Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho & Christiana Asantewah Wiafe
FIVE workers of the limb fitting unit of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), are undergoing a two-week on-the-job training on the use of advanced technologies in limb fittings.
The unit, known as the Prothetic and Ortheotics Unit is mainly involved in the replacement of lost limbs with artificial ones.
The training, which is being undertaken by a US-based charity known as ‘Standing With Hope’ will at the end of the training enable the workers to fix at least the limbs of about 50 people who have lost either one or two of their legs through accidents or other means.
As part of the training, the unit has also received prothetic (limb fitting) materials from the organisation which include; four dozens of prothetic feet, dozens of pylons, socket adapters, silicon sleeves and liners, boxes of stockinette, 30 gallons of non-toxic raisens, poly vialyn alcohols (PVAs), life and limb bags, prothetic socks and stockings and a generating plant all worth over $30,000.
The Director of the Prothetic and Ortheotic Unit, Dr Daniel Kodi, who briefed the press in Accra, said the training has become necessary as he and his staff were using conventional methods such as the curving of wood to generate limbs for their clients, a system which he said took about two weeks to complete as compared to the current one which takes two days.
Dr Kodi who is one of the trainees, described the new system which used caste as very simple and said patients were made to pay only 25 per cent of the cost of their fittings.
The leader of the group, Mr. Peter Rosenberger said the organisation, which is a missionary group, has been in existence since 2002, and started operating in Ghana since 2005 by partnering the GHS to give hope to amputees in the country.
He said they work as strategic partners with the GHS where they provide free training on prothetics and also take the opportunity to share the gospel to their clients.
Mr. Rosenberger said to make their work more effective “we need GHS to hire younger workers to be trained”, saying that most of the staff at the unit were advanced in age.
He also called on the GHS to provide them with more organisational tools to aid in their work and also appealed to importers to assist them to import more of the prothetic materials into the country.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
World marks June 23 as day for widows...Daily Graphic (Tues. June 24)...Pg 11
By Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
YESTERDAY, June 23 was celebrated in some parts of the world as International Widows Day (IWD). especially, in the United Kingdom (UK),
Although the day is very important for some advanced countries like the United Kingdom, not much is known about it in our part of the world where the situation of most widows are rather deplorable. Widows in many developing countries including Ghana, face extreme hardships and most often bring up their children in poverty.
Widows and their children around the world suffer from poverty, illness, diseases including HIV and AIDS, conflict and social injustice.
Recently, in Ghana, the plight of three widows who were termed “The three royal widows” who have mourned the death of their husband, a chief, for nine years, was brought to the fore.
The three, Madam Yaa Nsia, 80, Madam Afua Nkume 74, Madam Ama Sumaa, 69, first, second and third wives, who have performed widowhood rites for the past nine years after the death of their husband, Nana Kwaku Dimpo 11, Chief of New Longolo in the Kimtampo North District, went through this ordeal because in the culture of the Mo traditional area, where they hailed from, the successor of the deceased chief should perform the final funeral rites of his predecessor and it was the custom that after the final funeral rites of the late chief that the widows would be freed from widowhood.
However, the funeral of the said chief, for one reason or the other has not been held and in the Daily Graphic of April 5, 2008 the three appealled to the Brong Ahafo Regional Chiefs to expedite action on the settling of the disputes between the three gates of the Mo stool for the final funeral rites of their late husband to be performed ,for them to be free.
The widows, who have been confined to their rooms and the compound of their homes for the past nine years, had rejected earlier moves by the head of their late husband’s family to perform the initiation to relieve them of widowhood describing such an action as a breach of tradition.
It is clear that custom and tradition plays major roles in the situation of widows who are made to undergo obnoxious cultural practices such as confinement, shaving of their hairs and marrying of their late husbands’ brother.
The problems faced by widows is not limited to Africa alone. In India, there are said to be millions of widows with others across other Asian countries who need help.
It is in the light of this plight that the celebration of June 23rd as a day for widows should be used to ameliorate the hardships that widows face throughout the world.
The day was first announced by Cherie Blair, wife of the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, at a House of Lords luncheon on May 26, 2005 held by the Loomba Trust, and the day was formally announced at the United Nations on October 21st, 2005, in the presence of Dr Kofi Annan and Cherie Blair.
