GHANA is on track to achieve a single digit inflation by the end of the year, the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has stated.
He said the country's current economic indicators were showing a positive response to the global economic bounce back, with the rate of inflation declining continuously since October 2009 to stand at 14.23 per cent currently.
The value of the cedi had also stabilised against the major trading currencies, while the balance of payment and the international reserve position had improved and the public sector deficit reduced, he said.
Mr Mahama made the observation in Accra yesterday at the opening of a four-day international conference organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the USA Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) on public-private dialogue for West African states.
The theme for the conference was, “The impact of the Global Financial Crisis on West African States: Leveraging Public-Private Dialogue for Development”.
The Vice-President explained that the reduction in public sector deficit implied that the public sector borrowing requirement (PSBR) had declined, creating space for interest rates to fall and increase private sector borrowing for growth and employment creation.
Mr Mahama said the conference was important because it allowed participants to brainstorm and share experiences on the way forward out of the global financial crisis.
He said the global financial crisis, which he said began in the latter part of 2007 and intensified in 2008/2009, plunged most of the economies of the advanced world into recession.
He pointed out that pressure on the economies of developing countries had come from a number of fronts, among them the fact that African exports had been constrained by weaker external demand, particularly from the US and the European Union, with their tighter financial conditions.
The Vice-President said the government, in order to mitigate the effect of the crisis on the poor and restore stability to the economy, had been implementing various measures, including providing school uniforms for children in deprived communities, free exercise books for every pupil in public basic schools and increasing the capitation grant by 50 per cent.
Other measures, Mr Mahama said, were rationalising government expenditure by cutting down cost, reviewing mining, oil and forestry concession agreements to curb excessive repatriation, consolidating 27 ministries into 24 in order to rationalise government expenditure, reducing the number of ministers from 87 in the previous administration to 72, as well as reviewing petroleum taxes with the aim of reducing domestic petroleum prices.
For his part, a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Seth Terkper, gave background information on the global financial crisis and pointed out that it showed a drop in demand for exports, a decline in remittances and foreign exchange reserves and low budget support from tax revenues, aid and grant.
"Overall, growth fell sharply to 1-3 per cent in the advanced, transition and developing world," he said.
He said during the period, much of the gains from the decade of exuberance was whittled away quickly within a relatively short period of the crisis, adding that it was a crisis that brought consumers, big firms, governments and whole regions of the globe to their knees.
A member of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy, the funding body of the CIPE, Ambassador Lyman, said CIPE was created in 1993 to promote, among other objectives, democracy and good governance.
In his welcoming address, the Chairman of the IEA, Dr Charles Mensa, said looking at the importance of the topics to be discussed, participants were drawn not only from the public and private sectors but also top political party officials from West Africa for their inputs.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
DANGER-No drugs for mental patients (Front Page)
THE three public psychiatric hospitals in Accra, Pantang and Ankaful have been hit by an acute shortage of drugs for mental patients.
Reports indicate that the hospitals have not been supplied with drugs for the past five months.
Health workers at the hospitals told the Daily Graphic that the situation had caused some of the patients on admission to be given lower doses of prescribed drugs, while out-patients had to buy from outside the hospitals at exorbitant prices.
Under Ghana’s health sector policy, psychiatric drugs are provided free of charge by the Ministry of Health (MoH) for the treatment of patients who suffer from various types of mental illness. At worst, the drugs have to be subsidised for these patients who are considered vulnerable.
A caller from the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital who sent an SOS message through the Daily Graphic to the MoH, said for more than three months now no drug had been provided to the hospital.
The Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Akwasi Osei, who confirmed the report in an interview, said the hospitals had run out of supplies and there had been virtually no drugs for the past five months.
Dr Osei, who is also the Head of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital at Asylum Down, however, expressed the hope that a meeting with the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, and his deputy, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, on Wednesday was likely to yield some positive results.
He said some challenges that affected the supply of the drugs had been identified and were being resolved.
He pointed out that there was the issue of checks and the verification of the efficacy of the drugs which partly caused the delay and stated that drugs would be sent to the hospitals as soon as possible.
Dr Osei said for all that while, patients were made to purchase their own drugs, instead of being provided free under the health sector policy.
He explained that as the hospitals were running out of stock, they reserved what was left for the inmates, who were at times given doses less than the required ones, and indicated that some of the inmates relied on their relations to purchase drugs for their treatment.
Dr Osei appealed to those who were responsible for the supply of the drugs to expedite action, considering the peculiar situation psychiatric patients found themselves in.
A Mental Health Bill intended to provide better healthcare delivery for mental patients has been on the drawing board for years.
Reports indicate that the hospitals have not been supplied with drugs for the past five months.
Health workers at the hospitals told the Daily Graphic that the situation had caused some of the patients on admission to be given lower doses of prescribed drugs, while out-patients had to buy from outside the hospitals at exorbitant prices.
Under Ghana’s health sector policy, psychiatric drugs are provided free of charge by the Ministry of Health (MoH) for the treatment of patients who suffer from various types of mental illness. At worst, the drugs have to be subsidised for these patients who are considered vulnerable.
A caller from the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital who sent an SOS message through the Daily Graphic to the MoH, said for more than three months now no drug had been provided to the hospital.
The Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Akwasi Osei, who confirmed the report in an interview, said the hospitals had run out of supplies and there had been virtually no drugs for the past five months.
Dr Osei, who is also the Head of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital at Asylum Down, however, expressed the hope that a meeting with the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, and his deputy, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, on Wednesday was likely to yield some positive results.
He said some challenges that affected the supply of the drugs had been identified and were being resolved.
He pointed out that there was the issue of checks and the verification of the efficacy of the drugs which partly caused the delay and stated that drugs would be sent to the hospitals as soon as possible.
Dr Osei said for all that while, patients were made to purchase their own drugs, instead of being provided free under the health sector policy.
He explained that as the hospitals were running out of stock, they reserved what was left for the inmates, who were at times given doses less than the required ones, and indicated that some of the inmates relied on their relations to purchase drugs for their treatment.
Dr Osei appealed to those who were responsible for the supply of the drugs to expedite action, considering the peculiar situation psychiatric patients found themselves in.
A Mental Health Bill intended to provide better healthcare delivery for mental patients has been on the drawing board for years.
GMA considers strike action (Front Page)
THE National Executive of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) says it has lost the courage to restrain its aggrieved members who are considering the last option to embark on a nationwide strike because of unpaid allowances.
It said the outcome of any such action, should it occur, should be placed squarely at the doorstep of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and, for that matter, the government, not the GMA.
The leadership of the association, therefore, directed all its members to stand by for further directions expected after a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Saturday, March 29, 2010.
The GMA is made up of about 2000 medical and dental practitioners working in the public sector.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, the President of the GMA, Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, pointed out that the situation had arisen because several attempts by the executive, including meetings with the MoH and complaints to the National Labour Commission (NLC), to resolve the issue of unpaid “on-call-duty-facilitation allowance” had not yielded results.
He said the proposed “on-call-duty-facilitation allowance” which was agreed on and sealed with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as far back as May 26, 2009 had so far not been paid.
A copy of the MoU shown to this reporter stated, “Arrears in respect of the above salary increment and the said allowance shall be paid in two tranches in July and August 2009.”
Unfortunately, Dr Winful said, the agreement had so far been ignored, in spite of numerous reminders sent to the MoH.
Giving further explanation to the issue, he said on May 26, 2009, an MoU was signed between the MoH and the GMA to try to bring to an end protracted issues affecting the conditions of service of medical doctors and dentists.
He stated that in the said MoU, it was agreed that “effective January 2009, 10 per cent of the basic salaries of doctors, including house officers, shall be paid to them as on-call-duty-facilitation allowance”.
He said the MoU indicated that in view of budgetary constraints on the government, “the said allowance shall, in the case of doctors housed in official government accommodation, be forfeited, while the same percentage of basic salary shall be paid to doctors not housed in official government accommodation”.
Dr Winful, however, indicated that up to date that agreement had not been fulfilled and doctors living in government accommodation continued to pay 10 per cent of their basic salaries as rent, while those living in private homes had not received the 10 per cent duty facilitation allowance as promised.
He said instead of fulfilling its part of the agreement, the government, through the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), was demanding from the GMA the list of all doctors living in government bungalows before the payment could be made.
He maintained that the list could easily be accessed at the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department because the department effected monthly deductions for the payment of the rent and, therefore, had the data.
He stressed that in spite of that fact, the GMA still agreed to help by coming out with the data covering nine regions and part of those in the Greater Accra Region but, strangely enough, the FWSC came out to say that the data was not reliable and could, therefore, not be used.
Dr Winful stated that members of the GMA had come to the conclusion that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of the government not to effect the payment, hence the numerous excuses.
It said the outcome of any such action, should it occur, should be placed squarely at the doorstep of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and, for that matter, the government, not the GMA.
The leadership of the association, therefore, directed all its members to stand by for further directions expected after a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Saturday, March 29, 2010.
The GMA is made up of about 2000 medical and dental practitioners working in the public sector.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, the President of the GMA, Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, pointed out that the situation had arisen because several attempts by the executive, including meetings with the MoH and complaints to the National Labour Commission (NLC), to resolve the issue of unpaid “on-call-duty-facilitation allowance” had not yielded results.
He said the proposed “on-call-duty-facilitation allowance” which was agreed on and sealed with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as far back as May 26, 2009 had so far not been paid.
A copy of the MoU shown to this reporter stated, “Arrears in respect of the above salary increment and the said allowance shall be paid in two tranches in July and August 2009.”
Unfortunately, Dr Winful said, the agreement had so far been ignored, in spite of numerous reminders sent to the MoH.
Giving further explanation to the issue, he said on May 26, 2009, an MoU was signed between the MoH and the GMA to try to bring to an end protracted issues affecting the conditions of service of medical doctors and dentists.
He stated that in the said MoU, it was agreed that “effective January 2009, 10 per cent of the basic salaries of doctors, including house officers, shall be paid to them as on-call-duty-facilitation allowance”.
He said the MoU indicated that in view of budgetary constraints on the government, “the said allowance shall, in the case of doctors housed in official government accommodation, be forfeited, while the same percentage of basic salary shall be paid to doctors not housed in official government accommodation”.
Dr Winful, however, indicated that up to date that agreement had not been fulfilled and doctors living in government accommodation continued to pay 10 per cent of their basic salaries as rent, while those living in private homes had not received the 10 per cent duty facilitation allowance as promised.
He said instead of fulfilling its part of the agreement, the government, through the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), was demanding from the GMA the list of all doctors living in government bungalows before the payment could be made.
He maintained that the list could easily be accessed at the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department because the department effected monthly deductions for the payment of the rent and, therefore, had the data.
He stressed that in spite of that fact, the GMA still agreed to help by coming out with the data covering nine regions and part of those in the Greater Accra Region but, strangely enough, the FWSC came out to say that the data was not reliable and could, therefore, not be used.
Dr Winful stated that members of the GMA had come to the conclusion that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of the government not to effect the payment, hence the numerous excuses.
Accra Floods-any lessons learnt?
HEAVY floods in the western parts of Accra on Friday of June 19, 2009 claimed at least seven lives and also caused massive destruction to private and public property after two hours of rain.
Disaster managers described the floods as the most destructive in recent times, with the most affected places being Sakaman, Abossey Okai, Darkuman Junction and Kaneshie.
The floods also washed away the bitumen on the main Kaneshie First Light-Mpamprom road and caught on some of the vehicles in the rush-hour traffic to float and crash into one another.
On the morning of Saturday, June 20, 2009, personnel from the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces joined members of the Emergency Unit of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to offer rescue services to some of those trapped in the disaster, some of whom were all-night worshippers at the Royal House Chapel at the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle who were carried to safer grounds by the soldiers.
Houses in low lying areas at Mallam Junction, Sakaman, Awoshie, Santa Maria, Odorkor, Darkuman Junction, Atico Junction, Mataheko, North Kaneshie, Mpamprom and the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle were filled with water, at some places above window level.
About 9 a.m. on Saturday morning when the Daily Graphic joined a team of government officials and security personnel, including the Police and the Ghana National Fire Service, as well as officials of NADMO, to assess the situation, hundreds of residents were seen moving already destroyed valuables from their rooms.
