition, four gaint ballons filled with helium flew in front of the conference centre with faces of some world leaders. There were inscriptions which demanded full funding to fight global AIDS.
There are reports to indicate that recently the United States and European governments have pulled back their support for AIDS care, treatment and prevention and also the fact that governments in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe have failed to live up to their commitment to fund AIDS treatment and other health needs as laid out in the Abuja Declaration.
A statement from the marchers indicated that the Global Fund, the organisation responsible for the world's reponse to AIDS crises, was forced to adopt 10 per cent budget cuts to the first two years funding, as well as 25 per cent cuts for the last three years.
"There remain a huge gap for Round 10, which opened in May 2010 which will result in countries scaling back programmes and resisting investment in activities with recurrent costs, such as hiring desperately needed health workers or enrolling new patients on treatment", the statement indicated.
It said in 2010, the US Congress paid $1.05 biliion to Global Fund which was $1.7 less than the US fair share. For 2011, President Barack Obama had proposed to cut funding to only $1 billion, even though at least $2 billion is needed from the US to begin to close the Global Fund's funding gap.
An AIDS activist with Health Gap in Cameroun, Ms Mabel Takana, said there were many important discussions that would take place at the conference , however in order for any of those discussions to have any relevance, all participants must first address the growing crisis in funding for AIDS care and prevention.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria
THE President of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and the co-Chair of the 18th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), Dr Julio Montaner, said there was strong evidence to show that access to anti-retroviral (ARVs) treatment could save the lives of people infected with HIV and help stop the spread of the epidemic.
He explained that when infected persons were put on treatment, their ability to transmit the disease to others reduced significantly and, therefore, underscored the need for governments to take the issue of accessibility of ARVs seriousy if they sincerely hope to combat its spread.
At a press conference held ahead of the opening of the AIDS 2010 conference in Vienna, Austria, he maintained that for the first time since the development of life-saving treatments for HIV, there were evidence of game-changing scenarios demonstrating that sustained and widespread access to ARV treatment could save lives and help reverse the epidemic.
Dr Montaner, who is also the Director of the B.C Centre for Excellence in HIV and AIDS in Vancouver, Canada said evidence had shown that about 90 per cent of some infected people who were put on treatment, were doing well. He indicated that the figure could move up to 100 per cent if treatment were sustained adding that "at this promising moment, we must stay on course".
He however expressed dissappointment at the attidude of the rich countries (G8) who had failed on their promise to help attain universal access to prevention and treatment by 2015 and doubted that, that target could be achieved.
Dr Montaner pointed out that there were serious problems with the world's political leaders when it came to the issue of HIV treatment adding that there was the need for commitment if any significant achievement could be made.
For her part, the local co-chair of the AIDS 2010 conference, Dr Brigitte Schmied expressed delight that in the past five years, the coverage of HIV treatment in low and middle income countries had increased ten fold to the current figure of five million.
Throwing more light on her earlier statement, Dr Schmied who is also the President of the Austrian AIDS Society said that "just 10 years in Durban, we have shown the sceptics that universal access is achievable; that this is a goal we can and must reach".
She narrated how in developing and poor countries health workers decided who should get treatment and who should not, a situation she pointed out gave them the power to decide who should live and who should die just because drugs were not adequate to be given to all who needed them.
At the press conference to share ideas were community representatives, Vladimir Zhovtyyak and Alexandra Sasha Volgina from Ukraine and Russia respectively. Youth activist Rachel Arinii Judhistari from Indonisia was also present.
Organisers of AIDS 2010 conference chose Vienna partly due to its proximity to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a region with a growing epidemic fueled primarily by injecting drug use.
Conference delegates, will among other things, examine the epidemic in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as in other regions such as Southern Africa.
Ahead of the opening of the conference on Sunday, July 18, a large number of people living with HIV and some AIDS activists marched through the Messe Conference Centre in Vienna.
Dubbed "Die-in" march, the activists delayed the session for some minutes to illustrate how governments around the world are slowing and scaling back thier commitments towards Universal Access to HIV care, treatment and prevention.
Many of the marchers held tombstones with the inscription 'Broken Promises Kill, No Retreat, Fund AIDS' to remind conference particiapnts and the world of the about 15 million people who are in immediate need of treatment.
The demonstration started with a massive banner drop at the site of the conference and in addition, four gaint ballons filled with helium flew in front of the conference centre with faces of some world leaders. There were inscriptions which demanded full funding to fight global AIDS.
There are reports to indicate that recently the United States and European governments have pulled back their support for AIDS care, treatment and prevention and also the fact that governments in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe have failed to live up to their commitment to fund AIDS treatment and other health needs as laid out in the Abuja Declaration.
A statement from the marchers indicated that the Global Fund, the organisation responsible for the world's reponse to AIDS crises, was forced to adopt 10 per cent budget cuts to the first two years funding, as well as 25 per cent cuts for the last three years.
"There remain a huge gap for Round 10, which opened in May 2010 which will result in countries scaling back programmes and resisting investment in activities with recurrent costs, such as hiring desperately needed health workers or enrolling new patients on treatment", the statement indicated.
It said in 2010, the US Congress paid $1.05 biliion to Global Fund which was $1.7 less than the US fair share. For 2011, President Barack Obama had proposed to cut funding to only $1 billion, even though at least $2 billion is needed from the US to begin to close the Global Fund's funding gap.
An AIDS activist with Health Gap in Cameroun, Ms Mabel Takana, said there were many important discussions that would take place at the conference , however in order for any of those discussions to have any relevance, all participants must first address the growing crisis in funding for AIDS care and prevention.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Cleft patients to receive assistance
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 (Graphic Business Pg 11)
By Lucy Adoma Yeboah
TRANSFORMING Faces Worldwide (TFW), a Canadian charity which helps cleft lip and palate management projects in developing countries, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to extend its operations in Ghana for the next three years.
The MoU was signed in Accra between the Executive Director of TFW, Mr Esteban Lasso and the Chief Executive of the hospital, Prof. Nii Otu Nartey during a press briefing on the operations of the Cleft Lip and Palate Management Project (CLPMP), Ghana.
The project, which is located at the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre (RPSBC) at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, draws various health experts from both public and private health institutions to form a multi-disciplinary team to treat cleft lip patients.
Cleft lip and palate is a congenital abnormality or defect which causes a split in the lip or the roof of the mouth. It is possible to look into the mouth of a person with the defect, even when their lips are closed.
Problems associated with the defect are: Appearance of the sufferer, social stigma, parents not naming the child, reluctance on the part of parents to send children for immunisation or to school and abandoning or even ending the lives of some children by parents.
Medical problems associated with cleft lip are: Feeding problems, repeated ear infections, speech problems, hearing problems, learning difficulties, as well as other congenital problems such as heart, skeletal and genital problems.
Health professionals have it that it is usually a shock to parents who expect a ‘perfect baby’ to come face to face with one who has cleft lip. That situation is likely to force both or most often, the man to abandon the baby.
The defect usually occurred within the first three months of conception where some women might not even know they were pregnant and, therefore, indulged in activities which might increase the risk factors on the baby.
These include the intake of certain drugs, alcohol, smoking, anticonvulsants, retinoic acid, steroids, some herbal concoctions, lack of folic acid and lack of vitamins.
There is also the issue of genetic factors where genetic materials are passed on from parents to children.
The international non-governmental organisation (NGO) which has been working in the country since 2002, has so far supported about 500 cleft lip patients through surgery and a large number of patients have received multi-disciplinary services.
Support from TFW comes in the form of funds for medical supplies, treatment, transportation of patients and medical personnel, as well as training for local cleft specialists.
In addition to Ghana, the organisation has projects in Bulgaria, Peru, Argentina, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, China and Thailand.
Transforming Faces Worldwide (TFW) had so far offered close to 90,000 interventions on about 6,000 patients and these included Reconstructive surgery, speech therapy, hearing tests and aids, breastfeeding counselling, dentistry/orthodontics, nutritional support, psychological counselling and ear, nose and throat (ENT) services.
At the event, Mr Lasso of the TFW said globally, a child was born with a cleft lip and palate every 11 minutes and that in many developing countries, access to multidisciplinary treatment was limited or lacking in quality.
Touching on the Ghanaian situation, he identified some of the challenges facing the health sector which also affected the management of cleft lip patients as the brain drain of local medical specialists, which he said undermined development of cleft centre.
He also talked about the fact that cleft lip and palate was a low priority for the overburdened health systems as well as limited funds.
Mr Lasso said there was, therefore, the need for long-term partnerships to build multidisciplinary teams and emphasis placed on building local capacity and training.
A representative of TFW, Ghana, Mr James Hottor, said the goal of the NGO was to evolve and sustain a comprehensive cleft lip and palate management in the country, to pursue partnership for the sustenance of the project, provide assistance to poor persons with such facial defects with regard to treatment cost, travelling and accommodation while attending hospital, and also offer nutritional status improvement.
For his part, a member of the team, Dr Albert Paintsil, said
Dr Paintsil advised child-bearing women to be wary of what they do since it might affect their children.
He pointed out that cleft lip and palate defect occurred during the development of the face of the foetus in the first three months of pregnancy.
He noted that most mothers may not be aware of the pregnancy during that time and may engage in activities such as intake of alcohol and certain drugs, smoking, anticonvulsants, retinoic acid, steroids, lack of folic acid and vitamins and some herbal concoctions which may increase the risk factors of the baby developing the defect.