The Loomba Trust is a UK-based charity established in 1997 in Britain and India, which plays a leading role of raising awareness about the plight of widows all over the world and it is dedicated to promoting the welfare and education of the children of poor widows and other orphaned children throughout India and the world at large.
Founder and Chairman of The Loomba Trust, one Raj Loomba whose decision to set-up the trust stems from the fact that his mother, Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, who was widowed at the age of 37 in 1954 single-handedly raised seven young children.
Raj therefore has a personal mission to highlight the predicament of widows and their children from all over the world and to provide a focus for effective action.
The Trust aims at removing the stigma associated with losing a husband and providing support. By doing this, it will prove one of the most important and effective ways of fighting global poverty and injustice - a key factor in achieving the United Nations Millennium Goals and it relentlessly aims at helping to remove the stigma associated with losing a husband, providing support with essential needs such as healthcare and education.
It is also the mission of The Loomba Trust to harness the support of the United Nations, to eradicate the social injustices and hardships facing the developing world’s widow communities.
Today, The Loomba Trust is educating 3,500 children in all 29 Indian states, including 500 in Tamil Nadu, South India, who lost their fathers or both parents in the 2004 Tsunami and 1,500 HIV orphans in South Africa in association with Virgin Unite, the Trust has focused its aid on breaking the cycle of poverty. Beneficiaries are selected without regard to gender, religion or class, and scholarships are guaranteed for an initial period of five years.
Ghana can also emulate such as initiative to save hundreds of poor widows who are going through untold harships by setting up a fund where they can source money to support them in establishing their own businesses.
The plight of Ghanaian widows, even in this age is nothing to rejoice about and NGOs and individuals who have anything to offer must come together to lighten their burden.
When the right steps, such as creating skills opportunities are taken for women and their children, in the unfortunate event of the death of their husbands, they can be self reliant to sustain their families.
YESTERDAY, June 23 was celebrated in some parts of the world as International Widows Day (IWD). especially, in the United Kingdom (UK),
Although the day is very important for some advanced countries like the United Kingdom, not much is known about it in our part of the world where the situation of most widows are rather deplorable. Widows in many developing countries including Ghana, face extreme hardships and most often bring up their children in poverty.
Widows and their children around the world suffer from poverty, illness, diseases including HIV and AIDS, conflict and social injustice.
Recently, in Ghana, the plight of three widows who were termed “The three royal widows” who have mourned the death of their husband, a chief, for nine years, was brought to the fore.
The three, Madam Yaa Nsia, 80, Madam Afua Nkume 74, Madam Ama Sumaa, 69, first, second and third wives, who have performed widowhood rites for the past nine years after the death of their husband, Nana Kwaku Dimpo 11, Chief of New Longolo in the Kimtampo North District, went through this ordeal because in the culture of the Mo traditional area, where they hailed from, the successor of the deceased chief should perform the final funeral rites of his predecessor and it was the custom that after the final funeral rites of the late chief that the widows would be freed from widowhood.
However, the funeral of the said chief, for one reason or the other has not been held and in the Daily Graphic of April 5, 2008 the three appealled to the Brong Ahafo Regional Chiefs to expedite action on the settling of the disputes between the three gates of the Mo stool for the final funeral rites of their late husband to be performed ,for them to be free.
The widows, who have been confined to their rooms and the compound of their homes for the past nine years, had rejected earlier moves by the head of their late husband’s family to perform the initiation to relieve them of widowhood describing such an action as a breach of tradition.
It is clear that custom and tradition plays major roles in the situation of widows who are made to undergo obnoxious cultural practices such as confinement, shaving of their hairs and marrying of their late husbands’ brother.
The problems faced by widows is not limited to Africa alone. In India, there are said to be millions of widows with others across other Asian countries who need help.
It is in the light of this plight that the celebration of June 23rd as a day for widows should be used to ameliorate the hardships that widows face throughout the world.
The day was first announced by Cherie Blair, wife of the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, at a House of Lords luncheon on May 26, 2005 held by the Loomba Trust, and the day was formally announced at the United Nations on October 21st, 2005, in the presence of Dr Kofi Annan and Cherie Blair.