At the time of the incident, Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, the then Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo; the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije; the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio-Atinga; the Ga South Municipal Chief Executive, Sheriff Nii Otto Dodoo; the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Winfred Lomotey Tesia; the Director of Operations at the Police Headquarters, ACP Richmond Boi-Bi-Boi; as well as ACP Yohuno, the second-in-command in Accra spent almost the whole day touring areas affected by the flood.
During the tour, a handful of media practitioners who decided to see it all and therefore accompanied the public officials to visit the homes of some of the victims who had either lost relations or valuables, had the impression that something would be done to prevent a similar situation in the subsequent years.
That is the more reason why many of us heaved a sigh of relief when on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 the Daily Graphic carried a front page story headlined “ Govt to Tackle Accra Floods-GH¢2.5m injected into the project”
The story indicated that a massive construction work is to begin that month (July 2009) to overhaul the entire drainage system in Accra, as a way of dealing with the perennial flooding in the national capital “once and for all”.
Towards that project, the government was said to have released GH¢2.5 million to cover the construction, expansion and extension of drains, as well as clearing silt from both major and minor drains to allow the free flow of water when it rains.
In addition, all structures that were on watercourses were supposed to be demolished and owners of those that were put up illegally, investigated and prosecuted.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Hannah Louisa Bisiw explained that “this is an attempt to solve the flood problem once and for all”.
She stated that the funds for the project were made available to the ministry the previous week and expressed the hope that after the work had been completed, Accra would be free from floods.
She again pointed out that the government was aware that apart from Accra, other parts of the country also experienced flooding, and added that the ministry was collaborating with the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure that every part of the country was free from flood.
Few weeks after that story was published, drains around the Obetseby Lamptey Circle, Mallam Junction and Darkuman Junction saw some works. That was after the portion of the Kaneshie road which was washed off during the flood had been repaired. Again the drain which ran along the Kaneshie-Obetseby Lamptey Circle road as well as certain areas in Mataheko and Abossey Okai were desilted.
Almost one year after the flood occurred, some of us are yet see any serious work being done prevent the perennial rains this year.
I am saying this because on Saturday, March 20, 2010 an hour of rain in Accra once again brought to the fore the issue of flood. There were radio announcements to the effect that areas like Santa Maria, Awoshie, Osu, Adabraka and Kaneshie were flooded. Again, any regular user of the Graphic Road could bear witness to the fact the Odaw River that runs through the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and crosses the Graphic Road to the Agbogloshie area is almost choked with silt. One could even see green grass and similar bushes growing in parts of the drain. There are occasions that cattle had been seen grazing in the weedy portion. With such a situation, how could large volumes of water which pass through that drain when it rains move fast to sea?
As the rainy season is almost here with us, the question some of us would want to ask is whether residents of Accra and most specially, those living in low laying areas are safe.
That question is important because a recent story by this paper indicated that the southern sector of Ghana (which include Accra) is likely to experience heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms between May and June, according to forecasts by the Ghana Meteorological Agency.
The story stated that some areas in Accra and Kumasi are expected to experience flooding as a result of choked drains and buildings on waterways.
In an interview with the paper, the Principal Meteorological Officer, Togbe Gbegbie Fiamekor I, said the rains some weeks ago in some coastal areas marked the beginning of the rains in the southern sector.
He said Accra recorded 13.8 millimetres; Tema, 17.6 mm; Akatsi, 33.4 mm; Ada, 59.5 mm, and Saltpond, 1.0 mm.
Togbe Fiamekor cautioned that residents of Accra and Kumasi would experience flush floods if they continued to dump refuse into drains.
“Some areas in Accra and Kumasi will experience flush floods if people continue to choke the drains with garbage. People dump garbage indiscriminately into drains. People are not law abiding. If we do not change that mentality we shall always experience flush floods”, he said
Togbe Fiamekor lamented that innocent people might be the victims of the floods.
It is important to observe that either because much has not been done or what has been done is not up to expectation, the President J.E.A. Mills is scheduled to lead the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to launch a “national pre-floods” clean-up campaign in Accra on March 27, this year.
The exercise, which is expected to minimise the effects of floods when they occur, involves clearing drains and bushy areas throughout the country, most especially identified flood-prone areas.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the proposed national clean-up exercise, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of NADMO, Major Nicholas Mensah (retd), said that people from all sections of the Ghanaian society would be mobilised for the exercise.
With this intervention from NADMO, one could easily realise that not much has yet been done toward incident-free rainy season this year and if care is not taken, the problem which had for some time now been confroting us as any nation where lives and properties are lost anytime it rains, will be repeated. Does it mean we have not as yet learnt any lessons?
Disaster managers described the floods as the most destructive in recent times, with the most affected places being Sakaman, Abossey Okai, Darkuman Junction and Kaneshie.
The floods also washed away the bitumen on the main Kaneshie First Light-Mpamprom road and caught on some of the vehicles in the rush-hour traffic to float and crash into one another.
On the morning of Saturday, June 20, 2009, personnel from the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces joined members of the Emergency Unit of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to offer rescue services to some of those trapped in the disaster, some of whom were all-night worshippers at the Royal House Chapel at the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle who were carried to safer grounds by the soldiers.
Houses in low lying areas at Mallam Junction, Sakaman, Awoshie, Santa Maria, Odorkor, Darkuman Junction, Atico Junction, Mataheko, North Kaneshie, Mpamprom and the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle were filled with water, at some places above window level.
About 9 a.m. on Saturday morning when the Daily Graphic joined a team of government officials and security personnel, including the Police and the Ghana National Fire Service, as well as officials of NADMO, to assess the situation, hundreds of residents were seen moving already destroyed valuables from their rooms.
At the time of the incident, Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, the then Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo; the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije; the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio-Atinga; the Ga South Municipal Chief Executive, Sheriff Nii Otto Dodoo; the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Winfred Lomotey Tesia; the Director of Operations at the Police Headquarters, ACP Richmond Boi-Bi-Boi; as well as ACP Yohuno, the second-in-command in Accra spent almost the whole day touring areas affected by the flood.
During the tour, a handful of media practitioners who decided to see it all and therefore accompanied the public officials to visit the homes of some of the victims who had either lost relations or valuables, had the impression that something would be done to prevent a similar situation in the subsequent years.
That is the more reason why many of us heaved a sigh of relief when on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 the Daily Graphic carried a front page story headlined “ Govt to Tackle Accra Floods-GH¢2.5m injected into the project”
The story indicated that a massive construction work is to begin that month (July 2009) to overhaul the entire drainage system in Accra, as a way of dealing with the perennial flooding in the national capital “once and for all”.
Towards that project, the government was said to have released GH¢2.5 million to cover the construction, expansion and extension of drains, as well as clearing silt from both major and minor drains to allow the free flow of water when it rains.
In addition, all structures that were on watercourses were supposed to be demolished and owners of those that were put up illegally, investigated and prosecuted.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Hannah Louisa Bisiw explained that “this is an attempt to solve the flood problem once and for all”.
She stated that the funds for the project were made available to the ministry the previous week and expressed the hope that after the work had been completed, Accra would be free from floods.
She again pointed out that the government was aware that apart from Accra, other parts of the country also experienced flooding, and added that the ministry was collaborating with the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure that every part of the country was free from flood.
Few weeks after that story was published, drains around the Obetseby Lamptey Circle, Mallam Junction and Darkuman Junction saw some works. That was after the portion of the Kaneshie road which was washed off during the flood had been repaired. Again the drain which ran along the Kaneshie-Obetseby Lamptey Circle road as well as certain areas in Mataheko and Abossey Okai were desilted.
Almost one year after the flood occurred, some of us are yet see any serious work being done prevent the perennial rains this year.
I am saying this because on Saturday, March 20, 2010 an hour of rain in Accra once again brought to the fore the issue of flood. There were radio announcements to the effect that areas like Santa Maria, Awoshie, Osu, Adabraka and Kaneshie were flooded. Again, any regular user of the Graphic Road could bear witness to the fact the Odaw River that runs through the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and crosses the Graphic Road to the Agbogloshie area is almost choked with silt. One could even see green grass and similar bushes growing in parts of the drain. There are occasions that cattle had been seen grazing in the weedy portion. With such a situation, how could large volumes of water which pass through that drain when it rains move fast to sea?
As the rainy season is almost here with us, the question some of us would want to ask is whether residents of Accra and most specially, those living in low laying areas are safe.
That question is important because a recent story by this paper indicated that the southern sector of Ghana (which include Accra) is likely to experience heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms between May and June, according to forecasts by the Ghana Meteorological Agency.
The story stated that some areas in Accra and Kumasi are expected to experience flooding as a result of choked drains and buildings on waterways.
In an interview with the paper, the Principal Meteorological Officer, Togbe Gbegbie Fiamekor I, said the rains some weeks ago in some coastal areas marked the beginning of the rains in the southern sector.
He said Accra recorded 13.8 millimetres; Tema, 17.6 mm; Akatsi, 33.4 mm; Ada, 59.5 mm, and Saltpond, 1.0 mm.
Togbe Fiamekor cautioned that residents of Accra and Kumasi would experience flush floods if they continued to dump refuse into drains.
“Some areas in Accra and Kumasi will experience flush floods if people continue to choke the drains with garbage. People dump garbage indiscriminately into drains. People are not law abiding. If we do not change that mentality we shall always experience flush floods”, he said
Togbe Fiamekor lamented that innocent people might be the victims of the floods.
It is important to observe that either because much has not been done or what has been done is not up to expectation, the President J.E.A. Mills is scheduled to lead the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to launch a “national pre-floods” clean-up campaign in Accra on March 27, this year.
The exercise, which is expected to minimise the effects of floods when they occur, involves clearing drains and bushy areas throughout the country, most especially identified flood-prone areas.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the proposed national clean-up exercise, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of NADMO, Major Nicholas Mensah (retd), said that people from all sections of the Ghanaian society would be mobilised for the exercise.
With this intervention from NADMO, one could easily realise that not much has yet been done toward incident-free rainy season this year and if care is not taken, the problem which had for some time now been confroting us as any nation where lives and properties are lost anytime it rains, will be repeated. Does it mean we have not as yet learnt any lessons?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Evaluating 2009 HIV Sentinel Survey
The National HIV Sentinel Survey (HSS), conducted annually, is a useful tool to observe trends, reinforce or increase the commitment to accelerate implementation and provide feedback for health workers, as well as local and international groups involved in AIDS prevention programmes.
In the last five years, HSS data have been used as the primary data source for the national HIV and AIDS estimate in Ghana.
The sentinel survey is a cross-sectional survey targeting pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) in selected ANC sites in Ghana. The surveillance system was initiated based on the premise that prevalence of HIV among pregnant women was a good proxy indicator of the spread of the infection among the populace.
At a day’s workshop to disseminate the 2009 HSS in Accra, on Monday March 15, it came out that the estimated percentage of new HIV cases in Ghana increased to 1.9 per cent in 2009 from 1.7 per cent in 2008.
Also the HIV prevalence among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics was 2.9 per cent representing a 31 per cent increase of 2.2 per cent in 2008.
Addressing participants in the dissemination workshop where facts and figures of the 2009 HIV Sentinel Survey and National HIV and AIDS Prevalence Estimates were released, the Programme Manager of the National AIDS/STI Control Programme, Dr Nii Akwei Addo, maintained that despite the increase in prevalence of HIV in 2009, Ghana’s epidemic was still on the low side.
He was, however, quick to add that more effort was required by all stakeholders to keep the HIV prevalence on further decline, since complacency would erode the progress made so far.
For the survey, a total of 18,833 samples were collected from 69 antenatal clinics (ANCs) located in 40 sentinel sites (23 urban and 17 rural) across the country and records on 18,809 were analysed.
Dr Addo said there were an estimated 267,069 persons comprising 112,457 males and 154,612 females living with HIV and AIDS in Ghana and 25,666 of that were children; 12,579 being females.
Additionally, there were 22,177 new infections and 20,313 AIDS deaths with 2,566 being children.
The HIV site prevalence ranged from 0.7 per cent in North Tongu (rural) to 5.8 per cent in Koforidua and Agomanya (urban).