He said defects in the genetic material passed on to the child from the parents was also a factor.
Dr Paintsil emphasised that cleft lip and palate was not the result of witchcraft, unfaithfulness on the part of the woman, curse or the effect of a ‘bad look’ during pregnancy. GB
By Lucy Adoma Yeboah
TRANSFORMING Faces Worldwide (TFW), a Canadian charity which helps cleft lip and palate management projects in developing countries, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to extend its operations in Ghana for the next three years.
The MoU was signed in Accra between the Executive Director of TFW, Mr Esteban Lasso and the Chief Executive of the hospital, Prof. Nii Otu Nartey during a press briefing on the operations of the Cleft Lip and Palate Management Project (CLPMP), Ghana.
The project, which is located at the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre (RPSBC) at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, draws various health experts from both public and private health institutions to form a multi-disciplinary team to treat cleft lip patients.
Cleft lip and palate is a congenital abnormality or defect which causes a split in the lip or the roof of the mouth. It is possible to look into the mouth of a person with the defect, even when their lips are closed.
Problems associated with the defect are: Appearance of the sufferer, social stigma, parents not naming the child, reluctance on the part of parents to send children for immunisation or to school and abandoning or even ending the lives of some children by parents.
Medical problems associated with cleft lip are: Feeding problems, repeated ear infections, speech problems, hearing problems, learning difficulties, as well as other congenital problems such as heart, skeletal and genital problems.
Health professionals have it that it is usually a shock to parents who expect a ‘perfect baby’ to come face to face with one who has cleft lip. That situation is likely to force both or most often, the man to abandon the baby.
The defect usually occurred within the first three months of conception where some women might not even know they were pregnant and, therefore, indulged in activities which might increase the risk factors on the baby.
These include the intake of certain drugs, alcohol, smoking, anticonvulsants, retinoic acid, steroids, some herbal concoctions, lack of folic acid and lack of vitamins.
There is also the issue of genetic factors where genetic materials are passed on from parents to children.
The international non-governmental organisation (NGO) which has been working in the country since 2002, has so far supported about 500 cleft lip patients through surgery and a large number of patients have received multi-disciplinary services.
Support from TFW comes in the form of funds for medical supplies, treatment, transportation of patients and medical personnel, as well as training for local cleft specialists.
In addition to Ghana, the organisation has projects in Bulgaria, Peru, Argentina, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, China and Thailand.
Transforming Faces Worldwide (TFW) had so far offered close to 90,000 interventions on about 6,000 patients and these included Reconstructive surgery, speech therapy, hearing tests and aids, breastfeeding counselling, dentistry/orthodontics, nutritional support, psychological counselling and ear, nose and throat (ENT) services.
At the event, Mr Lasso of the TFW said globally, a child was born with a cleft lip and palate every 11 minutes and that in many developing countries, access to multidisciplinary treatment was limited or lacking in quality.
Touching on the Ghanaian situation, he identified some of the challenges facing the health sector which also affected the management of cleft lip patients as the brain drain of local medical specialists, which he said undermined development of cleft centre.
He also talked about the fact that cleft lip and palate was a low priority for the overburdened health systems as well as limited funds.
Mr Lasso said there was, therefore, the need for long-term partnerships to build multidisciplinary teams and emphasis placed on building local capacity and training.
A representative of TFW, Ghana, Mr James Hottor, said the goal of the NGO was to evolve and sustain a comprehensive cleft lip and palate management in the country, to pursue partnership for the sustenance of the project, provide assistance to poor persons with such facial defects with regard to treatment cost, travelling and accommodation while attending hospital, and also offer nutritional status improvement.
For his part, a member of the team, Dr Albert Paintsil, said
Dr Paintsil advised child-bearing women to be wary of what they do since it might affect their children.
He pointed out that cleft lip and palate defect occurred during the development of the face of the foetus in the first three months of pregnancy.
He noted that most mothers may not be aware of the pregnancy during that time and may engage in activities such as intake of alcohol and certain drugs, smoking, anticonvulsants, retinoic acid, steroids, lack of folic acid and vitamins and some herbal concoctions which may increase the risk factors of the baby developing the defect.
He said defects in the genetic material passed on to the child from the parents was also a factor.
Dr Paintsil emphasised that cleft lip and palate was not the result of witchcraft, unfaithfulness on the part of the woman, curse or the effect of a ‘bad look’ during pregnancy. GB
'Don't cut back on response to AIDS'
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 3)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria,
THE 18th International AIDS Conference opened in Vienna, Austria, last Sunday, with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon, expressing worry that governments were cutting back on their response to AIDS and saying that that should be a cause for great concern.
In a video message to a large crowd of people representing countries of the world, Mr Ban said now that the world had made significant progress in the global response to HIV and AIDS, it was important for governments to ensure that the gains were not reversed.
"We have made significant progress in the global response. New infections have declined; access to treatment has expanded; decades-old travel restrictions are being lifted," he stressed.
In the address, the UN boss paid special tribute to people living with HIV (PLHIVs) who made it to the conference.
"Your courage has given strength to people around the world. You have helped people suffering as a result of stigma and discrimination to emerge from the shadows and seek not only treatment but their fundamental human rights," he said.
He, however, stated that too many of the obstacles still remained to be tackled.
He took the opportunity to call for additional resources for other areas that had been neglected for far too long, such as maternal health in particular.
For his part, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Mr Michel Sidibe, touched on achievements in the global HIV response and said five million people were alive because of treatment, adding that infection rates had dropped by 17 per cent since 2001.
In addition, the world had seen unprecedented activism and the full engagement of people living with HIV, a situation he acknowledged to be helping in combating the epidemic.
In spite of those achievements, Mr Sidibe expressed some level of apprehension and pointed out that HIV prevention models were coming short and reiterated that governments were cracking down on vulnerable groups, treatment was not sustainable and costs were rising.
He indicated that 10 million people were waiting for any treatment at all and that "we have evidence to point that in too many countries too many clinics that gave people treatment and hope now have to turn people away, including pregnant women who risk passing the virus on to their babies".
The President of the International AIDS Society (IAS), Dr Julio Montaner, expressed disappointment at the attitude of the rich countries who were failing to support HIV and AIDS prevention programmes with the excuse of the fiscal crisis.
The Local Co-chair of the conference, Dr Briggitte Schmied, said AIDS was never just about science but had always been about social justice as well.
"And that is why the AIDS 2010 theme of “Rights Here, Right Now” emphasises the role of human rights in the scale-up of HIV programmes, including the right to life free of stigma and discrimination," she said.
She explained that the theme also emphasised the right to health care, including access to all scientifically sound HIV prevention, and called for support for AIDS prevention programmes and projects.
More than 20,000 participants from all over the world are attending the conference on the theme: "Rights Here, Right Now".
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria,
THE 18th International AIDS Conference opened in Vienna, Austria, last Sunday, with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon, expressing worry that governments were cutting back on their response to AIDS and saying that that should be a cause for great concern.
In a video message to a large crowd of people representing countries of the world, Mr Ban said now that the world had made significant progress in the global response to HIV and AIDS, it was important for governments to ensure that the gains were not reversed.
"We have made significant progress in the global response. New infections have declined; access to treatment has expanded; decades-old travel restrictions are being lifted," he stressed.
In the address, the UN boss paid special tribute to people living with HIV (PLHIVs) who made it to the conference.
"Your courage has given strength to people around the world. You have helped people suffering as a result of stigma and discrimination to emerge from the shadows and seek not only treatment but their fundamental human rights," he said.
He, however, stated that too many of the obstacles still remained to be tackled.
He took the opportunity to call for additional resources for other areas that had been neglected for far too long, such as maternal health in particular.
For his part, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Mr Michel Sidibe, touched on achievements in the global HIV response and said five million people were alive because of treatment, adding that infection rates had dropped by 17 per cent since 2001.
In addition, the world had seen unprecedented activism and the full engagement of people living with HIV, a situation he acknowledged to be helping in combating the epidemic.
In spite of those achievements, Mr Sidibe expressed some level of apprehension and pointed out that HIV prevention models were coming short and reiterated that governments were cracking down on vulnerable groups, treatment was not sustainable and costs were rising.
He indicated that 10 million people were waiting for any treatment at all and that "we have evidence to point that in too many countries too many clinics that gave people treatment and hope now have to turn people away, including pregnant women who risk passing the virus on to their babies".
The President of the International AIDS Society (IAS), Dr Julio Montaner, expressed disappointment at the attitude of the rich countries who were failing to support HIV and AIDS prevention programmes with the excuse of the fiscal crisis.
The Local Co-chair of the conference, Dr Briggitte Schmied, said AIDS was never just about science but had always been about social justice as well.
"And that is why the AIDS 2010 theme of “Rights Here, Right Now” emphasises the role of human rights in the scale-up of HIV programmes, including the right to life free of stigma and discrimination," she said.
She explained that the theme also emphasised the right to health care, including access to all scientifically sound HIV prevention, and called for support for AIDS prevention programmes and projects.
More than 20,000 participants from all over the world are attending the conference on the theme: "Rights Here, Right Now".
Monday, July 19, 2010
International AIDS confab opens
Monday, July 19, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 3)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria,
ABOUT 25,000 participants from around the world have gathered at the Reed Messe Exhibition and Congress Centre in the Austrian capital, Vienna, to advocate responsible action on HIV and AIDS.