The Loomba Trust is a UK-based charity established in 1997 in Britain and India, which plays a leading role of raising awareness about the plight of widows all over the world and it is dedicated to promoting the welfare and education of the children of poor widows and other orphaned children throughout India and the world at large.
Founder and Chairman of The Loomba Trust, one Raj Loomba whose decision to set-up the trust stems from the fact that his mother, Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, who was widowed at the age of 37 in 1954 single-handedly raised seven young children.
Raj therefore has a personal mission to highlight the predicament of widows and their children from all over the world and to provide a focus for effective action.
The Trust aims at removing the stigma associated with losing a husband and providing support. By doing this, it will prove one of the most important and effective ways of fighting global poverty and injustice - a key factor in achieving the United Nations Millennium Goals and it relentlessly aims at helping to remove the stigma associated with losing a husband, providing support with essential needs such as healthcare and education.
It is also the mission of The Loomba Trust to harness the support of the United Nations, to eradicate the social injustices and hardships facing the developing world’s widow communities.
Today, The Loomba Trust is educating 3,500 children in all 29 Indian states, including 500 in Tamil Nadu, South India, who lost their fathers or both parents in the 2004 Tsunami and 1,500 HIV orphans in South Africa in association with Virgin Unite, the Trust has focused its aid on breaking the cycle of poverty. Beneficiaries are selected without regard to gender, religion or class, and scholarships are guaranteed for an initial period of five years.
Ghana can also emulate such as initiative to save hundreds of poor widows who are going through untold harships by setting up a fund where they can source money to support them in establishing their own businesses.
The plight of Ghanaian widows, even in this age is nothing to rejoice about and NGOs and individuals who have anything to offer must come together to lighten their burden.
When the right steps, such as creating skills opportunities are taken for women and their children, in the unfortunate event of the death of their husbands, they can be self reliant to sustain their families.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Manpower ministry signs MoU with ADB– To manage NYEP accounts...Daily Graphic (back page)..Tuesday June 17/08
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment (MMYE) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) for the latter to provide financial management services to the accounts of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).
In effect, the bank, which will be paid a management fee by the ministry, is to open accounts for all employees of the NYEP and effect the payment of monthly allowances which ranged from GH¢50 to GH¢210 to a total of 70,000 people who are currently employed under the programme to ensure its smooth operation.
The ADB, as part of the MoU, will also effect the payment of allowances to the NYEP personnel in times of delay of money from the government, and the ministry, as part of its commitment towards the MoU, has paid an initial deposit of GH¢6 million to the ADB.
The sector minister, Nana Akomea, who initialled on behalf of the ministry, said the move had become necessary as the NYEP, which otherwise was a laudable idea, was facing financial constraints, thereby creating situations where employees under the programme could work for about three to four months before they were paid.
He said so far the programme had employed 108,000 young people across the country of which he said 38,000 were currently working on their own mostly in the agriculture sector.
Nana Akomea explained that the ADB, as managers of the NYEP accounts, would help streamline the management of the payment of allowances for the programme, which hitherto, he said, was being done by the ministry.
The Managing Director of ADB, Mr Yaw Opoku Atuahene, who signed on behalf of the bank, assured the minister of the bank’s commitment to ensure that the programme worked effectively.
He said since the programme was employing the youth on temporary basis, the ADB would take the opportunity to introduce facilities that would entice the youth to take up permanent jobs especially under its Youth in Agriculture project.
The NYEP National Co-ordinator, Mr Leo Kabah Aloue, said his outfit, through the district co-ordinators, was going to monitor the work of the personnel monthly and furnish the ADB with them to effect payments to ensure that they work for their pay and also to eliminate 'ghost names' whenever possible.
The NYEP was introduced by the government two years ago and it sources its funding from the GETFund, National Health Insurance Scheme, Ghana Road Fund, District Assemblies Common Fund and the HIPC Fund.
THE Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment (MMYE) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) for the latter to provide financial management services to the accounts of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).