Dr Addo pointed out that interestingly, Agomanya saw a drop in prevalence from 2008’s figure of eight per cent to 5.8 per cent but still maintained its position as the site with the highest prevalence with Koforidua. Again, although Fanteakwa’s prevalence dropped to four per cent, it still remained the rural site with highest prevalence.
It also came out that all the regions with the exception of the Eastern Region recorded an increase in prevalence over 2008, Upper West Region recorded the highest increase of 3.1 per cent from 1.6 per cent. However, Eastern Region continues to be the region with the highest prevalence level.
For the age group, 40 to 44 years recorded the highest prevalence of four per cent while the 15-19 year group had the least prevalence of 1.9 per cent. Prevalence among the youth of age group 15-24 years which is used as a marker for new infections was 2.1 per cent.
According to the report, 91.8 per cent of the HIV positive samples were HIV type I; HIV type II was 5.2 per cent while HIV types I and II was three per cent.
Dr Addo said the country was gradually getting more HIV type II and HIV types I and II and considerations for a review of national antiretrovirals (ART) guidelines must take this trend into account given the limited regimens available for managing HIV type II.
For syphilis, the survey came out that the Central Region remained the region with the highest syphilis prevalence and Asikuma Odoben Brakwa (rural) the site with the highest prevalence.
The report indicated that rural areas continued to have higher syphilis prevalence than urban areas.
HIV prevalence among Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) clients was almost halved from 10.5 per cent in 2008 to 5.5 per cent in 2009 due to decreases at both the Adabraka and Kumasi sites.
Dr Addo stated that while the number of AIDS deaths was expected to decline, the number of people living with HIV was expected to increase gradually with improved access to ART taking into consideration the emergence of new infections.
He said more persons living with HIV would need ART and co-trimoxazole prophylaxis but the demand for these medications in children was expected to decline as the risk of Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV was reduced through PMTCT intervention.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, said the results of the survey remained an important indicator for monitoring the trend of the disease in the country and provide useful information for policy intervention.
He cautioned against complacency in order not to erode the gains made so far, saying “the more we reduce the prevalence, the more we must work hard to keep it low”.
In the last five years, HSS data have been used as the primary data source for the national HIV and AIDS estimate in Ghana.
The sentinel survey is a cross-sectional survey targeting pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) in selected ANC sites in Ghana. The surveillance system was initiated based on the premise that prevalence of HIV among pregnant women was a good proxy indicator of the spread of the infection among the populace.
At a day’s workshop to disseminate the 2009 HSS in Accra, on Monday March 15, it came out that the estimated percentage of new HIV cases in Ghana increased to 1.9 per cent in 2009 from 1.7 per cent in 2008.
Also the HIV prevalence among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics was 2.9 per cent representing a 31 per cent increase of 2.2 per cent in 2008.
Addressing participants in the dissemination workshop where facts and figures of the 2009 HIV Sentinel Survey and National HIV and AIDS Prevalence Estimates were released, the Programme Manager of the National AIDS/STI Control Programme, Dr Nii Akwei Addo, maintained that despite the increase in prevalence of HIV in 2009, Ghana’s epidemic was still on the low side.
He was, however, quick to add that more effort was required by all stakeholders to keep the HIV prevalence on further decline, since complacency would erode the progress made so far.
For the survey, a total of 18,833 samples were collected from 69 antenatal clinics (ANCs) located in 40 sentinel sites (23 urban and 17 rural) across the country and records on 18,809 were analysed.
Dr Addo said there were an estimated 267,069 persons comprising 112,457 males and 154,612 females living with HIV and AIDS in Ghana and 25,666 of that were children; 12,579 being females.
Additionally, there were 22,177 new infections and 20,313 AIDS deaths with 2,566 being children.
The HIV site prevalence ranged from 0.7 per cent in North Tongu (rural) to 5.8 per cent in Koforidua and Agomanya (urban).
Dr Addo pointed out that interestingly, Agomanya saw a drop in prevalence from 2008’s figure of eight per cent to 5.8 per cent but still maintained its position as the site with the highest prevalence with Koforidua. Again, although Fanteakwa’s prevalence dropped to four per cent, it still remained the rural site with highest prevalence.
It also came out that all the regions with the exception of the Eastern Region recorded an increase in prevalence over 2008, Upper West Region recorded the highest increase of 3.1 per cent from 1.6 per cent. However, Eastern Region continues to be the region with the highest prevalence level.
For the age group, 40 to 44 years recorded the highest prevalence of four per cent while the 15-19 year group had the least prevalence of 1.9 per cent. Prevalence among the youth of age group 15-24 years which is used as a marker for new infections was 2.1 per cent.
According to the report, 91.8 per cent of the HIV positive samples were HIV type I; HIV type II was 5.2 per cent while HIV types I and II was three per cent.
Dr Addo said the country was gradually getting more HIV type II and HIV types I and II and considerations for a review of national antiretrovirals (ART) guidelines must take this trend into account given the limited regimens available for managing HIV type II.
For syphilis, the survey came out that the Central Region remained the region with the highest syphilis prevalence and Asikuma Odoben Brakwa (rural) the site with the highest prevalence.
The report indicated that rural areas continued to have higher syphilis prevalence than urban areas.
HIV prevalence among Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) clients was almost halved from 10.5 per cent in 2008 to 5.5 per cent in 2009 due to decreases at both the Adabraka and Kumasi sites.
Dr Addo stated that while the number of AIDS deaths was expected to decline, the number of people living with HIV was expected to increase gradually with improved access to ART taking into consideration the emergence of new infections.
He said more persons living with HIV would need ART and co-trimoxazole prophylaxis but the demand for these medications in children was expected to decline as the risk of Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV was reduced through PMTCT intervention.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, said the results of the survey remained an important indicator for monitoring the trend of the disease in the country and provide useful information for policy intervention.
He cautioned against complacency in order not to erode the gains made so far, saying “the more we reduce the prevalence, the more we must work hard to keep it low”.
Define who is journalist-Minister urges GJA
THE Minister of Information, Mr John Akolgo Tia, has tasked the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to go back to the old-school definition of who a journalist is.
He said since professional associations like the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) would not allow anybody without the requisite training to be recognised as one of them, journalists should also protect the integrity of the profession by redefining who actually was a journalist.
At a meeting with the management and union executive of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in Accra yesterday, Mr Tia, who is a journalist himself, said it was important the GJA found ways to prevent the situation where anybody who could write or use a microphone to speak was referred to as a journalist.
The Information Minister said he would discuss with the GJA as to how to solve the problem and to bring sanctity into the practice of journalism in the country.
Touching on other issues confronting media practice currently, Mr Tia called for balance reportage so as to fairly serve all manner of persons within the society.
He observed that the Ghanaian media landscape currently was full of politics to the detriment of other development issues and urged both writers and presenters to do well by touching on other issues which bordered on the development of the Ghanaian society.
He reminded the media to always take into consideration the fundamentals of journalism, which border on the need to educate, to inform and to entertain, saying that some media entities usually settled on one aspect, especially the entertainment aspect, and ignore the other two.
He noted that media practice in Ghana at the moment had become highly competitive but went on to state that in spite of the competition, it was important each practitioner served as guide to the other for the benefit of society.
The minister took time to speak against unnecessary sensationalism, advising that information had become so vital to the world today that anybody who had the opportunity to have something to do with dissemination of information should be circumspect.
“Information has become one of the key factors of good governance and must be seen as such,” he stressed.
Mr Tia, who had already paid familiarisation visits to other state media houses, commended the GCGL for doing so well and urged other media organisations to learn from the company.
He also took the opportunity to commend the management staff for having good relationship with the workers’ union and pointed out that unlike other places that he visited, executives of the GCGL local union were present at the meeting without any prompting by him.
The Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, welcomed the minister on behalf of the company and took the opportunity to inform him about the 60th Anniversary celebration of the company, which falls due this year.
He acknowledged the fact that the media business in Ghana had become highly competitive since 1992 but was convinced that good work would always prevail.
As part of the visit, Mr Tia, who was in the company of staff of his ministry and a number of journalists, was taken round the various sections of the GCGL, where he interacted with some of the workers.
He said since professional associations like the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) would not allow anybody without the requisite training to be recognised as one of them, journalists should also protect the integrity of the profession by redefining who actually was a journalist.
At a meeting with the management and union executive of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in Accra yesterday, Mr Tia, who is a journalist himself, said it was important the GJA found ways to prevent the situation where anybody who could write or use a microphone to speak was referred to as a journalist.
The Information Minister said he would discuss with the GJA as to how to solve the problem and to bring sanctity into the practice of journalism in the country.
Touching on other issues confronting media practice currently, Mr Tia called for balance reportage so as to fairly serve all manner of persons within the society.
He observed that the Ghanaian media landscape currently was full of politics to the detriment of other development issues and urged both writers and presenters to do well by touching on other issues which bordered on the development of the Ghanaian society.
He reminded the media to always take into consideration the fundamentals of journalism, which border on the need to educate, to inform and to entertain, saying that some media entities usually settled on one aspect, especially the entertainment aspect, and ignore the other two.
He noted that media practice in Ghana at the moment had become highly competitive but went on to state that in spite of the competition, it was important each practitioner served as guide to the other for the benefit of society.
The minister took time to speak against unnecessary sensationalism, advising that information had become so vital to the world today that anybody who had the opportunity to have something to do with dissemination of information should be circumspect.
“Information has become one of the key factors of good governance and must be seen as such,” he stressed.
Mr Tia, who had already paid familiarisation visits to other state media houses, commended the GCGL for doing so well and urged other media organisations to learn from the company.
He also took the opportunity to commend the management staff for having good relationship with the workers’ union and pointed out that unlike other places that he visited, executives of the GCGL local union were present at the meeting without any prompting by him.
The Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, welcomed the minister on behalf of the company and took the opportunity to inform him about the 60th Anniversary celebration of the company, which falls due this year.
He acknowledged the fact that the media business in Ghana had become highly competitive since 1992 but was convinced that good work would always prevail.
As part of the visit, Mr Tia, who was in the company of staff of his ministry and a number of journalists, was taken round the various sections of the GCGL, where he interacted with some of the workers.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Ghana marks TB Day on March 24
THE National Tuberculosis (TB) Control Programme (NTP) has announced that this year’s World TB Day celebration scheduled for March 24, would be held in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital.
The theme for this year’s celebration is: "On the move against tuberculosis: Innovative to accelerate action".
March 24, each year commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the germ that causes tuberculosis.
Each year, Ghana joins the rest of the world to commemorate the World TB Day from March 24, and continues throughout the year. Activities carried out highlights the menace of TB amongst the general public.
At a workshop for selected journalists in Accra in preparation for this year’s TB Day, the NTP indicated that the theme called for a fast move to new innovations in the global fight against the disease. The year has also been dedicated to all diseases of the lung.
Synopsis for the 2010 World TB Day and Year of the Lung presented to journalists by officials of the NTP in Accra, stated that TB control was no longer the preserve of a few health professionals but everybody in the society had a role to play.
Addressing participants in the workshop, the TB Technical Advisor to NTP, Dr Rhehab Chimzizi, said HIV and AIDS and TB were currently referred to as the "deadly duo".
He observed that without a good TB control, the impact of HIV and AIDS in society would be devastating, adding Ghana had a TB control programme which was better than many programmes elsewhere.
He stated that for example, Ghana's policy to provide food to people on TB treatment in addition to free medication would help in controlling the disease in the country.
Dr Chimzizi, who also represents Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and the Tuberculosis Coalition for Technical Assistance (TB\CTA) said TB was the third leading cause of death among women of reproductive age globally, adding that although TB affected more men than women, it killed more women than men due to various factors.
He explained that women who suffered TB were less likely to be diagnosed than men and also less likely to receive treatment.
Dr Chimzizi said the cost of seeking treatment was high for women because of their household duties and child care responsibilities, which involved cost.
He added that in some societies women did not make decision to seek health care, adding that in such cases, husbands or other household members decided for the women as to when and how to seek for treatment.
Dr Chimzizi said when women were infected with the disease or died from it, households suffered from the loss of her earnings and also suffered additional losses due to reduction of activities that women routinely performed in the households.
Touching on what one should know about TB and other lung diseases, as well as the path to cure, an official of the NTP, Ms Mary Ann Ahaibu, said TB was a contagious bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis which mostly affected the lungs (pulmonary TB) but could also affect any organ of the body (extra pulmonary TB).