Dubbed the 18th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), the event is considered the most important platform for addressing HIV and AIDS issues world-wide.
The event, which is scheduled between July 18 and July 23, 2010, is on the theme: “Rights Here, Right Now”.
The six-day event, which opened yesterday, is said to represent hope, progress, enlightenment and power to confront the epidemic.
Laid down programmes include discussions on the active protection of the human rights of those affected, universal access to HIV prevention and treatment, care and support for people living with HIV (PLHIVs).
About 50 participants from Ghana, including a 15-member government delegation, as well as members of civil society groups and some PLHIVs, are attending.
The International AIDS Conference, which is held biennially, is a premier gathering of those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, PLHIVs and other individuals committed to ending the epidemic.
It is a forum to assess the progress made, evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learnt and collectively chart a course forward.
AIDS 2010 is an opportunity to highlight the critical connection between human rights and HIV, present new scientific knowledge and offer many opportunities from structured dialogue on the major issues facing the global response to HIV.
A statement signed by the international and the local chairmen of the 18th AIDS Conference, Julio Montaner and Brigitte Schimied, indicated that the conference would be the most important global gathering in the fight against the spread of AIDS, as well as a unique opportunity for science, communities, governments and leadership from around the world to advance the response to the epidemic.
"The conference will present timely and important data on leading HIV and AIDS issues and allow for sharing of lessons learned among developing and developed countries that will assist in bringing and supporting effective treatment and prevention programmes to countries around the world," it stated.
The event will be characterised by sessions, press conferences, exhibitions, workshops, poster presentations, screen presentations, animation, among others.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria,
ABOUT 25,000 participants from around the world have gathered at the Reed Messe Exhibition and Congress Centre in the Austrian capital, Vienna, to advocate responsible action on HIV and AIDS.
Dubbed the 18th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), the event is considered the most important platform for addressing HIV and AIDS issues world-wide.
The event, which is scheduled between July 18 and July 23, 2010, is on the theme: “Rights Here, Right Now”.
The six-day event, which opened yesterday, is said to represent hope, progress, enlightenment and power to confront the epidemic.
Laid down programmes include discussions on the active protection of the human rights of those affected, universal access to HIV prevention and treatment, care and support for people living with HIV (PLHIVs).
About 50 participants from Ghana, including a 15-member government delegation, as well as members of civil society groups and some PLHIVs, are attending.
The International AIDS Conference, which is held biennially, is a premier gathering of those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, PLHIVs and other individuals committed to ending the epidemic.
It is a forum to assess the progress made, evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learnt and collectively chart a course forward.
AIDS 2010 is an opportunity to highlight the critical connection between human rights and HIV, present new scientific knowledge and offer many opportunities from structured dialogue on the major issues facing the global response to HIV.
A statement signed by the international and the local chairmen of the 18th AIDS Conference, Julio Montaner and Brigitte Schimied, indicated that the conference would be the most important global gathering in the fight against the spread of AIDS, as well as a unique opportunity for science, communities, governments and leadership from around the world to advance the response to the epidemic.
"The conference will present timely and important data on leading HIV and AIDS issues and allow for sharing of lessons learned among developing and developed countries that will assist in bringing and supporting effective treatment and prevention programmes to countries around the world," it stated.
The event will be characterised by sessions, press conferences, exhibitions, workshops, poster presentations, screen presentations, animation, among others.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tobacco industry fights laws on control
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 (Graphic Business Page 11)
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
WITH series of studies to indicate that second hand smoking is more dangerous than smoking directly, health professionals in many countries, including some developing countries have advocated the ban of smoking in public places, if not banning the product completely.
Among those developing countries is Ghana which since 2003, has gone through the act of drafting a Tobacco Control Bill. The bill, which within the last few weeks has been sent to Cabinet for approval and subsequently to Parliament, seems to have a long way to go.
When it is passed into law, the Tobacco Control Bill will, among other things, prohibit a person from smoking in public and, therefore, protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco.
The bill provides in part that, “A person shall not smoke tobacco or tobacco products or hold a lighted tobacco in enclosed or indoor area of a work place, or any other public place, a workplace whether privately or publicly owned”.
In addition, many of the things which were currently being done to subtly promote the use of tobacco products would be prohibited under the law.
Those prohibitions would be captured under, “advertising in relation to tobacco and tobacco products” . It went further to include activities such as indirect tobacco advertising, organisation, service, activity or event use of tobacco trademarks, logos, brand names as well as tobacco or tobacco products or tobacco related products on bill boards, mural, or transport stations, airports and sea ports would be prohibited.
On tobacco sponsorship, the bill indicated that “a person shall not initiate or engage in any form of tobacco sponsorship; organise or promote an activity that is to take place in the country; make financial contribution to an organised activity in the country, make financial contribution to a person in respect of the organisation or promotion as well as the participation by that person in an organised activity”.
These provisions and others in the bill which are supposed to control the use of cigarette and other tobacco products, are what some people suspect are forcing those in tobacco industry to fight against the passage of the bill.
At a recent seminar for selected health reporters in Accra, some of the participating journalists, who said they had followed issues of the draft bill since the first draft in 2003, indicated that it was high time it was passed for the benefit of non-smokers in the society.
They also spent time to discuss the possibility of unseen hands somewhere which have over the years fought hard to prevent such a legislation to see the light of day. These, according to the participants were the giants in the tobacco industry who used all methods to entice people, especially the youth to patronise tobacco products.
Some of the methods they allegedly use are advertisement, sponsorship, scholarships and at times the offer of free products to innocent youth who later in life become addicted to the product.
After blaming the giants in the tobacco industry who used all manner of marketing strategies to continue to operate, there was the issue of some governments who because of the amount of revenue they receive from tobacco importation and sale, decide to ignore the number of their citizens who die because of tobacco.
There was a time that Ghana used to witness the organisation of "Embassy Double Do" beauty pageants with the Embassy brand.
Years past there existed in this county the British American Tobacco (BAT) which did all it could to encourage Ghanaian farmers so much that, they readily produced for their factories. Though many of those farmers did not smoke nor used any tobacco products, they suffered from what was called the green disease just because they handled the tobacco leaves.
The most significant aspect of the issue is the case of those who do not smoke tobacco but inhale hundreds of dangerous substances from others who smoke, those referred to as passive or second hand smokers.
Banning smoking
Six years after ratifying the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), Ghana is yet to implement one of the most important provisions in the Convention - that is the ban of smoking in public places.
The conention on tobacco is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. The convention is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of the all people to the highest standard of health and was developed in response to the globalisation of the tobacco epidemic.
The spread of the tobacco epidemic is facilitated through a variety of complex factors with cross-border effects, including trade liberalisation and direct foreign investment.
Other factors such as global marketing, trans-national tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the international movement of contraband and counterfeit cigarette have also contributed to the explosive increase in tobacco use.
Ghana’s failure to do what is required of it under the WHO Convention is seen in its non-compliance of the provisions in Article 8 with the heading: “Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke”.
Section 1 of the article provides that: “Parties recognise that scientific evidence has unequivocally established that exposure to tobacco smoke cause death, disease and disability”.
There is, therefore, the need for Ghana as a matter of urgency, to recognise the need to promulgate the law includes the ban of smoking in public place to save the large number of Ghanains who face the risk of suffering unduly because others have opted to smoke no matter the dangers involved.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
WITH series of studies to indicate that second hand smoking is more dangerous than smoking directly, health professionals in many countries, including some developing countries have advocated the ban of smoking in public places, if not banning the product completely.
Among those developing countries is Ghana which since 2003, has gone through the act of drafting a Tobacco Control Bill. The bill, which within the last few weeks has been sent to Cabinet for approval and subsequently to Parliament, seems to have a long way to go.
When it is passed into law, the Tobacco Control Bill will, among other things, prohibit a person from smoking in public and, therefore, protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco.
The bill provides in part that, “A person shall not smoke tobacco or tobacco products or hold a lighted tobacco in enclosed or indoor area of a work place, or any other public place, a workplace whether privately or publicly owned”.
In addition, many of the things which were currently being done to subtly promote the use of tobacco products would be prohibited under the law.
Those prohibitions would be captured under, “advertising in relation to tobacco and tobacco products” . It went further to include activities such as indirect tobacco advertising, organisation, service, activity or event use of tobacco trademarks, logos, brand names as well as tobacco or tobacco products or tobacco related products on bill boards, mural, or transport stations, airports and sea ports would be prohibited.
On tobacco sponsorship, the bill indicated that “a person shall not initiate or engage in any form of tobacco sponsorship; organise or promote an activity that is to take place in the country; make financial contribution to an organised activity in the country, make financial contribution to a person in respect of the organisation or promotion as well as the participation by that person in an organised activity”.
These provisions and others in the bill which are supposed to control the use of cigarette and other tobacco products, are what some people suspect are forcing those in tobacco industry to fight against the passage of the bill.
At a recent seminar for selected health reporters in Accra, some of the participating journalists, who said they had followed issues of the draft bill since the first draft in 2003, indicated that it was high time it was passed for the benefit of non-smokers in the society.
They also spent time to discuss the possibility of unseen hands somewhere which have over the years fought hard to prevent such a legislation to see the light of day. These, according to the participants were the giants in the tobacco industry who used all methods to entice people, especially the youth to patronise tobacco products.