In effect, the bank, which will be paid a management fee by the ministry, is to open accounts for all employees of the NYEP and effect the payment of monthly allowances which ranged from GH¢50 to GH¢210 to a total of 70,000 people who are currently employed under the programme to ensure its smooth operation.
The ADB, as part of the MoU, will also effect the payment of allowances to the NYEP personnel in times of delay of money from the government, and the ministry, as part of its commitment towards the MoU, has paid an initial deposit of GH¢6 million to the ADB.
The sector minister, Nana Akomea, who initialled on behalf of the ministry, said the move had become necessary as the NYEP, which otherwise was a laudable idea, was facing financial constraints, thereby creating situations where employees under the programme could work for about three to four months before they were paid.
He said so far the programme had employed 108,000 young people across the country of which he said 38,000 were currently working on their own mostly in the agriculture sector.
Nana Akomea explained that the ADB, as managers of the NYEP accounts, would help streamline the management of the payment of allowances for the programme, which hitherto, he said, was being done by the ministry.
The Managing Director of ADB, Mr Yaw Opoku Atuahene, who signed on behalf of the bank, assured the minister of the bank’s commitment to ensure that the programme worked effectively.
He said since the programme was employing the youth on temporary basis, the ADB would take the opportunity to introduce facilities that would entice the youth to take up permanent jobs especially under its Youth in Agriculture project.
The NYEP National Co-ordinator, Mr Leo Kabah Aloue, said his outfit, through the district co-ordinators, was going to monitor the work of the personnel monthly and furnish the ADB with them to effect payments to ensure that they work for their pay and also to eliminate 'ghost names' whenever possible.
The NYEP was introduced by the government two years ago and it sources its funding from the GETFund, National Health Insurance Scheme, Ghana Road Fund, District Assemblies Common Fund and the HIPC Fund.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Health experts attend workshop in Accra...Daily Graphic..Thurs..June 12/08
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho & Hagar Korantemaa
OVER 120 health experts from West and Central Africa are in the country to share experiences and adopt best practices in the sustainable adoption of family planning, reproductive health and child survival policies and approaches.
The health experts, who are participating in a three-day workshop in Accra organised by Action for West Africa Region-Reproductive Health (AWARE-RH), will discuss achievements and challenges after implementing a five-year project which ends in July.
The five-year project, which covered 21 countries, supports activities in the areas of family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, malaria and HIV/AIDS and also shares best practices in reproductive health in the region.
At the end of the workshop, participants are expected to come up with recommendations that will be made available to their respective governments for consideration.
The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), who opened the workshop, observed that the current challenge facing policy makers in developing countries was how to apply the available knowledge effectively and efficiently.
He said the magnitude and persistently high rates of maternal mortality, infant and child mortality and deaths from HIV/AIDS on the continent raised several fundamental issues which policy makers would need to confront.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor, AWARE-RH, Dr Alex Nazzar, said Ghana and other participating countries were doing well on the issue of reproductive health.
He said Ghana currently had in place a system known as the Reproductive Health Commodity Security by which it was able to forecast the health needs of people and thereby make drugs available to potential patients.
The Vice-President of Programmes for EngenderHealth, Dr Isaiah Ndong, said the purpose of the project was to support the various regions with technical assistance to enable them to work with their governments and adopt best practices.
He added that the project also strengthened selected institutions, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the regions, to provide technical assistance through training.
According to Dr Ndong, although the healthcare situation in the region was not the best, the project exceeded its expectations by achieving its target in all participating countries and called on governments to continue working with other development partners to ensure its sustainability.
OVER 120 health experts from West and Central Africa are in the country to share experiences and adopt best practices in the sustainable adoption of family planning, reproductive health and child survival policies and approaches.
The health experts, who are participating in a three-day workshop in Accra organised by Action for West Africa Region-Reproductive Health (AWARE-RH), will discuss achievements and challenges after implementing a five-year project which ends in July.
The five-year project, which covered 21 countries, supports activities in the areas of family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, malaria and HIV/AIDS and also shares best practices in reproductive health in the region.
At the end of the workshop, participants are expected to come up with recommendations that will be made available to their respective governments for consideration.
The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), who opened the workshop, observed that the current challenge facing policy makers in developing countries was how to apply the available knowledge effectively and efficiently.