She mentioned pulmonary TB, which was the commonest, and said some of the cardinal symptoms were a cough lasting for two weeks of more, loss of weight, tiredness, night sweats, chest pain and cough with blood.
Ms Ahaibu said TB was preventable and curable and that treatment was free in all public and certified private health institutions throughout the country.
The Communications Officer of the NTP, Ms Cynthia Oware, urged media houses to support the fight against tuberculosis, since the staff of the programme could not do it all alone.
She said the media could do this by educating the public on the dos and don'ts of the disease to help control it.
The theme for this year’s celebration is: "On the move against tuberculosis: Innovative to accelerate action".
March 24, each year commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the germ that causes tuberculosis.
Each year, Ghana joins the rest of the world to commemorate the World TB Day from March 24, and continues throughout the year. Activities carried out highlights the menace of TB amongst the general public.
At a workshop for selected journalists in Accra in preparation for this year’s TB Day, the NTP indicated that the theme called for a fast move to new innovations in the global fight against the disease. The year has also been dedicated to all diseases of the lung.
Synopsis for the 2010 World TB Day and Year of the Lung presented to journalists by officials of the NTP in Accra, stated that TB control was no longer the preserve of a few health professionals but everybody in the society had a role to play.
Addressing participants in the workshop, the TB Technical Advisor to NTP, Dr Rhehab Chimzizi, said HIV and AIDS and TB were currently referred to as the "deadly duo".
He observed that without a good TB control, the impact of HIV and AIDS in society would be devastating, adding Ghana had a TB control programme which was better than many programmes elsewhere.
He stated that for example, Ghana's policy to provide food to people on TB treatment in addition to free medication would help in controlling the disease in the country.
Dr Chimzizi, who also represents Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and the Tuberculosis Coalition for Technical Assistance (TB\CTA) said TB was the third leading cause of death among women of reproductive age globally, adding that although TB affected more men than women, it killed more women than men due to various factors.
He explained that women who suffered TB were less likely to be diagnosed than men and also less likely to receive treatment.
Dr Chimzizi said the cost of seeking treatment was high for women because of their household duties and child care responsibilities, which involved cost.
He added that in some societies women did not make decision to seek health care, adding that in such cases, husbands or other household members decided for the women as to when and how to seek for treatment.
Dr Chimzizi said when women were infected with the disease or died from it, households suffered from the loss of her earnings and also suffered additional losses due to reduction of activities that women routinely performed in the households.
Touching on what one should know about TB and other lung diseases, as well as the path to cure, an official of the NTP, Ms Mary Ann Ahaibu, said TB was a contagious bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis which mostly affected the lungs (pulmonary TB) but could also affect any organ of the body (extra pulmonary TB).
She mentioned pulmonary TB, which was the commonest, and said some of the cardinal symptoms were a cough lasting for two weeks of more, loss of weight, tiredness, night sweats, chest pain and cough with blood.
Ms Ahaibu said TB was preventable and curable and that treatment was free in all public and certified private health institutions throughout the country.
The Communications Officer of the NTP, Ms Cynthia Oware, urged media houses to support the fight against tuberculosis, since the staff of the programme could not do it all alone.
She said the media could do this by educating the public on the dos and don'ts of the disease to help control it.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Uniting to fight malaria through football
WITH an estimated 8.3 million malaria cases in 2006 and 3.2 million in 2008, Ghana has experienced a significant reduction in malaria over the past couple of years.
This is partly due to increase in major funding for malaria control programmes from the Ghana Government, the Global Fund, the World Bank and the United States President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).
According to Ghana’s National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), funding to fight the disease increased from almost nothing in 2005 to about US$90 million between 2006 and 2008.
Nevertheless, the need for malaria prevention in Ghana is still relevant since about 40 per cent of all out-patients department (OPD) cases continued to be attributed to malaria. That is the more reason why the country’s interest in an initiative, United Against Malaria (UAM) set up last year with the goal of supporting the global fight against malaria through football is so high.
The project, United Against Malaria (UAM) is a partnership of football teams and heroes, celebrities, health and advocacy organisations, governments, corporations and people who have united ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to support the fight against malaria.
The goal of the team is to galvanise partners throughout the world to reach the United Nations target of universal access to insecticide treated mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa by the end of 2010, which is a crucial first step to reaching the international target of reducing deaths to near zero by 2015 through various policies.
Effort to reach the set target include strengthening political and public will in donor countries to increase malaria programming and funding; strengthening political commitment by African leadership to prioritise malaria control and increasing consistent and appropriate utilisation of prevention tools and malaria treatment in Africa.
To ensure that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the local football clubs play a significant role in the UAM project, the President of the GFA, Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi has joined forces with other stakeholders working towards malaria control so that Ghana succeeds.
As part of the efforts, the GFA has organised key Black Star players like Captain Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien and Goal Keeper Richard Kingson to lead the national team in free advertisements to send messages about malaria in some Ghanaian languages across.
The GFA president said other actions the team had so far undertaken include the team’s participation in the creation of the impressive communication tools and the use of the last World Cup qualifying with the Eagles of Mali in Kumasi to send messages on bed net use.
Mr Nyantakyi said footballers were at times affected by malaria adding that “No footballer and in fact sportsman or woman, should fail to shine because malaria has downed him or her, or child or relative has been knocked down by malaria when we all know very well what to do to prevent the disease”.
With this message, the GFA president promised the NMCP of the support of the national team, the national premier league, the division one and two league clubs and even colts’ league to join the fight.
It is also significant to note that the world football body, Federation de Football Association (FIFA) with a letter dated February 10, 2010 congratulated the Roll Back Malaria Partnership for the effort to fight malaria, “a disease which kills a child every 30 seconds and overall, one million people each year”.
In the letter signed by the FIFA President, Sir Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA said it encouraged all campaign partners to engage and find ways to support the Roll Back Malaria Partnership as well as the United Against Malaria campaign to help contribute to the achievement of the set target.
“FIFA offers its support within the framework ‘Football for Health’ to catalyse the world through football to reach the United Nations 2010 target of universal access to mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa, a crucial first step to reaching the international target of reducing deaths to near zero by 2015”.
At a three three-day review and planning conference held between March 10 and March 12, 2010 in Accra as part of the UAM programme, participants deliberated on the progress of the initiative and shared results of their efforts to make public impact so far made.
Addressing the participants, the Programme Manager of Ghana’s Malaria Control Programme, Dr (Mrs) Constance Bart-Plange, said Ghana had embraced all the interventions introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its fight against malaria.
Those interventions, she noted, included the use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs), use of recommended drugs for treatment, preventive drugs for pregnant women, indoor residual spraying and environmental cleanliness, among others.
Dr Bart-Plange said from as low as three per cent use of ITNs for children under five in 2003, the use of the nets had increased to about 35 per cent presently.
She observed that looking at the interest the majority of Ghanaians had in football, the partnership with the country’s football authority with support from key players as ambassadors to send the message of malaria to the people would work perfectly.
For his part Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, said hosting FIFA 2010 World Cup in Africa was a historic achievement which offered the individual football authorities the opportunity to use the game in the fight against malaria and also do all they could do to make a difference in the fight against the disease.
“For us at the GFA therefore, it is a social service obligation to be part of this campaign as we find the 3.2 million cases of malaria recorded each year in Ghana and the 20,000 children who die in a year of the disease totally unacceptable. In fact, malaria has held back our country for far too long and we must wake up and kick it out now,” he stressed.
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite, Plasmodium, which infects red blood cells. Historical records suggest malaria has infected humans since the beginning of mankind.
Symptoms characteristic of malaria include flu-like illness with fever, chills, muscle aches, and headache.
Some patients develop nausea, vomiting, cough, and diarrhoea. Cycles of chills, fever, and sweating that repeat every one, two, or three days are typical. There can sometimes be vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing, and yellowing (jaundice) of the skin and whites of the eyes due to destruction of red blood cells and liver cells.
People with severe P. falciparum malaria can develop bleeding problems, shock, liver or kidney failure, central nervous system problems, coma, and can die from the infection or its complications.
This is partly due to increase in major funding for malaria control programmes from the Ghana Government, the Global Fund, the World Bank and the United States President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).
According to Ghana’s National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), funding to fight the disease increased from almost nothing in 2005 to about US$90 million between 2006 and 2008.
Nevertheless, the need for malaria prevention in Ghana is still relevant since about 40 per cent of all out-patients department (OPD) cases continued to be attributed to malaria. That is the more reason why the country’s interest in an initiative, United Against Malaria (UAM) set up last year with the goal of supporting the global fight against malaria through football is so high.
The project, United Against Malaria (UAM) is a partnership of football teams and heroes, celebrities, health and advocacy organisations, governments, corporations and people who have united ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to support the fight against malaria.
The goal of the team is to galvanise partners throughout the world to reach the United Nations target of universal access to insecticide treated mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa by the end of 2010, which is a crucial first step to reaching the international target of reducing deaths to near zero by 2015 through various policies.
Effort to reach the set target include strengthening political and public will in donor countries to increase malaria programming and funding; strengthening political commitment by African leadership to prioritise malaria control and increasing consistent and appropriate utilisation of prevention tools and malaria treatment in Africa.
To ensure that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the local football clubs play a significant role in the UAM project, the President of the GFA, Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi has joined forces with other stakeholders working towards malaria control so that Ghana succeeds.
As part of the efforts, the GFA has organised key Black Star players like Captain Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien and Goal Keeper Richard Kingson to lead the national team in free advertisements to send messages about malaria in some Ghanaian languages across.
The GFA president said other actions the team had so far undertaken include the team’s participation in the creation of the impressive communication tools and the use of the last World Cup qualifying with the Eagles of Mali in Kumasi to send messages on bed net use.
Mr Nyantakyi said footballers were at times affected by malaria adding that “No footballer and in fact sportsman or woman, should fail to shine because malaria has downed him or her, or child or relative has been knocked down by malaria when we all know very well what to do to prevent the disease”.
With this message, the GFA president promised the NMCP of the support of the national team, the national premier league, the division one and two league clubs and even colts’ league to join the fight.
It is also significant to note that the world football body, Federation de Football Association (FIFA) with a letter dated February 10, 2010 congratulated the Roll Back Malaria Partnership for the effort to fight malaria, “a disease which kills a child every 30 seconds and overall, one million people each year”.
In the letter signed by the FIFA President, Sir Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA said it encouraged all campaign partners to engage and find ways to support the Roll Back Malaria Partnership as well as the United Against Malaria campaign to help contribute to the achievement of the set target.
“FIFA offers its support within the framework ‘Football for Health’ to catalyse the world through football to reach the United Nations 2010 target of universal access to mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa, a crucial first step to reaching the international target of reducing deaths to near zero by 2015”.
At a three three-day review and planning conference held between March 10 and March 12, 2010 in Accra as part of the UAM programme, participants deliberated on the progress of the initiative and shared results of their efforts to make public impact so far made.
Addressing the participants, the Programme Manager of Ghana’s Malaria Control Programme, Dr (Mrs) Constance Bart-Plange, said Ghana had embraced all the interventions introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its fight against malaria.
Those interventions, she noted, included the use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs), use of recommended drugs for treatment, preventive drugs for pregnant women, indoor residual spraying and environmental cleanliness, among others.
Dr Bart-Plange said from as low as three per cent use of ITNs for children under five in 2003, the use of the nets had increased to about 35 per cent presently.
She observed that looking at the interest the majority of Ghanaians had in football, the partnership with the country’s football authority with support from key players as ambassadors to send the message of malaria to the people would work perfectly.
For his part Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, said hosting FIFA 2010 World Cup in Africa was a historic achievement which offered the individual football authorities the opportunity to use the game in the fight against malaria and also do all they could do to make a difference in the fight against the disease.
“For us at the GFA therefore, it is a social service obligation to be part of this campaign as we find the 3.2 million cases of malaria recorded each year in Ghana and the 20,000 children who die in a year of the disease totally unacceptable. In fact, malaria has held back our country for far too long and we must wake up and kick it out now,” he stressed.
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite, Plasmodium, which infects red blood cells. Historical records suggest malaria has infected humans since the beginning of mankind.
Symptoms characteristic of malaria include flu-like illness with fever, chills, muscle aches, and headache.