Some of the methods they allegedly use are advertisement, sponsorship, scholarships and at times the offer of free products to innocent youth who later in life become addicted to the product.
After blaming the giants in the tobacco industry who used all manner of marketing strategies to continue to operate, there was the issue of some governments who because of the amount of revenue they receive from tobacco importation and sale, decide to ignore the number of their citizens who die because of tobacco.
There was a time that Ghana used to witness the organisation of "Embassy Double Do" beauty pageants with the Embassy brand.
Years past there existed in this county the British American Tobacco (BAT) which did all it could to encourage Ghanaian farmers so much that, they readily produced for their factories. Though many of those farmers did not smoke nor used any tobacco products, they suffered from what was called the green disease just because they handled the tobacco leaves.
The most significant aspect of the issue is the case of those who do not smoke tobacco but inhale hundreds of dangerous substances from others who smoke, those referred to as passive or second hand smokers.
Banning smoking
Six years after ratifying the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), Ghana is yet to implement one of the most important provisions in the Convention - that is the ban of smoking in public places.
The conention on tobacco is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. The convention is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of the all people to the highest standard of health and was developed in response to the globalisation of the tobacco epidemic.
The spread of the tobacco epidemic is facilitated through a variety of complex factors with cross-border effects, including trade liberalisation and direct foreign investment.
Other factors such as global marketing, trans-national tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the international movement of contraband and counterfeit cigarette have also contributed to the explosive increase in tobacco use.
Ghana’s failure to do what is required of it under the WHO Convention is seen in its non-compliance of the provisions in Article 8 with the heading: “Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke”.
Section 1 of the article provides that: “Parties recognise that scientific evidence has unequivocally established that exposure to tobacco smoke cause death, disease and disability”.
There is, therefore, the need for Ghana as a matter of urgency, to recognise the need to promulgate the law includes the ban of smoking in public place to save the large number of Ghanains who face the risk of suffering unduly because others have opted to smoke no matter the dangers involved.
Monday, July 12, 2010
H1N1 vaccine safe - GHS
Sat. July 10, 2010
OFFICIALS of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have vouched for the safety of the Influenza A (H1N1) vaccine currently being administered to the public, indicating that it is to provide beneficiaries with protection against the disease.
They have subsequently allayed fears concerning the safety of the vaccine, saying of the more than two million doses of the vaccine administered to individuals, almost all reports of adverse reactions have been mild, such as pain and stiffness, fever, headache, runny nose and an occasional lump in the armpit.
In a statement in Accra on Tuesday, the health officials indicated that although those adverse reactions, even after any drug administration, were not unusual, the health authorities would deal with the reports with all the seriousness they deserved.
The statement, signed by the Public Relations Officer of the GHS, Mrs Rebecca Ackwonu, therefore, advised any member of the public who felt unwell or had any complaint and felt it could be related to the HINI vaccination to report to the nearest hospital for appropriate management and documentation.
It pointed out that the vaccine for the HINI was pre-qualified after it had satisfied relevant procedures, including safety and efficacy trials by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It said the two bodies were aware of the associated adverse reactions following vaccinations, almost all of which were minor, except an occasional severe event.
“That is why, as part of the vaccination exercise, post-exposure surveillance had been instituted with all people who received the vaccine,” it said.
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the GHS, the pandemic influenza vaccine used in Ghana was Pandemrix, which was safe and complied with WHO recommendations.
One dose (0.5ml) administered into the left shoulder muscles (im deltoid) provides protection.
The vaccine is not administered to women in their first three months of pregnancy and people with known hypersensitivity reaction to any of the vaccine constituents.
Ghana received 2.3 million doses of the Pandemrix and the priority groups receiving the vaccine are healthcare professionals, pregnant women, some security personnel and certain individuals.
As part of the monitoring exercise, the statement said, adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) surveillance was kept, as in routine immunisation and a mass campaign exercise. The AEFI forms are available in all health facilities to record and investigate all reports of adverse events linked to vaccine administration.
"Where adverse events were reported, district health teams conducted follow-up investigations and made appropriate recommendations for action to be taken," it pointed out.
It said there were adequate preparations at all vaccination points in Ghana which managed serious, rare and uncommon adverse events.
“In a mass campaign of this nature, it is not unexpected that a few individuals may come up with uncommon or rare adverse events.
"It is, therefore, advised that anyone who feels unwell or has any complaint related to the H1N1 vaccination should report to the nearest health facility,” the statement added.
OFFICIALS of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have vouched for the safety of the Influenza A (H1N1) vaccine currently being administered to the public, indicating that it is to provide beneficiaries with protection against the disease.
They have subsequently allayed fears concerning the safety of the vaccine, saying of the more than two million doses of the vaccine administered to individuals, almost all reports of adverse reactions have been mild, such as pain and stiffness, fever, headache, runny nose and an occasional lump in the armpit.
In a statement in Accra on Tuesday, the health officials indicated that although those adverse reactions, even after any drug administration, were not unusual, the health authorities would deal with the reports with all the seriousness they deserved.
The statement, signed by the Public Relations Officer of the GHS, Mrs Rebecca Ackwonu, therefore, advised any member of the public who felt unwell or had any complaint and felt it could be related to the HINI vaccination to report to the nearest hospital for appropriate management and documentation.
It pointed out that the vaccine for the HINI was pre-qualified after it had satisfied relevant procedures, including safety and efficacy trials by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It said the two bodies were aware of the associated adverse reactions following vaccinations, almost all of which were minor, except an occasional severe event.
“That is why, as part of the vaccination exercise, post-exposure surveillance had been instituted with all people who received the vaccine,” it said.
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the GHS, the pandemic influenza vaccine used in Ghana was Pandemrix, which was safe and complied with WHO recommendations.
One dose (0.5ml) administered into the left shoulder muscles (im deltoid) provides protection.
The vaccine is not administered to women in their first three months of pregnancy and people with known hypersensitivity reaction to any of the vaccine constituents.
Ghana received 2.3 million doses of the Pandemrix and the priority groups receiving the vaccine are healthcare professionals, pregnant women, some security personnel and certain individuals.
As part of the monitoring exercise, the statement said, adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) surveillance was kept, as in routine immunisation and a mass campaign exercise. The AEFI forms are available in all health facilities to record and investigate all reports of adverse events linked to vaccine administration.
"Where adverse events were reported, district health teams conducted follow-up investigations and made appropriate recommendations for action to be taken," it pointed out.
It said there were adequate preparations at all vaccination points in Ghana which managed serious, rare and uncommon adverse events.
“In a mass campaign of this nature, it is not unexpected that a few individuals may come up with uncommon or rare adverse events.
"It is, therefore, advised that anyone who feels unwell or has any complaint related to the H1N1 vaccination should report to the nearest health facility,” the statement added.
Ghana to hold the first global congress on sickle cell disease
Sat. July 10,2010
THE Global Sickle Cell Disease Research Network, in collaboration with the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana, will organise the first global congress on the sickle cell disease (SCD) at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) from July 20 to 23, 2010.
The theme for the event is: "Sickle Cell Disease, 1910-2010: 100 Years of Science, Still Seeking Global Solutions".
The congress will bring together medical and research scientists, public health officials, national, international and community-based sickle cell organisations, non-governmental organisations, people with sickle cell disease and their families from all over the world.
It follows advocacy for an organised global effort to address the many issues on the SCD which have been advanced at several international meetings, including, the joint World Health Organisation-Thalassemia International Federation (WHO-TIF) meeting on the management of haemoglobin disorders held at Nicosia, Cyprus, in November 2007 and the international symposium and workshop held in Cotonou, Benin, on January 26-28, 2009.
That was organised in conjunction with the official opening of the newly expanded National Sickle Cell Disease Centre in the Republic of Benin and co-sponsored by the Programme for Global Paediatric Research Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Others were recommendations made at the inaugural commemoration of the World Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Day at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA, on June 19, 2009.
The Accra congress is expected to address the health educational and psycho-social needs of affected persons and families, public health issues in SCD, medical care, research, programme development in SCD and the development of international community-based organisations.
In addition, research scientists from developing and developed nations will have the opportunity to advance research collaboration through workshops as a follow-up to the January 2009 Benin symposium and workshop, during which the Global Sickle Cell Disease Research Network was inaugurated.
Finally, the congress will follow up on the joint WHO-TIF meeting on the management of haemoglobin disorders at Nicosia, Cyprus, in November 2007 with the adoption of a plan for the establishment of a Sickle Cell Disease International Federation, representing countries and regions where the SCD and related conditions are a public health issue.
THE Global Sickle Cell Disease Research Network, in collaboration with the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana, will organise the first global congress on the sickle cell disease (SCD) at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) from July 20 to 23, 2010.
The theme for the event is: "Sickle Cell Disease, 1910-2010: 100 Years of Science, Still Seeking Global Solutions".
The congress will bring together medical and research scientists, public health officials, national, international and community-based sickle cell organisations, non-governmental organisations, people with sickle cell disease and their families from all over the world.
It follows advocacy for an organised global effort to address the many issues on the SCD which have been advanced at several international meetings, including, the joint World Health Organisation-Thalassemia International Federation (WHO-TIF) meeting on the management of haemoglobin disorders held at Nicosia, Cyprus, in November 2007 and the international symposium and workshop held in Cotonou, Benin, on January 26-28, 2009.