He said the magnitude and persistently high rates of maternal mortality, infant and child mortality and deaths from HIV/AIDS on the continent raised several fundamental issues which policy makers would need to confront.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor, AWARE-RH, Dr Alex Nazzar, said Ghana and other participating countries were doing well on the issue of reproductive health.
He said Ghana currently had in place a system known as the Reproductive Health Commodity Security by which it was able to forecast the health needs of people and thereby make drugs available to potential patients.
The Vice-President of Programmes for EngenderHealth, Dr Isaiah Ndong, said the purpose of the project was to support the various regions with technical assistance to enable them to work with their governments and adopt best practices.
He added that the project also strengthened selected institutions, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the regions, to provide technical assistance through training.
According to Dr Ndong, although the healthcare situation in the region was not the best, the project exceeded its expectations by achieving its target in all participating countries and called on governments to continue working with other development partners to ensure its sustainability.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
WHO promotes use of oral drugs...Daily Graphic (spread)..Tues..June 10/08
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on member countries to promote the use of oral drugs for the treatment of illnesses rather than injections.
According to WHO, although injections bring faster relief to people seeking treatment, it has been found out that the negative impact associated with its use outweighs that of drugs taken orally.
The negative impacts, which include high burden of blood transmissible diseases such as HIV and hepatitis and the use of unsafe injection practices, according to the organisation, are more predominant in the developing world.
The Deputy Director-General of WHO, Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, made the call in Accra yesterday during the opening of a three-day international workshop on injection safety.
The workshop, which is expected to bring together about 40 health personnel from Africa, the WHO Regional Office and the United States of America is aimed at equipping member states with knowledge and skills that will enable them to ensure safe injection practices.
The workshop will also review the current injection safety situation in participating countries, discuss challenges that need urgent attention, develop strategies to overcome the challenges, review and sign the 2007 recommendations on injection safety, select those that will be appropriate for the African environment and reach a consensus on areas that will need continued WHO support.
Dr Asamoa-Baah called on people to opt for oral drugs rather than injections, since, according to him, injection could cause harm, adding that it was also difficult for people especially in the developing countries to sterilise syringes properly to prevent the transmission of diseases.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Elias Sory, said although Ghana did not have statistics on the adverse effect of injections, the possibility of people getting an abscess or deformities after an injection was high.
He explained that injection was normally used to arrest severe conditions before drugs were given to patients but said because most people wanted quick relief for their ailments, they resorted to the use of syringes.
The WHO Country Representative, Dr Joaquim Saweka, said more than 70 per cent of injections that were given at primary health care facilities in developing countries were sometimes unnecessary or could be given in oral forms.
Dr Saweka said other unsafe practices, such as poor collection and disposal of dirty injection equipment, exposed healthcare workers and the community to the risk of needle related injuries.
He said to promote the safe use of needles, WHO had strengthened its collaboration with national regulatory authorities to ensure the rational use of injection safety and the quality and safety of injection devices through the enforcement of national regulations based upon international standards.
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on member countries to promote the use of oral drugs for the treatment of illnesses rather than injections.
According to WHO, although injections bring faster relief to people seeking treatment, it has been found out that the negative impact associated with its use outweighs that of drugs taken orally.
The negative impacts, which include high burden of blood transmissible diseases such as HIV and hepatitis and the use of unsafe injection practices, according to the organisation, are more predominant in the developing world.
The Deputy Director-General of WHO, Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, made the call in Accra yesterday during the opening of a three-day international workshop on injection safety.
The workshop, which is expected to bring together about 40 health personnel from Africa, the WHO Regional Office and the United States of America is aimed at equipping member states with knowledge and skills that will enable them to ensure safe injection practices.
The workshop will also review the current injection safety situation in participating countries, discuss challenges that need urgent attention, develop strategies to overcome the challenges, review and sign the 2007 recommendations on injection safety, select those that will be appropriate for the African environment and reach a consensus on areas that will need continued WHO support.
Dr Asamoa-Baah called on people to opt for oral drugs rather than injections, since, according to him, injection could cause harm, adding that it was also difficult for people especially in the developing countries to sterilise syringes properly to prevent the transmission of diseases.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Elias Sory, said although Ghana did not have statistics on the adverse effect of injections, the possibility of people getting an abscess or deformities after an injection was high.