Some patients develop nausea, vomiting, cough, and diarrhoea. Cycles of chills, fever, and sweating that repeat every one, two, or three days are typical. There can sometimes be vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing, and yellowing (jaundice) of the skin and whites of the eyes due to destruction of red blood cells and liver cells.
People with severe P. falciparum malaria can develop bleeding problems, shock, liver or kidney failure, central nervous system problems, coma, and can die from the infection or its complications.
MoH to institute award scheme for health reporting
THE Ministry of Health (MoH) is to institute an awards scheme to motivate journalists to have interest in health reporting.
The scheme, which is to be in honour of the late Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd) will look at reports on various thematic areas of public health and present awards accordingly.
This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo when he visited the Graphic Communication Groups Limited yesterday to solicit support for regular reports on health in the company’s stables of newspapers.
Mr Mettle-Nunoo said the ministry had decided to honour the late Major Quashigah because of his innovative ideas of “creating wealth through health” with the introduction of the Regenerative Health and Nutrition Programme which he pushed with passion during his tenure as the sector minister.
The Regenerative Health and Nutrition Programme as introduced under the leadership of Major Quashigah promoted balanced diet, exercising, drinking enough clean water, observing personal hygiene, resting, reduction in alcohol intake and safe sex, among others.
Paying glowing tribute to the late minister, the Deputy Minister said those ideas of the late Major Quashigah now formed part of the policy of the MoH adding that there was the need to remember him for his works which concentrated on preventive health.
The late Major Quashigah who was born on September 9, 1947 at Kedzi in the Volta Region, died on January 5, 2010 at the Sokora Hospital at Beersheba in Israel after a short illness. His burial and final funeral rites will take place this week end.
On the awards for best health reporters, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said the mode for selecting winners under the scheme would be put in place in collaboration with selected panellists including seasoned journalists to ensure that the best reports were selected.
He touched on the need for journalists to broaden their frontiers as far as health reporting was concerned for the benefit of the Ghanaian public.
He said with the proposed awards, the MoH expected journalists to be much motivated to do more on health so as to educate the people to have interest in their own individual health matters since “health is wealth”.
“There is the need for people to own their health since bad health affects productivity”, he stressed.
Citing instances to support the project, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said with the right information, mothers for example would be in the position to provide nutritious meals for their children, which in a way could protect them against diseases. Some of the diseases to be prevented, according to the Deputy Minister were malaria, diarrhoea and guinea worm infection.
He pointed out that with the right information, parents for example, could be encouraged to cultivate fruits and vegetables which they could use to feed their children to live healthy lives even if there was nothing available for the children to be fed with.
For his part, the Director, Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the MoH, Dr Frank Nyonator stated that the legacy Major Quashigah left was worth sustaining by the ministry.
He said the initiative he introduced if properly followed, could help Ghana achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adding that they were simple interventions which could easily be followed.
In his response, the Managing Director (MD) of the GCGL, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal commended the MoH for the steps taken to get journalists to report more on health.
He gave the assurance that the company would support the ministry in that regard adding that with its large readership, the various newspapers of the company would be relied on to get the right messages across to the people.
Mr Awal urged the health sector to find ways of training some selected journalists with interest in health reporting to enable them to specialise on matters concerning the health of the people.
The scheme, which is to be in honour of the late Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd) will look at reports on various thematic areas of public health and present awards accordingly.
This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo when he visited the Graphic Communication Groups Limited yesterday to solicit support for regular reports on health in the company’s stables of newspapers.
Mr Mettle-Nunoo said the ministry had decided to honour the late Major Quashigah because of his innovative ideas of “creating wealth through health” with the introduction of the Regenerative Health and Nutrition Programme which he pushed with passion during his tenure as the sector minister.
The Regenerative Health and Nutrition Programme as introduced under the leadership of Major Quashigah promoted balanced diet, exercising, drinking enough clean water, observing personal hygiene, resting, reduction in alcohol intake and safe sex, among others.
Paying glowing tribute to the late minister, the Deputy Minister said those ideas of the late Major Quashigah now formed part of the policy of the MoH adding that there was the need to remember him for his works which concentrated on preventive health.
The late Major Quashigah who was born on September 9, 1947 at Kedzi in the Volta Region, died on January 5, 2010 at the Sokora Hospital at Beersheba in Israel after a short illness. His burial and final funeral rites will take place this week end.
On the awards for best health reporters, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said the mode for selecting winners under the scheme would be put in place in collaboration with selected panellists including seasoned journalists to ensure that the best reports were selected.
He touched on the need for journalists to broaden their frontiers as far as health reporting was concerned for the benefit of the Ghanaian public.
He said with the proposed awards, the MoH expected journalists to be much motivated to do more on health so as to educate the people to have interest in their own individual health matters since “health is wealth”.
“There is the need for people to own their health since bad health affects productivity”, he stressed.
Citing instances to support the project, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said with the right information, mothers for example would be in the position to provide nutritious meals for their children, which in a way could protect them against diseases. Some of the diseases to be prevented, according to the Deputy Minister were malaria, diarrhoea and guinea worm infection.
He pointed out that with the right information, parents for example, could be encouraged to cultivate fruits and vegetables which they could use to feed their children to live healthy lives even if there was nothing available for the children to be fed with.
For his part, the Director, Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the MoH, Dr Frank Nyonator stated that the legacy Major Quashigah left was worth sustaining by the ministry.
He said the initiative he introduced if properly followed, could help Ghana achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adding that they were simple interventions which could easily be followed.
In his response, the Managing Director (MD) of the GCGL, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal commended the MoH for the steps taken to get journalists to report more on health.
He gave the assurance that the company would support the ministry in that regard adding that with its large readership, the various newspapers of the company would be relied on to get the right messages across to the people.
Mr Awal urged the health sector to find ways of training some selected journalists with interest in health reporting to enable them to specialise on matters concerning the health of the people.
Community colleges to be set up in constituencies
Community Colleges to be set up in constituencies
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
A NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation, Ghana Community Colleges Organisation has been set up with the objective of providing education and training as a means to reducing or eradicating illiteracy in the country.
The purpose of the organisation is to build community colleges in all the 230 constituencies in the country.
A document made available by the Director of the organisation, Mr Kofi Annor indicated that a nation-wide project will be set-up to primarily concentrate on building new community colleges across the country.
“The primary goal of this project is to establish well organised community colleges which will provide and ensure quality educational opportunities to Ghanaians even in the most remote part of the county”, it pointed out.
It said the colleges shall be “open colleges” and will purely focus on providing new opportunities to youths and adults, both literate and illiterates.
“The organisation intends to work with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to improve literacy rate in the rural areas”, it stressed.
According to the organisation, when completed, all the community colleges will be used as job centres or as main sources of labour in each of the 230 constutuencies.
In an interview, Mr Kofi Annor said the reason for the project was the fact that several research works had revealed that a country could not develop unless it transformed its educational system.
He said the most efficient way of carrying out such a task of transformation was to ensure access to education through a targeted systematic and methodical approach to ensure that every citizen of Ghana had access to tertiary education regardless of their geographical positioning.
“Significant economic achievement anywhere is seldom if ever achieved without such momentous universal approach on education”’ he pointed out.
Mr Annor pointed out that 50 per cent of the project will be funded by foreign donor agencies through solicitation and the remaining 50 per cent raised locally through a national fund raising activity.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
A NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation, Ghana Community Colleges Organisation has been set up with the objective of providing education and training as a means to reducing or eradicating illiteracy in the country.
The purpose of the organisation is to build community colleges in all the 230 constituencies in the country.
A document made available by the Director of the organisation, Mr Kofi Annor indicated that a nation-wide project will be set-up to primarily concentrate on building new community colleges across the country.
“The primary goal of this project is to establish well organised community colleges which will provide and ensure quality educational opportunities to Ghanaians even in the most remote part of the county”, it pointed out.
It said the colleges shall be “open colleges” and will purely focus on providing new opportunities to youths and adults, both literate and illiterates.
“The organisation intends to work with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to improve literacy rate in the rural areas”, it stressed.
According to the organisation, when completed, all the community colleges will be used as job centres or as main sources of labour in each of the 230 constutuencies.
In an interview, Mr Kofi Annor said the reason for the project was the fact that several research works had revealed that a country could not develop unless it transformed its educational system.
He said the most efficient way of carrying out such a task of transformation was to ensure access to education through a targeted systematic and methodical approach to ensure that every citizen of Ghana had access to tertiary education regardless of their geographical positioning.
“Significant economic achievement anywhere is seldom if ever achieved without such momentous universal approach on education”’ he pointed out.
Mr Annor pointed out that 50 per cent of the project will be funded by foreign donor agencies through solicitation and the remaining 50 per cent raised locally through a national fund raising activity.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
HIV prevalence up
GHANA’S estimated national HIV prevalence cases have risen from 1.7 per cent in 2008 to 1.9 per cent in 2009.
Increase in new cases among pregnant women who were tested at selected ante-natal clinics in the country, also shot from 2.2 per cent in 2008 to 2.9 per cent in 2009.
In 2009, there were an estimated 267,069 persons who lived with HIV and AIDS in Ghana. Out of the number 25,666 were children.
The year 2009 recorded 25,531 new infections and 20,313 AIDS deaths. Of the dead, 2,566 were children.
At a day’s workshop in Accra yesterday to disseminate the results of the 2009 HIV Sentinel Survey (HSS), the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, attributed the rise in prevalence to complacency and called for more efforts to keep the rate down.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we must stop being complacent. The more we reduce the prevalence, the more we must work hard to keep it low,” he said
Mr Mettle-Nunoo, however, said the results of the survey were a useful tool to observe trends, reinforce or increase the commitment to accelerate implementation and provide feedback to health workers, as well as local and international groups involved in AIDS prevention programmes.
The deputy minister said HIV and AIDS continued to be among the biggest challenges facing the country, adding that “over the years, as government, civil society, business and other sectors, we had launched individual and joint programmes aimed at responding to that challenge”.
He pointed out that there was the need for collaboration between health workers and academics, as well as researchers, as the country continued to find ways to respond to the challenge posed by the epidemic.
In view of the increase in HIV prevalence, the Programme Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Dr Nii Akwei Addo, said more efforts would be required by all stakeholders to keep the HIV prevalence on further decline else complacency would erode all progress made so far.
Among other things, Dr Addo said HIV sites in the year 2009 ranged from 0.7 per cent in North Tongu (rural) to 5.8 per cent in Koforidua and Agomenya (urban), adding that the rate of new infection recorded at Agomenya fortunately dropped further by 2.2 per cent.
On the national prevalence, he pointed out that “the highest prevalence was recorded within the age group of 40 to 44 years which stood at 4.0 per cent and the least which is 1.9 per cent was in the 15 to 19 year group. Prevalence among the youth 15 to 24 years, which is used as the marker for new infections, was 2.1 per cent”.
The programme manager stressed that the Central Region remained the region with the highest syphilis prevalence, adding that Asikuma Odoben Brakwa (rural) had the highest syphilis prevalence.
“Rural areas also continued to have higher syphilis prevalence than urban areas,” he pointed out.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory, who was the chairman for the function, commended the NACP for the annual survey, adding that it would help the health sector to plan, monitor and evaluate the national response to HIV and AIDS epidemic.
The HIV Sentinel Survey is a cross-sectional survey targeting pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) and selected ANC sites in Ghana. The annual HSS system was initiated based on the premise that prevalence of HIV among pregnant women is a good proxy for the spread of the infection among the populace.
In the last five years, the HSS data have been used as the primary data source for the national HIV and AIDS estimate in Ghana.
Increase in new cases among pregnant women who were tested at selected ante-natal clinics in the country, also shot from 2.2 per cent in 2008 to 2.9 per cent in 2009.
In 2009, there were an estimated 267,069 persons who lived with HIV and AIDS in Ghana. Out of the number 25,666 were children.
The year 2009 recorded 25,531 new infections and 20,313 AIDS deaths. Of the dead, 2,566 were children.
At a day’s workshop in Accra yesterday to disseminate the results of the 2009 HIV Sentinel Survey (HSS), the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, attributed the rise in prevalence to complacency and called for more efforts to keep the rate down.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we must stop being complacent. The more we reduce the prevalence, the more we must work hard to keep it low,” he said
Mr Mettle-Nunoo, however, said the results of the survey were a useful tool to observe trends, reinforce or increase the commitment to accelerate implementation and provide feedback to health workers, as well as local and international groups involved in AIDS prevention programmes.