That was organised in conjunction with the official opening of the newly expanded National Sickle Cell Disease Centre in the Republic of Benin and co-sponsored by the Programme for Global Paediatric Research Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Others were recommendations made at the inaugural commemoration of the World Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Day at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA, on June 19, 2009.
The Accra congress is expected to address the health educational and psycho-social needs of affected persons and families, public health issues in SCD, medical care, research, programme development in SCD and the development of international community-based organisations.
In addition, research scientists from developing and developed nations will have the opportunity to advance research collaboration through workshops as a follow-up to the January 2009 Benin symposium and workshop, during which the Global Sickle Cell Disease Research Network was inaugurated.
Finally, the congress will follow up on the joint WHO-TIF meeting on the management of haemoglobin disorders at Nicosia, Cyprus, in November 2007 with the adoption of a plan for the establishment of a Sickle Cell Disease International Federation, representing countries and regions where the SCD and related conditions are a public health issue.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Cleft Lip Management Project to the rescue of children
A YOUNG mother who was given the opportunity to share her experience with the press in Accra on Tuesday narrated how her husband abandoned her and their baby when she gave birth to a baby girl with cleft lip.
Sounding emotional about the episode, the woman said her husband told her bluntly that since there was no one in his family with such a defect, he would not want to be associated with the new-born baby.
Presenting a beautiful baby girl to the press, the young woman said she was currently at peace with herself because her baby had been treated, making it possible for her to start pre-school with others of the same age .
The event was a press briefing on the operations of the Cleft Lip and Palate Management Project (CLPMP), Ghana. The project, which is located at the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre (RPSBC) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, draws various health experts from both public and private health institutions to form a multi-disciplinary team.
Cleft lip and palate is a congenital abnormality or defect which causes a split in the lip or the roof of the mouth.
It is possible to look into the mouth of a person with the defect, even when their lips are closed.
Problems associated with the defect are: Appearance of the sufferer, social stigma, parents not naming the child, reluctance on the part of parents to send children for immunisation or to school and abandoning or even ending the lives of some children by parents.
Medical problems associated with cleft lip are: Feeding problems, repeated ear infections, speech problems, hearing problems, learning difficulties, as well as other congenital problems such as heart, skeletal and genital problems.
Health professionals have it that it is usually a shock to parents who expect a ‘perfect baby’ to come face to face with one who has cleft lip. That situation is likely to force both or most often, the man to abandon the baby.
Together with other parents at the event, the ‘abandoned mother’ expressed her gratitude to Transforming Faces World-wide (TFW), a Canadian charity founded in 1999 which supports cleft lip and palate management in developing countries, for helping in the treatment of her baby girl.
Support from TFW comes in the form of funds for medical supplies, treatment, transportation of patients and medical personnel, as well as training for local cleft specialists.
The international non-governmental organisation (NGO) which has been working in the country since 2002, has so far supported about 500 patients through surgery and a large number of patients have received multi-disciplinary services.
In addition to Ghana, the organisation has projects in Bulgaria, Peru, Argentina, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, China and Thailand.
Another story was told of little Paa Kwesi who was not given a name eight days after his birth, in conformity with Ghanaian tradition. That was because his parents could not let others look at him because of his condition. Later, he was abandoned by both parents but his grandmother who took care of him, managed to send him for treatment, with support from TFW.
Pictures of Paa Kwesi from infancy with his cleft lip to his present age of four years with no sign of the defect were shown to the press.
With such a great achievement to show, it was refreshing to hear from the Executive Director of TFW, Mr Esteban Lasso, that the organisation would extend the project in Ghana to the next three years.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) to that effect was signed at the ceremony.
He said TFW had so far offered close to 90,000 interventions on about 6,000 patients and these included reconstructive surgery, speech therapy, hearing tests and aids, breastfeeding counselling, dentistry/orthodontics, nutritional support, psychological counselling and ear, nose and throat (ENT) services.
He identified some of the challenges facing the Ghanaian health sector which also affected the management of cleft lip patients as the brain drain of local medical specialists, which he said undermined development of cleft centre.
A representative of TFW, Ghana, Mr James Hottor, said the goal of the NGO was to evolve and sustain a comprehensive cleft lip and palate management in the country, to pursue partnership for the sustenance of the project, provide assistance to poor persons with such facial defects with regard to treatment cost, travelling and accommodation while attending hospital, and also offer nutritional status improvement.
For his part, a member of the team, Dr Albert Paintsil, said the defect usually occurred within the first three months of conception where some women might not even know they were pregnant and, therefore, indulged in activities which might increase the risk factors on the baby.
These, he said, include the intake of certain drugs, alcohol, smoking, anticonvulsants, retinoic acid, steroids, some herbal concoctions, lack of folic acid and lack of vitamins.
There is also the issue of genetic factors where genetic materials are passed on from parents to children.
Dr Paintsil advised child-bearing women to be wary of what they do since it might affect their children.
Sounding emotional about the episode, the woman said her husband told her bluntly that since there was no one in his family with such a defect, he would not want to be associated with the new-born baby.
Presenting a beautiful baby girl to the press, the young woman said she was currently at peace with herself because her baby had been treated, making it possible for her to start pre-school with others of the same age .
The event was a press briefing on the operations of the Cleft Lip and Palate Management Project (CLPMP), Ghana. The project, which is located at the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre (RPSBC) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, draws various health experts from both public and private health institutions to form a multi-disciplinary team.
Cleft lip and palate is a congenital abnormality or defect which causes a split in the lip or the roof of the mouth.
It is possible to look into the mouth of a person with the defect, even when their lips are closed.
Problems associated with the defect are: Appearance of the sufferer, social stigma, parents not naming the child, reluctance on the part of parents to send children for immunisation or to school and abandoning or even ending the lives of some children by parents.
Medical problems associated with cleft lip are: Feeding problems, repeated ear infections, speech problems, hearing problems, learning difficulties, as well as other congenital problems such as heart, skeletal and genital problems.
Health professionals have it that it is usually a shock to parents who expect a ‘perfect baby’ to come face to face with one who has cleft lip. That situation is likely to force both or most often, the man to abandon the baby.
Together with other parents at the event, the ‘abandoned mother’ expressed her gratitude to Transforming Faces World-wide (TFW), a Canadian charity founded in 1999 which supports cleft lip and palate management in developing countries, for helping in the treatment of her baby girl.
Support from TFW comes in the form of funds for medical supplies, treatment, transportation of patients and medical personnel, as well as training for local cleft specialists.
The international non-governmental organisation (NGO) which has been working in the country since 2002, has so far supported about 500 patients through surgery and a large number of patients have received multi-disciplinary services.
In addition to Ghana, the organisation has projects in Bulgaria, Peru, Argentina, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, China and Thailand.
Another story was told of little Paa Kwesi who was not given a name eight days after his birth, in conformity with Ghanaian tradition. That was because his parents could not let others look at him because of his condition. Later, he was abandoned by both parents but his grandmother who took care of him, managed to send him for treatment, with support from TFW.
Pictures of Paa Kwesi from infancy with his cleft lip to his present age of four years with no sign of the defect were shown to the press.
With such a great achievement to show, it was refreshing to hear from the Executive Director of TFW, Mr Esteban Lasso, that the organisation would extend the project in Ghana to the next three years.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) to that effect was signed at the ceremony.
He said TFW had so far offered close to 90,000 interventions on about 6,000 patients and these included reconstructive surgery, speech therapy, hearing tests and aids, breastfeeding counselling, dentistry/orthodontics, nutritional support, psychological counselling and ear, nose and throat (ENT) services.
He identified some of the challenges facing the Ghanaian health sector which also affected the management of cleft lip patients as the brain drain of local medical specialists, which he said undermined development of cleft centre.
A representative of TFW, Ghana, Mr James Hottor, said the goal of the NGO was to evolve and sustain a comprehensive cleft lip and palate management in the country, to pursue partnership for the sustenance of the project, provide assistance to poor persons with such facial defects with regard to treatment cost, travelling and accommodation while attending hospital, and also offer nutritional status improvement.
For his part, a member of the team, Dr Albert Paintsil, said the defect usually occurred within the first three months of conception where some women might not even know they were pregnant and, therefore, indulged in activities which might increase the risk factors on the baby.
These, he said, include the intake of certain drugs, alcohol, smoking, anticonvulsants, retinoic acid, steroids, some herbal concoctions, lack of folic acid and lack of vitamins.
There is also the issue of genetic factors where genetic materials are passed on from parents to children.
Dr Paintsil advised child-bearing women to be wary of what they do since it might affect their children.
‘Speed-up passage of Tobacco Control Bill’
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A group of health reporters at a day’s seminar on Ghana’s draft Tobacco Control Bill have urged the government not to further delay the promulgation of the bill which can protect the lives of non-smokers.
The bill, which is yet to be sent to Cabinet for consideration, has been on the drawing board since 2003.
When it becomes law, the Tobacco Control Bill will, among other things, prohibit a person from smoking in public and, therefore, protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco.
The bill provides in part that “A person shall not smoke tobacco or tobacco products or hold a lighted tobacco in enclosed or indoor area of a work place, or any other public place, a workplace whether privately or publicly owned”.
Some of the participating journalists, who said they had followed issues of the draft bill since the first draft in 2003, indicated that it was high time it was passed for the benefit of non-smokers in society.