He explained that injection was normally used to arrest severe conditions before drugs were given to patients but said because most people wanted quick relief for their ailments, they resorted to the use of syringes.
The WHO Country Representative, Dr Joaquim Saweka, said more than 70 per cent of injections that were given at primary health care facilities in developing countries were sometimes unnecessary or could be given in oral forms.
Dr Saweka said other unsafe practices, such as poor collection and disposal of dirty injection equipment, exposed healthcare workers and the community to the risk of needle related injuries.
He said to promote the safe use of needles, WHO had strengthened its collaboration with national regulatory authorities to ensure the rational use of injection safety and the quality and safety of injection devices through the enforcement of national regulations based upon international standards.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Many Ghanaians deficient in vital nutrient– Doctor...Daily Graphic (Back Page)..Sat. June 07/06
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
A doctor at the Department of Medicine of the University of Ghana Medical School, Korle Bu, Dr Margaret Lartey, has observed that although the country has abundant food sources, most people are suffering from micronutrient malnutrition.
She said the condition, often referred to as “hidden hunger”, mostly affected the elderly and children and remained unrecognised in its mild or moderate forms.
According to her, under such circumstances, most people walked about looking healthy, when in actual fact they lacked iron, vitamins and iodine, a situation that she said could lead to anaemic conditions.
Dr Lartey made the observation at a health talk organised by Allipharm UK — agent for Valuepak range of vitamins, minerals and food supplement products — for pharmacists in Accra.
She further observed that vitamin deficiencies frequently occurred in populations with high infectious disease burden, among people with monotonous poor quality diet, as well as diets characterised by limited consumption of animal products.
Dr Lartey, who was speaking on the topic: “The role of supplements in the prevention and management of diseases”, also observed that food taken in excess could increase the ageing process and reduce life expectancy of a person by increasing oxidative stress and, therefore, recommended daily exercises, which, according to her, strengthens antioxidant defences.
She said it had become vital for people to supplement their diets daily with vitamins and minerals to ensure that they had the required amounts of vitamins, minerals and supplements (VMS) in their systems.
The Chief Executive Officer of BR Pharmaceuticals — manufacturers of Valuepak range of vitamins, mineral and supplements based in UK — Mr Phillip M. Byrne, said the importance of food supplementation for the body could not be overemphasised especially when food were over-cooked, thereby making it lose value.
He said the mission of BR Pharmaceuticals was to deliver quality health care at affordable prices for the benefit of retailers and consumers alike, without compromising on its quality.
Marketed in Ghana over the last six years, Mr Byrne said Valuepak, which is currently Ghana’s leading VMS brand in pharmacy, could boast 45 products in the Valuepak range and gave the assurance that more brands were to be added in the near future.
Mr Byrne said Valuepak would continue to be the dominant VMS brand in Ghana, adding that plans were now in place to develop Valuepak throughout other English and French-speaking countries in West Africa.
The Products and Service Director of Allipharm UK, Mr Samuel Laing, said the talk was aimed at educating the pharmacists to be well informed on the importance of recommending food supplementation to their clients.
A doctor at the Department of Medicine of the University of Ghana Medical School, Korle Bu, Dr Margaret Lartey, has observed that although the country has abundant food sources, most people are suffering from micronutrient malnutrition.
She said the condition, often referred to as “hidden hunger”, mostly affected the elderly and children and remained unrecognised in its mild or moderate forms.
According to her, under such circumstances, most people walked about looking healthy, when in actual fact they lacked iron, vitamins and iodine, a situation that she said could lead to anaemic conditions.
Dr Lartey made the observation at a health talk organised by Allipharm UK — agent for Valuepak range of vitamins, minerals and food supplement products — for pharmacists in Accra.
She further observed that vitamin deficiencies frequently occurred in populations with high infectious disease burden, among people with monotonous poor quality diet, as well as diets characterised by limited consumption of animal products.