The deputy minister said HIV and AIDS continued to be among the biggest challenges facing the country, adding that “over the years, as government, civil society, business and other sectors, we had launched individual and joint programmes aimed at responding to that challenge”.
He pointed out that there was the need for collaboration between health workers and academics, as well as researchers, as the country continued to find ways to respond to the challenge posed by the epidemic.
In view of the increase in HIV prevalence, the Programme Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Dr Nii Akwei Addo, said more efforts would be required by all stakeholders to keep the HIV prevalence on further decline else complacency would erode all progress made so far.
Among other things, Dr Addo said HIV sites in the year 2009 ranged from 0.7 per cent in North Tongu (rural) to 5.8 per cent in Koforidua and Agomenya (urban), adding that the rate of new infection recorded at Agomenya fortunately dropped further by 2.2 per cent.
On the national prevalence, he pointed out that “the highest prevalence was recorded within the age group of 40 to 44 years which stood at 4.0 per cent and the least which is 1.9 per cent was in the 15 to 19 year group. Prevalence among the youth 15 to 24 years, which is used as the marker for new infections, was 2.1 per cent”.
The programme manager stressed that the Central Region remained the region with the highest syphilis prevalence, adding that Asikuma Odoben Brakwa (rural) had the highest syphilis prevalence.
“Rural areas also continued to have higher syphilis prevalence than urban areas,” he pointed out.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory, who was the chairman for the function, commended the NACP for the annual survey, adding that it would help the health sector to plan, monitor and evaluate the national response to HIV and AIDS epidemic.
The HIV Sentinel Survey is a cross-sectional survey targeting pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) and selected ANC sites in Ghana. The annual HSS system was initiated based on the premise that prevalence of HIV among pregnant women is a good proxy for the spread of the infection among the populace.
In the last five years, the HSS data have been used as the primary data source for the national HIV and AIDS estimate in Ghana.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Malaria project holds review meeting
A Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-led initiative, United Against Malaria (UAM) set up last year with the goal of supporting the global fight against malaria through football, has held a three-day review and planning conference in Accra.
Participants deliberated on the progress of the initiative and shared results of their efforts to make public the impact of the United Against Malaria (UAM) initiative.
United Against Malaria is a partnership of football teams and heroes, celebrities, health and advocacy organisations, governments, corporations and people who have united ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to win the fight against malaria.
The goal of the team is to galvanise partners throughout the world to reach the United Nations target of universal access to mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa by the end of 2010, which is a crucial first step to reaching the international target of reducing deaths to near zero by 2015 through various policies.
These include strengthening political and public will in donor countries to increase malaria programming and funding; strengthening political commitment by African leadership to prioritise malaria control and increasing consistent and appropriate utilisation of prevention tools and malaria treatment in Africa.
Addressing the participants, the Programme Manager of Ghana’s Malaria Control Programme, Dr (Mrs) Constance Bart-Plange, said Ghana had embraced all the interventions introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its fight against malaria.
Those interventions, she noted, included the use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs), use of recommended drugs for treatment, preventive drugs for pregnant women, indoor residual spraying and environmental cleanliness, among others.
Dr Bart-Plange said from as low as three per cent use of ITNs for children under five in 2003, the use of the nets had increased to about 35 per cent presently.
She observed that looking at the interest majority of Ghanaians had in football, the partnership with the country’s football authority with support from key players as ambassadors to send the message of malaria to the people would work perfectly.
“Our people admire footballers and if they are used to spread the message, it will sink down to the people,” she pointed out.
The President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, said the FIFA 2010 World Cup on the soil of Africa was a historic occasion which offered the individual football authorities the opportunity to use the game against malaria and also do all they could do to make a difference in the fight against the disease.
“For us at the GFA therefore, it is a social service obligation to be part of this campaign as we find the 3.2 million cases of malaria recorded each year in Ghana and the 20,000 children who die in a year of the disease totally unacceptable. In fact, malaria has held back our country for far too long and we must wake up and kick it out now,” he stressed.
The President of the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), Mr Leodegar Tenga, said between 17 and 20 million Tanzanians were infected with malaria each year and out of the number, about 18,000 of them died.
He said there was the need for malaria to be eradicated from the African continent to allow majority of the people who enjoyed the game to have the energy to enjoy the game in good health.
For his part, a representative from Uganda who is also a former Captain of that country’s national football team, the Cranes, Mr Edgar Watson Soubi, said it was good football was being used to fight malaria, since it had the potential to prevent any player from playing, whether he was directly infected or affected by the death of a relative or a loved one through the disease.
The chairman of the event, who is also the Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr George Amofah, said with support from the people and financial assistance from the government and development partners, Ghana should be able to meet the target of reducing malaria to the barest minimum.
Participants deliberated on the progress of the initiative and shared results of their efforts to make public the impact of the United Against Malaria (UAM) initiative.
United Against Malaria is a partnership of football teams and heroes, celebrities, health and advocacy organisations, governments, corporations and people who have united ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to win the fight against malaria.
The goal of the team is to galvanise partners throughout the world to reach the United Nations target of universal access to mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa by the end of 2010, which is a crucial first step to reaching the international target of reducing deaths to near zero by 2015 through various policies.
These include strengthening political and public will in donor countries to increase malaria programming and funding; strengthening political commitment by African leadership to prioritise malaria control and increasing consistent and appropriate utilisation of prevention tools and malaria treatment in Africa.
Addressing the participants, the Programme Manager of Ghana’s Malaria Control Programme, Dr (Mrs) Constance Bart-Plange, said Ghana had embraced all the interventions introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its fight against malaria.
Those interventions, she noted, included the use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs), use of recommended drugs for treatment, preventive drugs for pregnant women, indoor residual spraying and environmental cleanliness, among others.
Dr Bart-Plange said from as low as three per cent use of ITNs for children under five in 2003, the use of the nets had increased to about 35 per cent presently.
She observed that looking at the interest majority of Ghanaians had in football, the partnership with the country’s football authority with support from key players as ambassadors to send the message of malaria to the people would work perfectly.
“Our people admire footballers and if they are used to spread the message, it will sink down to the people,” she pointed out.
The President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, said the FIFA 2010 World Cup on the soil of Africa was a historic occasion which offered the individual football authorities the opportunity to use the game against malaria and also do all they could do to make a difference in the fight against the disease.
“For us at the GFA therefore, it is a social service obligation to be part of this campaign as we find the 3.2 million cases of malaria recorded each year in Ghana and the 20,000 children who die in a year of the disease totally unacceptable. In fact, malaria has held back our country for far too long and we must wake up and kick it out now,” he stressed.
The President of the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), Mr Leodegar Tenga, said between 17 and 20 million Tanzanians were infected with malaria each year and out of the number, about 18,000 of them died.
He said there was the need for malaria to be eradicated from the African continent to allow majority of the people who enjoyed the game to have the energy to enjoy the game in good health.
For his part, a representative from Uganda who is also a former Captain of that country’s national football team, the Cranes, Mr Edgar Watson Soubi, said it was good football was being used to fight malaria, since it had the potential to prevent any player from playing, whether he was directly infected or affected by the death of a relative or a loved one through the disease.
The chairman of the event, who is also the Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr George Amofah, said with support from the people and financial assistance from the government and development partners, Ghana should be able to meet the target of reducing malaria to the barest minimum.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Security committees tours flood prone area-Ga South
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Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
THE Ga South Municipal Security Committee on Monday toured flood prone areas within the municipality to see what can be done to reduce the incidence of perennial flooding which annually affects the residents.
The team, led by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Nii Sheriff Otto-Dodoo, visited the Christian Methodist Senior High School area at Aplaku, areas along the Lafa stream at Awoshie, Santa Maria, Sowutuom and Mallam Junction.
The security committee members also conducted inspection at the mass burial site at Mile 11 and also a sand winning site at Ashalaja, all within the municipality.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at Santa Maria where a number of residential structures had been marked for demolition, Nii Otto-Dodoo said it had become necessary for a bigger drain to be constructed in the area where an old concrete drain existed.
He said because the old drain was not properly constructed, it easily got choked causing major flooding anytime it rained.
The MCE explained that for the area to have a better drainage system, a number of houses built at both sides of the drain must give way for work to start.
He added that many of such houses along the Awoshie-Pokuase road would have to be pulled down for the road to be constructed by the end of April, this year.
Nii Otto-Dodo also explained that since the drain which covered a long distance at Santa Maria around A’Lang was covered with large stretch of concrete, it was not possible for it to be desilted when it got choked.
He added that a new and a bigger drain must be constructed to carry large volumes of rain water.
According to the MCE, the residents had been sensitised to the need to remove their property from the area else the assembly would embark on the exercise and later surcharge the property owners with the cost of demolition.
Nii Otto-Dodoo said a number of the property owners had no building permits so they built illegally.
On the issue of sand winners at Ashalaja, he stated that either they regulated their activities or they were forced to stop all together.
When the Daily Graphic contacted some of the residents who had come out of their homes at the sight of the municipal security committee members, they pleaded with the assembly to rescind its decision to demolish all structures within 75 metres along the existing concrete drain.
Most of them who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said when they first came to live in the area in the early 1980s and 1990s, they had no problem with floods until the drain was built in 2000.
They stated that the inner portion of that drain was fixed with another concrete work to make it strong for vehicles to move on them, a situation they said, had made the opening into the drain too narrow to carry enough water away.
On the demolition of their structures, they argued that the space at both sides of the drain was big enough for any expansion without pulling down any house since the houses were not so close to the drain.
A member of the landowners association, Mr Joshua Donkor, said the association had petitioned the assembly and was waiting for response.
He also reiterated an earlier plea made by some of the residents to the assembly not to demolish the structures since there was enough space available for any expansion work to be carried out.
Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
THE Ga South Municipal Security Committee on Monday toured flood prone areas within the municipality to see what can be done to reduce the incidence of perennial flooding which annually affects the residents.
The team, led by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Nii Sheriff Otto-Dodoo, visited the Christian Methodist Senior High School area at Aplaku, areas along the Lafa stream at Awoshie, Santa Maria, Sowutuom and Mallam Junction.
The security committee members also conducted inspection at the mass burial site at Mile 11 and also a sand winning site at Ashalaja, all within the municipality.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at Santa Maria where a number of residential structures had been marked for demolition, Nii Otto-Dodoo said it had become necessary for a bigger drain to be constructed in the area where an old concrete drain existed.
He said because the old drain was not properly constructed, it easily got choked causing major flooding anytime it rained.
The MCE explained that for the area to have a better drainage system, a number of houses built at both sides of the drain must give way for work to start.
He added that many of such houses along the Awoshie-Pokuase road would have to be pulled down for the road to be constructed by the end of April, this year.
Nii Otto-Dodo also explained that since the drain which covered a long distance at Santa Maria around A’Lang was covered with large stretch of concrete, it was not possible for it to be desilted when it got choked.
He added that a new and a bigger drain must be constructed to carry large volumes of rain water.
According to the MCE, the residents had been sensitised to the need to remove their property from the area else the assembly would embark on the exercise and later surcharge the property owners with the cost of demolition.
Nii Otto-Dodoo said a number of the property owners had no building permits so they built illegally.
On the issue of sand winners at Ashalaja, he stated that either they regulated their activities or they were forced to stop all together.
When the Daily Graphic contacted some of the residents who had come out of their homes at the sight of the municipal security committee members, they pleaded with the assembly to rescind its decision to demolish all structures within 75 metres along the existing concrete drain.
Most of them who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said when they first came to live in the area in the early 1980s and 1990s, they had no problem with floods until the drain was built in 2000.
They stated that the inner portion of that drain was fixed with another concrete work to make it strong for vehicles to move on them, a situation they said, had made the opening into the drain too narrow to carry enough water away.
On the demolition of their structures, they argued that the space at both sides of the drain was big enough for any expansion without pulling down any house since the houses were not so close to the drain.
A member of the landowners association, Mr Joshua Donkor, said the association had petitioned the assembly and was waiting for response.
He also reiterated an earlier plea made by some of the residents to the assembly not to demolish the structures since there was enough space available for any expansion work to be carried out.