In her presentation, a Principal State Attorney at the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department, Mrs Anna Pearl Akiwumi Siriboe said many of the things which were currently being done to subtly promote the use of tobacco products would be prohibited under the law.
Those prohibitions, she said, would be captured under “advertising in relation to tobacco and tobacco products” and explained that activities such as indirect tobacco advertising, organisation, service, activity or event use of tobacco trademarks, logos, brand names as well as tobacco or tobacco products or tobacco related products on bill boards, mural, or transport stations, airports and sea ports would be prohibited.
On tobacco sponsorship, she stated that “a person shall not initiate or engage in any form of tobacco sponsorship; organise or promote an activity that is to take place in the country; make financial contribution to an organised activity in the country, make financial contribution to a person in respect of the organisation or promotion as well as the participation by that person in an organised activity”.
Mrs Akiwumi-Siriboe also touched on packaging and labelling, point of sale health warning, public education against smoking, sale of tobacco products, youth access and minimum age restrictions and treatment of tobacco addiction.
The bill also contains issues on inspections and enforcement, power of the Food and Drugs Boards (FDB) to prosecute, regulations, offences and penalties, interpretation, transitional provisions and health-warning.
Speaking on the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the Health Promotion Officer at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Office, Ms Sophia Twum-Barima said the framework was developed because a global strategy was needed to confront a global epidemic that countries could not address through domestic legislation.
She said it was the first international public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO.
Ms Twum-Barima indicated that the framework contained guidelines and requirements on the most cost-effective tobacco control measures.
“It provides the basic tools for countries to enact comprehensive tobacco legislation. It also provides numerous measures designed to promote and protect public health; promote research and exchange of information among other countries”, she pointed out.
She also indicated that the framework had the objective to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences and also provide a framework for tobacco control measures.
An official of the Research and Development Division of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Mrs Edith Koryor Wellington called on the media to intensify their role as educators to get the message of tobacco control through.
She reminded the public that exposure to some chemicals in tobacco might lead to cancers of the lung, throat and mouth as well as disease conditions like gangrene and advised smokers to stop. She further advised non-smokers not to smoke since the product was addictive.
A group of health reporters at a day’s seminar on Ghana’s draft Tobacco Control Bill have urged the government not to further delay the promulgation of the bill which can protect the lives of non-smokers.
The bill, which is yet to be sent to Cabinet for consideration, has been on the drawing board since 2003.
When it becomes law, the Tobacco Control Bill will, among other things, prohibit a person from smoking in public and, therefore, protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco.
The bill provides in part that “A person shall not smoke tobacco or tobacco products or hold a lighted tobacco in enclosed or indoor area of a work place, or any other public place, a workplace whether privately or publicly owned”.
Some of the participating journalists, who said they had followed issues of the draft bill since the first draft in 2003, indicated that it was high time it was passed for the benefit of non-smokers in society.
In her presentation, a Principal State Attorney at the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department, Mrs Anna Pearl Akiwumi Siriboe said many of the things which were currently being done to subtly promote the use of tobacco products would be prohibited under the law.
Those prohibitions, she said, would be captured under “advertising in relation to tobacco and tobacco products” and explained that activities such as indirect tobacco advertising, organisation, service, activity or event use of tobacco trademarks, logos, brand names as well as tobacco or tobacco products or tobacco related products on bill boards, mural, or transport stations, airports and sea ports would be prohibited.
On tobacco sponsorship, she stated that “a person shall not initiate or engage in any form of tobacco sponsorship; organise or promote an activity that is to take place in the country; make financial contribution to an organised activity in the country, make financial contribution to a person in respect of the organisation or promotion as well as the participation by that person in an organised activity”.
Mrs Akiwumi-Siriboe also touched on packaging and labelling, point of sale health warning, public education against smoking, sale of tobacco products, youth access and minimum age restrictions and treatment of tobacco addiction.
The bill also contains issues on inspections and enforcement, power of the Food and Drugs Boards (FDB) to prosecute, regulations, offences and penalties, interpretation, transitional provisions and health-warning.
Speaking on the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the Health Promotion Officer at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Office, Ms Sophia Twum-Barima said the framework was developed because a global strategy was needed to confront a global epidemic that countries could not address through domestic legislation.
She said it was the first international public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO.
Ms Twum-Barima indicated that the framework contained guidelines and requirements on the most cost-effective tobacco control measures.
“It provides the basic tools for countries to enact comprehensive tobacco legislation. It also provides numerous measures designed to promote and protect public health; promote research and exchange of information among other countries”, she pointed out.
She also indicated that the framework had the objective to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences and also provide a framework for tobacco control measures.
An official of the Research and Development Division of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Mrs Edith Koryor Wellington called on the media to intensify their role as educators to get the message of tobacco control through.
She reminded the public that exposure to some chemicals in tobacco might lead to cancers of the lung, throat and mouth as well as disease conditions like gangrene and advised smokers to stop. She further advised non-smokers not to smoke since the product was addictive.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Cancer screening need more resources (graphic business)
AT a recent press briefing in Accra, the Cancer Control Focal Person of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Kofi Nyarko, indicated the need for government to commit more resources to the effective screening of cervical cancer in the country.
Cervical cancer has been identified as the most common cancer affecting women in Ghana and the lack of an effective and systematic national testing or treatment as compared to developed countries is increasing the cases of the disease.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) study showed that 18 per cent of all cancer deaths in Ghana is due to cervical cancer. The study also identified cervical cancer as the leading cause of cancers in women in Ghana.
Looking at the seriousness of the issue of cervical cancer in Ghana, the country has made necessary arrangements to host a three-day international meeting involving African First Ladies, African Ministers of Health and Members of Parliament (MPs) scheduled between July 25 and 27, to discuss strategies for reducing cervical cancer in Africa.
Dubbed, “The Fourth Stop Cervical Cancer in Africa”, the conference, which will also be attended by medical doctors and other health practitioners, is on the theme: “Africa unite in action, mobilising political and financial support to strengthen cervical cancer prevention”.
The conference is being hosted by the Ghana Government, in collaboration with Princess Nikky Breast and Cervical Cancer Foundation, a Nigeria-based non-governmental organisation at the forefront of breast and cervical cancer prevention and control in Africa.
It has the aim of advocating increased awareness on cervical cancer in Africa, as well as mobilising for effective strategy implementation through working with other partners in order to reduce stigmatisation of people suffering and living with cervical cancer.
It also has the objective to mobilise the needed resources for the development of policies, strategies and action to fight cervical cancer at national, regional and international levels.
Cervical cancer affects tissues of the cervix (the organ connecting the uterus and vagina). It is usually a slow-growing cancer that may not have symptoms but can be found with regular Pap tests (a procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix and looked at under a microscope). Cervical cancer is almost always caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
Available cervical cancer statistics indicate that globally, about 274,000 deaths were recorded annually, out of which 61,000 (78 per cent) of those deaths were from Africa. About 79,000 women are diagnosed of cervical cancer in Africa each year.
It is significant to note that women in developing world had the highest risk of developing cervical cancer because few are effectively screened.
In a paper presented to journalists during the pre-conference press briefing, Dr Nyarko pointed out although there had been interventions in Ghana such as the ‘Cervicare Project’ to prevent and treat cervical cancer, there was the need for a systematic national campaign to increase awareness of the disease.
The Health Minister Dr Benjamin Kunbuor quoted from a WHO study which stated that 18 per cent of all cancer deaths in Ghana was due to cervical cancer.
Unfortunately, most of the cancers seen at the country’s health facilities were said to be in advanced cases which could have been cured if they had been detected early. It is also a known fact that management of those advanced cases was very expensive.
“Prevention, early detection and treatment of early stages of cervical cancer is very cost effective and has good outcome,” Ghana’s Health Minister advised.
He expressed the hope that the hope that conference would accelerate Ghana’s efforts at advocacy and awareness creation, as well as enhance the country’s efforts to implement a comprehensive cervical cancer prevention programme.
The Executive Director of Princess Nikky Breast Cancer Foundation, Princess Nikky Onyeri, told media practitioners at the conference that the even was expected to advocate increased awareness of cervical cancer in Africa; to reduce stigmatisation of people suffering and living with cervical cancer.
She said the conference also had the objective to mobilise the needed resources for the development of policies, strategies and action to fight cervical cancer at national, regional and international levels.
Cervical cancer has been identified as the most common cancer affecting women in Ghana and the lack of an effective and systematic national testing or treatment as compared to developed countries is increasing the cases of the disease.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) study showed that 18 per cent of all cancer deaths in Ghana is due to cervical cancer. The study also identified cervical cancer as the leading cause of cancers in women in Ghana.
Looking at the seriousness of the issue of cervical cancer in Ghana, the country has made necessary arrangements to host a three-day international meeting involving African First Ladies, African Ministers of Health and Members of Parliament (MPs) scheduled between July 25 and 27, to discuss strategies for reducing cervical cancer in Africa.
Dubbed, “The Fourth Stop Cervical Cancer in Africa”, the conference, which will also be attended by medical doctors and other health practitioners, is on the theme: “Africa unite in action, mobilising political and financial support to strengthen cervical cancer prevention”.
The conference is being hosted by the Ghana Government, in collaboration with Princess Nikky Breast and Cervical Cancer Foundation, a Nigeria-based non-governmental organisation at the forefront of breast and cervical cancer prevention and control in Africa.
It has the aim of advocating increased awareness on cervical cancer in Africa, as well as mobilising for effective strategy implementation through working with other partners in order to reduce stigmatisation of people suffering and living with cervical cancer.
It also has the objective to mobilise the needed resources for the development of policies, strategies and action to fight cervical cancer at national, regional and international levels.
Cervical cancer affects tissues of the cervix (the organ connecting the uterus and vagina). It is usually a slow-growing cancer that may not have symptoms but can be found with regular Pap tests (a procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix and looked at under a microscope). Cervical cancer is almost always caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
Available cervical cancer statistics indicate that globally, about 274,000 deaths were recorded annually, out of which 61,000 (78 per cent) of those deaths were from Africa. About 79,000 women are diagnosed of cervical cancer in Africa each year.
It is significant to note that women in developing world had the highest risk of developing cervical cancer because few are effectively screened.
In a paper presented to journalists during the pre-conference press briefing, Dr Nyarko pointed out although there had been interventions in Ghana such as the ‘Cervicare Project’ to prevent and treat cervical cancer, there was the need for a systematic national campaign to increase awareness of the disease.
The Health Minister Dr Benjamin Kunbuor quoted from a WHO study which stated that 18 per cent of all cancer deaths in Ghana was due to cervical cancer.
Unfortunately, most of the cancers seen at the country’s health facilities were said to be in advanced cases which could have been cured if they had been detected early. It is also a known fact that management of those advanced cases was very expensive.
“Prevention, early detection and treatment of early stages of cervical cancer is very cost effective and has good outcome,” Ghana’s Health Minister advised.
He expressed the hope that the hope that conference would accelerate Ghana’s efforts at advocacy and awareness creation, as well as enhance the country’s efforts to implement a comprehensive cervical cancer prevention programme.
The Executive Director of Princess Nikky Breast Cancer Foundation, Princess Nikky Onyeri, told media practitioners at the conference that the even was expected to advocate increased awareness of cervical cancer in Africa; to reduce stigmatisation of people suffering and living with cervical cancer.
She said the conference also had the objective to mobilise the needed resources for the development of policies, strategies and action to fight cervical cancer at national, regional and international levels.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Nana Konadu meets Ghana’s oldest woman (Mirror)
Sat, July 3, 2010
NANA Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has presented a gift item and an undisclosed amount of money to Maame Adjoa Adisima, a 140-year-old woman at Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The former First Lady also inaugurated a six-unit classroom block built by the Pru District Assembly for the Methodist Primary School at Yeji.
Present at the inauguration of the block was a representative of the Minister of Education.
The block was dedicated by the Bishop of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church, Rt Rev Professor Osei Sarfo Kantanka.
Maame Adisima, whose story appeared in the Mirror of Saturday, November 14, 2009, was said to have been born in 1870 with a family record book to show.
The old woman, who is a member of the Yeji Wesley Methodist Church, has 12 children and about 100 grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Although she is confined to a wheelchair and has difficulty in seeing and hearing, Maame Adisima is said to remember things which happened many years ago and can speak about them.
Evidence gathered from the old woman and other sources in the town indicated that her father, the late Nana Kojo Amoah of Ekumfi Ango in the Central Region, had travelled to settle at Yeji in 1860.
The late Nana Amoah got married to one Maame Abena, a native of Yeji, and had two children with her, Segu Amoah and Adjoa Adisima. While Segu Amoah was sent back to the Central Region for his education, Adisima stayed at Yeji with her parents and helped with their farming and trading activities.
The late Segu, after schooling in the Central Region, went back to Yeji. In 1930, he introduced Methodism there and established a school in the community which, over the years, helped in the education of the people of the town, which is currently the capital of the Pru District.
Maame Adisima is still a member of the church, together with other members of her family, which has many of the educated people in Yeji.
Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (with microphone) about to present the gift to Maame Adisima (in wheelchair). With them are Mr Masawod Mohammed, the District Chief Executive of Pru, and Rt Rev Prof Osei Sarfo Kantanka, the Bishop of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church, who prayed for the old lady.
NANA Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has presented a gift item and an undisclosed amount of money to Maame Adjoa Adisima, a 140-year-old woman at Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The former First Lady also inaugurated a six-unit classroom block built by the Pru District Assembly for the Methodist Primary School at Yeji.
Present at the inauguration of the block was a representative of the Minister of Education.
The block was dedicated by the Bishop of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church, Rt Rev Professor Osei Sarfo Kantanka.
Maame Adisima, whose story appeared in the Mirror of Saturday, November 14, 2009, was said to have been born in 1870 with a family record book to show.
The old woman, who is a member of the Yeji Wesley Methodist Church, has 12 children and about 100 grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Although she is confined to a wheelchair and has difficulty in seeing and hearing, Maame Adisima is said to remember things which happened many years ago and can speak about them.
Evidence gathered from the old woman and other sources in the town indicated that her father, the late Nana Kojo Amoah of Ekumfi Ango in the Central Region, had travelled to settle at Yeji in 1860.
The late Nana Amoah got married to one Maame Abena, a native of Yeji, and had two children with her, Segu Amoah and Adjoa Adisima. While Segu Amoah was sent back to the Central Region for his education, Adisima stayed at Yeji with her parents and helped with their farming and trading activities.
The late Segu, after schooling in the Central Region, went back to Yeji. In 1930, he introduced Methodism there and established a school in the community which, over the years, helped in the education of the people of the town, which is currently the capital of the Pru District.
Maame Adisima is still a member of the church, together with other members of her family, which has many of the educated people in Yeji.
Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (with microphone) about to present the gift to Maame Adisima (in wheelchair). With them are Mr Masawod Mohammed, the District Chief Executive of Pru, and Rt Rev Prof Osei Sarfo Kantanka, the Bishop of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church, who prayed for the old lady.
Directorate merge Ridge and Adabeaka (Page 3)
Sat. June 3, 2010
THE Greater Accra Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has merged the Ridge Hospital and the Adabraka Polyclinic both in Accra to ensure efficient healthcare delivery.
The merger, which took effect from Thursday, July 1, 2010, is also to ease pressure on the hospital’s facilities and the congestion which usually occurs there.
Under the new arrangement, the Ridge Hospital will operate as a referral hospital with the Adabraka Polyclinic serving as the Outpatient Department (OPD), under a new designation "Ridge Hospital OPD, Adabraka".
To ensure that patients are well taken care of, the health directorate, under the leadership of the Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, Professor Irene Agyepong Amarteyfio, has arranged for the transfer of all the health professionals and paramedics currently working at the OPD section of the Ridge Hospital to the Adabraka Polyclinic.
These include doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, X-ray technicians, among other staff to enable them to continue with the services they provide.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Director, Clinical Care, at the Regional Health Directorate, Mrs Sarah Amissah-Bamfo, said the decision was taken to ensure that the large number of cases whichare reported to the Ridge Hospital on daily basis was properly distributed and adequately handled accordingly.
Dr Amissah-Bamfo explained that in addition to being a referral hospital, the Ridge Hospital would continue to cater for all emergency and accident cases and provide gynaecological services, surgeries and all others that required the attention of a specialist.
She pointed out that the Ghana Health Service 2009 Annual Report indicated that Ridge Hospital took care of about 701 outpatients a day, the Adabraka Polyclinic, which is as big as the Kaneshie and Maamobi hospitals put together, cared for about 134 outpatients, a figure considered low under the circumstance.
She said the Adabraka Polyclinic would operate a 24-hour service with a well-equipped ambulance service with a medical technician at its disposal to send emergency cases to the Ridge Hospital, which is within the same vicinity.
The Deputy Director said the decision had been thoroughly discussed among the management of the two health facilities, the chief of Adabraka, as well as staff of the two hospitals.
She took the opportunity to appeal to the public to bear with the hospital and comply with the changes accordingly.
THE Greater Accra Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has merged the Ridge Hospital and the Adabraka Polyclinic both in Accra to ensure efficient healthcare delivery.
The merger, which took effect from Thursday, July 1, 2010, is also to ease pressure on the hospital’s facilities and the congestion which usually occurs there.
Under the new arrangement, the Ridge Hospital will operate as a referral hospital with the Adabraka Polyclinic serving as the Outpatient Department (OPD), under a new designation "Ridge Hospital OPD, Adabraka".
To ensure that patients are well taken care of, the health directorate, under the leadership of the Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, Professor Irene Agyepong Amarteyfio, has arranged for the transfer of all the health professionals and paramedics currently working at the OPD section of the Ridge Hospital to the Adabraka Polyclinic.
These include doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, X-ray technicians, among other staff to enable them to continue with the services they provide.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Director, Clinical Care, at the Regional Health Directorate, Mrs Sarah Amissah-Bamfo, said the decision was taken to ensure that the large number of cases whichare reported to the Ridge Hospital on daily basis was properly distributed and adequately handled accordingly.
Dr Amissah-Bamfo explained that in addition to being a referral hospital, the Ridge Hospital would continue to cater for all emergency and accident cases and provide gynaecological services, surgeries and all others that required the attention of a specialist.
She pointed out that the Ghana Health Service 2009 Annual Report indicated that Ridge Hospital took care of about 701 outpatients a day, the Adabraka Polyclinic, which is as big as the Kaneshie and Maamobi hospitals put together, cared for about 134 outpatients, a figure considered low under the circumstance.