Tobacco causes premature deaths
TOBACCO use, it is said, leads most commonly to diseases affecting the heart and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, and cancers, particularly lung and pancreatic cancers, as well as cancers of the larynx and mouth.
The use of tobacco also causes peripheral vascular disease and hypertension. These are all developed as a result of the length of time of use and the level of dosage of the product. Furthermore, the high level of tar content of the tobacco-filled cigarettes causes the greater risk of these diseases.
It has also been established that due to higher levels of tar content in third world countries, people who smoke in third world countries are more vulnerable to diseases. Poorer nations also lack the filters that richer nations have. However, the mortality rate does not show a significant decrease due to filters.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century.
Similarly, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention described tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death world-wide".
Smoke contains several carcinogenic pyrolytic products that have links with DNA and cause many genetic mutations. There are over 19 known chemical carcinogens in cigarette smoke which are dangerous to humans. Tobacco also contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive psychoactive chemical. When tobacco is smoked, nicotine causes physical and psychological dependency.
About the effect of tobacco use on children, health experts maintain that tobacco use is a significant factor in miscarriages among pregnant smokers. It contributed to a number of other threats to the health of the foetus such as premature births and low birth weight and increased by 1.4 to three times the probability of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
It is also important to note that the incidence of impotence was approximately 85 per cent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers, and it was a key cause of erectile dysfunction (ED).
Looking at the issues raised above, it is significant for the world to find ways of reducing the volume of tobacco use and possibly stop it completely.
It is in view of this that between April 20 and April 23, this year, about 45 dignitaries from 20 countries will converge on Ghana under the umbrella of the WHO to deliberate on tobacco control issues.
Dubbed the Second Working Group Meeting on Article 17 and 18 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the conference seeks to enable participants to “interact with other global players to deliberate and strategise on the alternative livelihoods to tobacco growing in order to protect the environment and the health of persons in the production and manufacturing of tobacco products”.
In addition, the conference will draw the attention of all parties to the WHO-FCTC to raise awareness about the addictive and harmful nature of tobacco products and about industry interference with tobacco control policies.
An aspect of the objective that needs to be looked at critically is the fact that there is the need to promote alternative livelihoods to tobacco growing in order to protect the environment and the health of persons in the production and manufacturing of tobacco products.
According to the WHO, apart from those who smoke tobacco, people who cultivate and handle tobacco leaves were equally at risk of tobacco-related diseases such as green tobacco sickness, pesticide intoxication, respiratory and dermatological disorders and other types of cancers.
To help control the use of tobacco, the FCTC encouraged all parties to the convention to raise awareness about the addictive and harmful nature of tobacco products and about industry interference with tobacco control policies.
Additionally, it also called on all parties to avoid conflicts of interest such government officials and employees could monitor and evaluate measures to reduce exposure to tobacco smoke and enforce laws on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
At a ceremony to inaugurate members of a Local Planning Committee set up to see to the successful hosting of the conference in Accra, the Chairman of the committee, who is also the Chief Psychiatrist of Ghana, Dr Akwasi Osei, said, “Ghana, I must say, is in the good books of WHO as evidenced by even their choice of Ghana for this meeting and we cannot afford to disappoint them”.
Dr Osei assured the deputy minister that “we will do our utmost best for this meeting to be a memorable and a very productive one so that the working group can produce a document worthy of its sort”.
The outgoing Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Nii Oakley Quaye-Kuma, reiterated that tobacco smoking was unhealthy, caused chronic diseases and could lead to death.
He said what many people, smokers and non-smokers alike, might not know was the fact that tobacco use increased risks of cancer in many parts of the body in addition to the lungs.
These parts, according to the minister, included the head and neck, urinary bladder and kidneys, uterine, cervix, breast, pancreas and the colon.
The use of tobacco also causes peripheral vascular disease and hypertension. These are all developed as a result of the length of time of use and the level of dosage of the product. Furthermore, the high level of tar content of the tobacco-filled cigarettes causes the greater risk of these diseases.
It has also been established that due to higher levels of tar content in third world countries, people who smoke in third world countries are more vulnerable to diseases. Poorer nations also lack the filters that richer nations have. However, the mortality rate does not show a significant decrease due to filters.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century.
Similarly, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention described tobacco use as "the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death world-wide".
Smoke contains several carcinogenic pyrolytic products that have links with DNA and cause many genetic mutations. There are over 19 known chemical carcinogens in cigarette smoke which are dangerous to humans. Tobacco also contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive psychoactive chemical. When tobacco is smoked, nicotine causes physical and psychological dependency.
About the effect of tobacco use on children, health experts maintain that tobacco use is a significant factor in miscarriages among pregnant smokers. It contributed to a number of other threats to the health of the foetus such as premature births and low birth weight and increased by 1.4 to three times the probability of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
It is also important to note that the incidence of impotence was approximately 85 per cent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers, and it was a key cause of erectile dysfunction (ED).
Looking at the issues raised above, it is significant for the world to find ways of reducing the volume of tobacco use and possibly stop it completely.
It is in view of this that between April 20 and April 23, this year, about 45 dignitaries from 20 countries will converge on Ghana under the umbrella of the WHO to deliberate on tobacco control issues.
Dubbed the Second Working Group Meeting on Article 17 and 18 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the conference seeks to enable participants to “interact with other global players to deliberate and strategise on the alternative livelihoods to tobacco growing in order to protect the environment and the health of persons in the production and manufacturing of tobacco products”.
In addition, the conference will draw the attention of all parties to the WHO-FCTC to raise awareness about the addictive and harmful nature of tobacco products and about industry interference with tobacco control policies.
An aspect of the objective that needs to be looked at critically is the fact that there is the need to promote alternative livelihoods to tobacco growing in order to protect the environment and the health of persons in the production and manufacturing of tobacco products.
According to the WHO, apart from those who smoke tobacco, people who cultivate and handle tobacco leaves were equally at risk of tobacco-related diseases such as green tobacco sickness, pesticide intoxication, respiratory and dermatological disorders and other types of cancers.
To help control the use of tobacco, the FCTC encouraged all parties to the convention to raise awareness about the addictive and harmful nature of tobacco products and about industry interference with tobacco control policies.
Additionally, it also called on all parties to avoid conflicts of interest such government officials and employees could monitor and evaluate measures to reduce exposure to tobacco smoke and enforce laws on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
At a ceremony to inaugurate members of a Local Planning Committee set up to see to the successful hosting of the conference in Accra, the Chairman of the committee, who is also the Chief Psychiatrist of Ghana, Dr Akwasi Osei, said, “Ghana, I must say, is in the good books of WHO as evidenced by even their choice of Ghana for this meeting and we cannot afford to disappoint them”.
Dr Osei assured the deputy minister that “we will do our utmost best for this meeting to be a memorable and a very productive one so that the working group can produce a document worthy of its sort”.
The outgoing Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Nii Oakley Quaye-Kuma, reiterated that tobacco smoking was unhealthy, caused chronic diseases and could lead to death.
He said what many people, smokers and non-smokers alike, might not know was the fact that tobacco use increased risks of cancer in many parts of the body in addition to the lungs.
These parts, according to the minister, included the head and neck, urinary bladder and kidneys, uterine, cervix, breast, pancreas and the colon.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Medical School-Dream lives on
BEFORE Ghana became an independent nation on March 6, 1957, the country had a university which was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast. The college operated as an affiliate college of the University of London which supervised its academic programmes and awarded degrees. The institution was awarded full university status in 1961.
Currently, the University of Ghana, which is situated at Legon, near Accra, is the largest of the four public universities in Ghana and currently enrols nearly ???????7,000???????? students.
Originally, the curricular emphasis of the university was on liberal arts, social science, basic science, agriculture and medicine; however, there is currently a national educational reform programme to diversify the curriculum and provide more science and technology and postgraduate training.
Historically, the study of Medical Science became part of the University of Ghana educational programmes in 1962 when the first batch of students was admitted to pursue courses for a degree in medicine.
Information provided on the University of Ghana website indicated that the plan then was to have American government funding for buildings for the Medical School. The proposed medical school was also to be staffed by expatriates.
There are reports to indicated that for political and other reasons, this plan was aborted in 1964 and the government of Ghana with Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah as President, rather decided to have a Medical School fully owned by Ghana and with Ghanaian management and teaching staff.
That was why in 1964, Professor C.O. Easmon was appointed first Dean of the Ghana Medical School. The school was housed in temporary buildings at the Korle Bu Hospital, which also became a teaching hospital later, to provide clinical facilities and other resources for clinical courses at the school.
History has it that in 1969, the Ghana Medical School was formally incorporated into the university as the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS). In the same year, the first 39 graduating students of the school were awarded University of Ghana degree.
According to records at the University of Ghana, in 1974, the UGMS initiated the development of a Dental School where Basic Dental Science courses were offered but the dentistry students at the time pursued clinical programmes at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, the University of Manchester, and the University of London, United Kingdom (UK).
In 1992, the clinical courses became fully localised. The University therefore granted dentistry a faculty status. The first batch of locally produced dental surgeons graduated in 1997, in Accra.
To expand the activities of the medical school, in 1979, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) was established with sponsorship from the Japan government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. This research institute was sited on the plot of the University of Ghana earmarked for the permanent medical complex.
In 1994, the Medical School, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, brought into being the School of Public Health for graduate courses leading to the award of MPH, MPhil and PhD degrees.
Currently that School of Public Health is located in rooms of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and in the Department of Statistics. Permanent buildings for the school have started at the site for the medical complex with the construction of the Bill Gates Centre for Malaria Research and Control and a second building to house the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.
As part of its programmes, the Ministry of Health, in 1998, initiated the establishment of a School of Allied Health Sciences to produce medical and dental technical graduates through the Medical School. Programmes for this school included physiotherapy, medical laboratory science and radiography. The Academic Board and the University Council approved this proposal in 1999, and in the year 2001 this school came into being.
It is known that an earlier Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology, also sponsored by the Ministry of Health, in 1994 was phased out, with the birth of the School of Allied Health Sciences. Construction of their permanent buildings is underway also at the site earmarked for the medical complex.
A former Dean of the Medical School, Professor E. Q. Archampong, mooted the idea of creating a College of Medicine in 1994. Planning for the college was said to have taken five years.
In 1997, there were records to show that the Academic Board of the university endorsed proposal from the UGMS under the deanship of Professor S. K. Owusu to bring together the Medical School, Dental School, School of Public Health, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, School of Allied Health Sciences and School of Nursing as a College of Medical Sciences.
In that regard on December 11, 1999, the University Council gave assent for the establishment of a college but changed the name to the College of Health Sciences. Schedule D of the University of Ghana Statutes that established the UGMS was therefore amended to bring the college into being. Since its inception, two new schools have been added to the college, and these are the School of Nursing which was established in 1962 as a department in the Faculty of Social Studies and also the School of Pharmacy.
Since its inception the mission of the University of Ghana Medical School is to produce highly qualified and competent health professionals and medical scientists to provide promotive, preventive and curative services to meet the health needs of the nation and the global community through world-class excellence in teaching, research and dissemination of knowledge.
To achieve the above, the staff and students are encouraged to draw on their diverse but complementary core competencies in Nursing, Medicine, Dentistry, Public Health, Allied Health Sciences, Pharmacy, Biomedical Research and Consultancy in order to compete effectively in the globalised world.
A message posted on their website indicated “we will strive to create a working environment that fosters dedication, co-operation and reward hard work, initiative and creativity.
“We will always be guided by the needs of our stakeholders including students, patients, private and public organisations, local and international community in the development and provision of our services”.
“We will position ourselves to promote and utilise emerging technologies to enhance the quality of our services”.
“In all our activities, we shall uphold the highest level of professional ethics, openness, fairness and honesty”.
As Ghana celebrates her 53rd Independence Day celebration on March 6, 2010, it is the hope and desire of all Ghanaians that the aims and objectives with which the founders established the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) will be realised.
Currently, the University of Ghana, which is situated at Legon, near Accra, is the largest of the four public universities in Ghana and currently enrols nearly ???????7,000???????? students.
Originally, the curricular emphasis of the university was on liberal arts, social science, basic science, agriculture and medicine; however, there is currently a national educational reform programme to diversify the curriculum and provide more science and technology and postgraduate training.