She said the Adabraka Polyclinic would operate a 24-hour service with a well-equipped ambulance service with a medical technician at its disposal to send emergency cases to the Ridge Hospital, which is within the same vicinity.
The Deputy Director said the decision had been thoroughly discussed among the management of the two health facilities, the chief of Adabraka, as well as staff of the two hospitals.
She took the opportunity to appeal to the public to bear with the hospital and comply with the changes accordingly.
Friday, July 2, 2010
18 flood victims identified
Thursday, July 1, 2010
THE National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has released the identities of the 18 people who lost their lives in the Greater Accra Region during the June 20 flood disaster.
The deceased, comprising nine males and nine females, and their ages, ranging between 18 months and 58 years, lost their lives in the floods at Ashaiman and Adentan.
A list made available to the Daily Graphic by the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Winfred Nomotey Tesia, included Nana Abban, 22; Alhaji Kasum, 55, and three members of one household — Mariatu Issa, 12; Abubakari Issa, 15, and Yusif Issa, six.
Another set of three victims who belonged to the same household were Nelson Tsogbe, 24; Janet Odoom, nine, and Cynthia Odoom, six.
Others were Safianu Ibrahim, 35; Billy Tsinasi, 58; Philip K. Adatsi, 41; Hamzalatu Tuani, three; Dzigbordi Amenu, Yawa Azalekor, 18 months, and Esinam Azalekor, 28.
The rest were Samuel Kunto, 36; Aisha Mohammed, 30, and Janet Nsenkyire, five.
The list also contained the next of kin of the deceased, as well as their contact addresses.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, Mr Tesia said the Rapid Response Team of NADMO and officers and men of the 48 Engineers Regiment and the Tema Police Command worked tirelessly on the day of the floods to save lives and property.
He said throughout the about eight-hour rains and after, the team rescued persons trapped from drowning and injury.
“We retrieved dead bodies, comforted displaced persons and consoled bereaved families,” he stressed.
He indicated that the team searched for missing persons and those who were displaced were registered, after which they were provided with some relief items.
As part of the rescue operation, the co-ordinator said, 110 people were evacuated from their homes at Tema New Town, 227 from flooded homes at Tema Community Five and 175 from Pokuase.
“We retrieved 13 dead bodies from under the Jericho Bridge, Lebanon and Roman Down at Ashaiman and also retrieved and identified five dead bodies at Adentan,” he indicated.
He said 110 people were sheltered at the Naval Base and 227 at the Stanley School, both in Tema.
Mr Tesia said the most affected areas were the Ashaiman municipality, the Tema metropolis, the Ga West municipality, the Dangme West District and the Adentan municipality.
In addition to the 18 individuals who lost their lives, 4,924 people were displaced.
He said relief items allocated to the displaced people were rice, beans, maize, soap, mats, cups, plates, buckets, basins and mattresses.
In a related development, some victims of the floods in the Ashaiman municipality have accused the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly of insensitivity to their plight, reports Della Russel Ocloo.
They claimed that 13 days after the torrential rains had displaced more than 3,000 people and caused 17 deaths in the municipality, the assembly was yet to provide the needed logistics to ease the plight of the victims.
The victims also accused the assembly of bias and threatened to embark on a demonstration should the situation persist for another week.
A victim, Maame Esi Sarpong, told the Daily Graphic that neither NADMO nor officials of the assembly had visited them, after the assembly had taken inventory of their damaged property, registered them and taken their particulars.
“The only assistance we have received so far is one ‘Olonka’ tin of rice and an eight-inch mattress, although our household comprises about 50 people,” another victim, Mr Winfred Kumassah, said.
Mr Thomas Adongo, the Assembly Member for the Obakatse (Roman Down) Electoral Area of the Ashaiman municipality, where a greater number of casualties were recorded, said he would support any demonstration by the victims and questioned why a household of between 50-70 people should be given only one mattress.
The Assembly Member for the Asensu Electoral Area, Mr Abdul Aziz Suleiman, indicated that the only assistance victims in his area had received was a donation of 80 bags of rice and quantities of cooking oil made available by the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Mr Kennedy Agyapong.
He accused the Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Numo Addison Adinortey, of not being proactive as the political head of the municipality, questioning why there had not been any effort on his part to collaborate with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to install mobile clinics in the community to cater for the health needs of the people.
“My sister, I can tell you for a fact that apart from the clearing of the debris by Zoomlion, which the assembly co-ordinated, little has been done to protect and cater for the displaced, some of whom have started contracting communicable diseases owing to shortage of water to the community,” Mr Suleiman lamented.
Mr Adinortey was very evasive when contacted on telephone and asked about the individual displaced persons who had complained of neglect.
He noted that the assembly had given enough support to NADMO to cater for the victims and urged them to remain patient as the assembly made efforts to resettle them.
“We intend holding a press conference in the coming days to tell the whole world the level of assistance we have provided so far,” he noted.
Mr Adinortey would, however, not comment on the assembly’s approved budget.
THE National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has released the identities of the 18 people who lost their lives in the Greater Accra Region during the June 20 flood disaster.
The deceased, comprising nine males and nine females, and their ages, ranging between 18 months and 58 years, lost their lives in the floods at Ashaiman and Adentan.
A list made available to the Daily Graphic by the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Winfred Nomotey Tesia, included Nana Abban, 22; Alhaji Kasum, 55, and three members of one household — Mariatu Issa, 12; Abubakari Issa, 15, and Yusif Issa, six.
Another set of three victims who belonged to the same household were Nelson Tsogbe, 24; Janet Odoom, nine, and Cynthia Odoom, six.
Others were Safianu Ibrahim, 35; Billy Tsinasi, 58; Philip K. Adatsi, 41; Hamzalatu Tuani, three; Dzigbordi Amenu, Yawa Azalekor, 18 months, and Esinam Azalekor, 28.
The rest were Samuel Kunto, 36; Aisha Mohammed, 30, and Janet Nsenkyire, five.
The list also contained the next of kin of the deceased, as well as their contact addresses.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, Mr Tesia said the Rapid Response Team of NADMO and officers and men of the 48 Engineers Regiment and the Tema Police Command worked tirelessly on the day of the floods to save lives and property.
He said throughout the about eight-hour rains and after, the team rescued persons trapped from drowning and injury.
“We retrieved dead bodies, comforted displaced persons and consoled bereaved families,” he stressed.
He indicated that the team searched for missing persons and those who were displaced were registered, after which they were provided with some relief items.
As part of the rescue operation, the co-ordinator said, 110 people were evacuated from their homes at Tema New Town, 227 from flooded homes at Tema Community Five and 175 from Pokuase.
“We retrieved 13 dead bodies from under the Jericho Bridge, Lebanon and Roman Down at Ashaiman and also retrieved and identified five dead bodies at Adentan,” he indicated.
He said 110 people were sheltered at the Naval Base and 227 at the Stanley School, both in Tema.
Mr Tesia said the most affected areas were the Ashaiman municipality, the Tema metropolis, the Ga West municipality, the Dangme West District and the Adentan municipality.
In addition to the 18 individuals who lost their lives, 4,924 people were displaced.
He said relief items allocated to the displaced people were rice, beans, maize, soap, mats, cups, plates, buckets, basins and mattresses.
In a related development, some victims of the floods in the Ashaiman municipality have accused the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly of insensitivity to their plight, reports Della Russel Ocloo.
They claimed that 13 days after the torrential rains had displaced more than 3,000 people and caused 17 deaths in the municipality, the assembly was yet to provide the needed logistics to ease the plight of the victims.
The victims also accused the assembly of bias and threatened to embark on a demonstration should the situation persist for another week.
A victim, Maame Esi Sarpong, told the Daily Graphic that neither NADMO nor officials of the assembly had visited them, after the assembly had taken inventory of their damaged property, registered them and taken their particulars.
“The only assistance we have received so far is one ‘Olonka’ tin of rice and an eight-inch mattress, although our household comprises about 50 people,” another victim, Mr Winfred Kumassah, said.
Mr Thomas Adongo, the Assembly Member for the Obakatse (Roman Down) Electoral Area of the Ashaiman municipality, where a greater number of casualties were recorded, said he would support any demonstration by the victims and questioned why a household of between 50-70 people should be given only one mattress.
The Assembly Member for the Asensu Electoral Area, Mr Abdul Aziz Suleiman, indicated that the only assistance victims in his area had received was a donation of 80 bags of rice and quantities of cooking oil made available by the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Mr Kennedy Agyapong.
He accused the Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Numo Addison Adinortey, of not being proactive as the political head of the municipality, questioning why there had not been any effort on his part to collaborate with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to install mobile clinics in the community to cater for the health needs of the people.
“My sister, I can tell you for a fact that apart from the clearing of the debris by Zoomlion, which the assembly co-ordinated, little has been done to protect and cater for the displaced, some of whom have started contracting communicable diseases owing to shortage of water to the community,” Mr Suleiman lamented.
Mr Adinortey was very evasive when contacted on telephone and asked about the individual displaced persons who had complained of neglect.
He noted that the assembly had given enough support to NADMO to cater for the victims and urged them to remain patient as the assembly made efforts to resettle them.
“We intend holding a press conference in the coming days to tell the whole world the level of assistance we have provided so far,” he noted.
Mr Adinortey would, however, not comment on the assembly’s approved budget.
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