Historically, the study of Medical Science became part of the University of Ghana educational programmes in 1962 when the first batch of students was admitted to pursue courses for a degree in medicine.
Information provided on the University of Ghana website indicated that the plan then was to have American government funding for buildings for the Medical School. The proposed medical school was also to be staffed by expatriates.
There are reports to indicated that for political and other reasons, this plan was aborted in 1964 and the government of Ghana with Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah as President, rather decided to have a Medical School fully owned by Ghana and with Ghanaian management and teaching staff.
That was why in 1964, Professor C.O. Easmon was appointed first Dean of the Ghana Medical School. The school was housed in temporary buildings at the Korle Bu Hospital, which also became a teaching hospital later, to provide clinical facilities and other resources for clinical courses at the school.
History has it that in 1969, the Ghana Medical School was formally incorporated into the university as the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS). In the same year, the first 39 graduating students of the school were awarded University of Ghana degree.
According to records at the University of Ghana, in 1974, the UGMS initiated the development of a Dental School where Basic Dental Science courses were offered but the dentistry students at the time pursued clinical programmes at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, the University of Manchester, and the University of London, United Kingdom (UK).
In 1992, the clinical courses became fully localised. The University therefore granted dentistry a faculty status. The first batch of locally produced dental surgeons graduated in 1997, in Accra.
To expand the activities of the medical school, in 1979, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) was established with sponsorship from the Japan government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. This research institute was sited on the plot of the University of Ghana earmarked for the permanent medical complex.
In 1994, the Medical School, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, brought into being the School of Public Health for graduate courses leading to the award of MPH, MPhil and PhD degrees.
Currently that School of Public Health is located in rooms of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and in the Department of Statistics. Permanent buildings for the school have started at the site for the medical complex with the construction of the Bill Gates Centre for Malaria Research and Control and a second building to house the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.
As part of its programmes, the Ministry of Health, in 1998, initiated the establishment of a School of Allied Health Sciences to produce medical and dental technical graduates through the Medical School. Programmes for this school included physiotherapy, medical laboratory science and radiography. The Academic Board and the University Council approved this proposal in 1999, and in the year 2001 this school came into being.
It is known that an earlier Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology, also sponsored by the Ministry of Health, in 1994 was phased out, with the birth of the School of Allied Health Sciences. Construction of their permanent buildings is underway also at the site earmarked for the medical complex.
A former Dean of the Medical School, Professor E. Q. Archampong, mooted the idea of creating a College of Medicine in 1994. Planning for the college was said to have taken five years.
In 1997, there were records to show that the Academic Board of the university endorsed proposal from the UGMS under the deanship of Professor S. K. Owusu to bring together the Medical School, Dental School, School of Public Health, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, School of Allied Health Sciences and School of Nursing as a College of Medical Sciences.
In that regard on December 11, 1999, the University Council gave assent for the establishment of a college but changed the name to the College of Health Sciences. Schedule D of the University of Ghana Statutes that established the UGMS was therefore amended to bring the college into being. Since its inception, two new schools have been added to the college, and these are the School of Nursing which was established in 1962 as a department in the Faculty of Social Studies and also the School of Pharmacy.
Since its inception the mission of the University of Ghana Medical School is to produce highly qualified and competent health professionals and medical scientists to provide promotive, preventive and curative services to meet the health needs of the nation and the global community through world-class excellence in teaching, research and dissemination of knowledge.
To achieve the above, the staff and students are encouraged to draw on their diverse but complementary core competencies in Nursing, Medicine, Dentistry, Public Health, Allied Health Sciences, Pharmacy, Biomedical Research and Consultancy in order to compete effectively in the globalised world.
A message posted on their website indicated “we will strive to create a working environment that fosters dedication, co-operation and reward hard work, initiative and creativity.
“We will always be guided by the needs of our stakeholders including students, patients, private and public organisations, local and international community in the development and provision of our services”.
“We will position ourselves to promote and utilise emerging technologies to enhance the quality of our services”.
“In all our activities, we shall uphold the highest level of professional ethics, openness, fairness and honesty”.
As Ghana celebrates her 53rd Independence Day celebration on March 6, 2010, it is the hope and desire of all Ghanaians that the aims and objectives with which the founders established the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) will be realised.
C'ttee to raise funds to buy fire equipment (Spread)
A nine-member committee has been formed in Accra to raise funds for the purchase of fire fighting equipment for the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).
The committee has the aim of raising funds to purchase about two turntables at the cost of between $1.5 million and $2.5 million each to fight fires in high-rise buildings.
The committee is chaired by the Director in charge of Business Continuity at the Bank of Ghana, Mr R. Kwesi Bentil, with the Assistant Chief Officer, Mr K. Kwarteng, as the Secretary.
The members are Mr G.A. Baafi of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT); Mr A. S. Mohammed of Silver Star Auto Limited; Mr K. Amponsah-Dapaah of the Property Department of SSNIT; Mr Mensah K. Agbessite of the Agricultural Development Bank and Mr Isaac Yaw Buabeng of the National Insurance Commission.
To receive the required support, the committee will, on Thursday, March 11, hold a stakeholders’ meeting at the headquarters of the GNFS for owners and occupants of high-rise buildings, owners and occupants of property close to high-rise buildings and all others who have the issue of fire fighting at heart.
Addressing the press in Accra yesterday, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Bentil, said although the government had expressed the desire to equip the GNFS, it behoved the public to take the lead in that direction, since they suffered most when there were fire outbreaks.
He said since high-rise buildings were springing up in the country, especially in Accra, there was the need to find ways of getting the appropriate fire fighting equipment to fight fires in such buildings in case they occurred, adding that fire outbreaks occurred in all societies, no matter the level of preventive measures put in place.
Mr Bentil explained that the idea of the Committee on High-rise Buildings occurred to him after he had personally witnessed the inferno at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building from his office on one of the top floors of the Cedi House.
He called on the public and especially stakeholders to support the fund-raising for the purchase of the equipment in good time to prevent another unfortunate situation.
For his part, the Chief Officer, Mr William Brown-Acquaye, directed that occupants of all buildings that had been in existence for more than 10 years must contract electrical engineers to inspect and test the electrical wiring system and carry out electrical re-wiring where required.
“Again, simple but effective workplace fire safety precautions must be religiously carried out by fire safety wardens or officers working as employees in their organisations,” he stated.
Mr Brown-Acquaye advised chief executive officers and top management of various corporate entities and organisations to redefine and demonstrate their interest in fire safety philosophies in their policy statements.
He also asked for maximum support from the public to enable the personnel of the service to perform effectively.
The committee has the aim of raising funds to purchase about two turntables at the cost of between $1.5 million and $2.5 million each to fight fires in high-rise buildings.
The committee is chaired by the Director in charge of Business Continuity at the Bank of Ghana, Mr R. Kwesi Bentil, with the Assistant Chief Officer, Mr K. Kwarteng, as the Secretary.
The members are Mr G.A. Baafi of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT); Mr A. S. Mohammed of Silver Star Auto Limited; Mr K. Amponsah-Dapaah of the Property Department of SSNIT; Mr Mensah K. Agbessite of the Agricultural Development Bank and Mr Isaac Yaw Buabeng of the National Insurance Commission.
To receive the required support, the committee will, on Thursday, March 11, hold a stakeholders’ meeting at the headquarters of the GNFS for owners and occupants of high-rise buildings, owners and occupants of property close to high-rise buildings and all others who have the issue of fire fighting at heart.
Addressing the press in Accra yesterday, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Bentil, said although the government had expressed the desire to equip the GNFS, it behoved the public to take the lead in that direction, since they suffered most when there were fire outbreaks.
He said since high-rise buildings were springing up in the country, especially in Accra, there was the need to find ways of getting the appropriate fire fighting equipment to fight fires in such buildings in case they occurred, adding that fire outbreaks occurred in all societies, no matter the level of preventive measures put in place.
Mr Bentil explained that the idea of the Committee on High-rise Buildings occurred to him after he had personally witnessed the inferno at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building from his office on one of the top floors of the Cedi House.
He called on the public and especially stakeholders to support the fund-raising for the purchase of the equipment in good time to prevent another unfortunate situation.
For his part, the Chief Officer, Mr William Brown-Acquaye, directed that occupants of all buildings that had been in existence for more than 10 years must contract electrical engineers to inspect and test the electrical wiring system and carry out electrical re-wiring where required.
“Again, simple but effective workplace fire safety precautions must be religiously carried out by fire safety wardens or officers working as employees in their organisations,” he stated.
Mr Brown-Acquaye advised chief executive officers and top management of various corporate entities and organisations to redefine and demonstrate their interest in fire safety philosophies in their policy statements.
He also asked for maximum support from the public to enable the personnel of the service to perform effectively.
Monday, March 1, 2010
President to launch national pre-flood clean up March 27
Sat. February 27, 2010
PRESIDENT J.E.A. Mills will lead the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to launch a “national pre-floods” clean-up campaign in Accra on March 27, this year.
The exercise, which is expected to minimise the effects of floods when they occur, involves clearing drains and bushy areas throughout the country, most especially identified flood-prone areas.
On June 19, 2009, heavy floods in the western part of Accra claimed at least seven lives and caused massive destruction to private and public property after two hours of rain.
Disaster managers described the floods as the most destructive in recent times, with the most affected places being Sakaman, Mataheko and Kaneshie.
The floods also washed away the bitumen on the main Kaneshie First Light-Mpamprom road and caused some of the vehicles caught in the rush-hour traffic to float and crash into one another.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the proposed national clean-up exercise, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of NADMO, Major Nicholas Mensah (retd), said the organisation would, from Monday, March 1, begin a massive education programme on the exercise to enable the populace to know what to do during the exercise.
He stressed that people from all sections of the Ghanaian society would be mobilised for the exercise.
He said NADMO was collaborating with all stakeholders, such as the Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Armed Forces, city authorities, the Hydrological Services Department, opinion leaders, traditional authorities, as well as local communities, to enforce measures already put in place to curtail the effects of floods which had become a perennial problem.
Some of those measures included the identification of flood-prone areas where residents had been advised on how to prevent floods and also protect themselves should such a disaster occur.
Major Mensah said as a long-term plan, NADMO, together with the other interest groups, would see to the enforcement of the building code, find solutions to the problem of people building on water courses, stop the indiscriminate felling of trees and embark on the reconstruction of some drains which, due to rapid development, could no longer take the surface water when it rained.
He also touched on the need to look at the issue of unplanned development in the communities and the indiscriminate sale and purchase of land around the country.
PRESIDENT J.E.A. Mills will lead the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to launch a “national pre-floods” clean-up campaign in Accra on March 27, this year.
The exercise, which is expected to minimise the effects of floods when they occur, involves clearing drains and bushy areas throughout the country, most especially identified flood-prone areas.
On June 19, 2009, heavy floods in the western part of Accra claimed at least seven lives and caused massive destruction to private and public property after two hours of rain.
Disaster managers described the floods as the most destructive in recent times, with the most affected places being Sakaman, Mataheko and Kaneshie.
The floods also washed away the bitumen on the main Kaneshie First Light-Mpamprom road and caused some of the vehicles caught in the rush-hour traffic to float and crash into one another.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the proposed national clean-up exercise, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of NADMO, Major Nicholas Mensah (retd), said the organisation would, from Monday, March 1, begin a massive education programme on the exercise to enable the populace to know what to do during the exercise.
He stressed that people from all sections of the Ghanaian society would be mobilised for the exercise.
He said NADMO was collaborating with all stakeholders, such as the Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Armed Forces, city authorities, the Hydrological Services Department, opinion leaders, traditional authorities, as well as local communities, to enforce measures already put in place to curtail the effects of floods which had become a perennial problem.
Some of those measures included the identification of flood-prone areas where residents had been advised on how to prevent floods and also protect themselves should such a disaster occur.
Major Mensah said as a long-term plan, NADMO, together with the other interest groups, would see to the enforcement of the building code, find solutions to the problem of people building on water courses, stop the indiscriminate felling of trees and embark on the reconstruction of some drains which, due to rapid development, could no longer take the surface water when it rained.
He also touched on the need to look at the issue of unplanned development in the communities and the indiscriminate sale and purchase of land around the country.
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