Dr Lartey, who was speaking on the topic: “The role of supplements in the prevention and management of diseases”, also observed that food taken in excess could increase the ageing process and reduce life expectancy of a person by increasing oxidative stress and, therefore, recommended daily exercises, which, according to her, strengthens antioxidant defences.
She said it had become vital for people to supplement their diets daily with vitamins and minerals to ensure that they had the required amounts of vitamins, minerals and supplements (VMS) in their systems.
The Chief Executive Officer of BR Pharmaceuticals — manufacturers of Valuepak range of vitamins, mineral and supplements based in UK — Mr Phillip M. Byrne, said the importance of food supplementation for the body could not be overemphasised especially when food were over-cooked, thereby making it lose value.
He said the mission of BR Pharmaceuticals was to deliver quality health care at affordable prices for the benefit of retailers and consumers alike, without compromising on its quality.
Marketed in Ghana over the last six years, Mr Byrne said Valuepak, which is currently Ghana’s leading VMS brand in pharmacy, could boast 45 products in the Valuepak range and gave the assurance that more brands were to be added in the near future.
Mr Byrne said Valuepak would continue to be the dominant VMS brand in Ghana, adding that plans were now in place to develop Valuepak throughout other English and French-speaking countries in West Africa.
The Products and Service Director of Allipharm UK, Mr Samuel Laing, said the talk was aimed at educating the pharmacists to be well informed on the importance of recommending food supplementation to their clients.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Two win grant to research more into coconut disease...Daily Graphic..Pg.53..June 05/08
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the University of Nottingham, UK have won a £385,500 research grant to investigate the Cape Saint Paul Wilt, a disease that has led to the destruction of many coconut farms in the Western and Central Regions of Ghana.
Known in scientific circles as the phytoplasma or Lethal Yellowing Disease, scientists say it has also destroyed millions of coconut plants across the world.
In Ghana, it is estimated that about one million coconut plants have been destroyed within the last 30 years.
The Director-General of the CSIR, Professor Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah, announced the research grant at the opening of a four-day international workshop on the disease in Accra on Tuesday.
The workshop, which is being organised by the Centre for International Co-operation in Agric Research and Development (CIRAD) in partnership with the CSIR with sponsorship from the French Embassy, brought together 57 research scientist from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, Jamaica, Guaremala-Honduras, Mexico and France.
According to Prof. Owusu-Bennoah, the research would involve the understanding of the transmission of the disease and the development of tolerant varieties of the coconut plants.
He said there were concerns that the disease-causing organism phytoplasma could be transmitted through the seed and, therefore, the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services of the CSIR had imposed severe restrictions on the movement of germplasm.
He added that to ensure security for the coconut industry, resistant germplants had to be exploited to improve varieties and hybrids for replanting.
He expressed the hope that the workshop will consider how the combination of fundamental research into seed transmission along with the development of tools for coconut breeding programmes will result in improved exploitation of coconut germplants as well as the identification of molecular markets that can be used in coconut breeding strategies to form the basis of a global partnership for development.
The Ambassador of France to Ghana, Mr Pierre Jacquemot, in his address said the government of France in collaboration with the government of Ghana had established a programme of co-operation research into agriculture in the country.
He said so far research had been conducted into rubber, cocoa, rice and presently coconut.
The Minister of State in charge of Education, Science and Sports, Ms Elizabeth Ohene, who formally opened the workshop, said the government was committed to ensuring that a solution was found to the disease in the country.
She, therefore, called for collaboration among scientists to help find a lasting solution across the globe to the disease.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, said an estimated eight per cent of the Ghanaian population was dependent on the coconut plant.
Mr Debrah said Ghana had currently expanded its planting material base of coconut by cultivating two new, hybrid seed plantations comprising a 21.2 and 10 hectares each which were resistant to the disease in the Western Region, as well as a seven-hectare pollinator garden at Kumasi to reduce the nation’s importation of pollinators as well as to enable it have control over the purity of the pollens.
A Research Scientist, Dr Sylvester K. Dery, Head of OPRI, called on the government to incorporate the cultivation of coconut into the President’s Special Initiatives (PSI).
According to him, this would help boost the cultivation of the plant. He added that apart from it being a fruit, it was also used in the cosmetic, chemical and pharmaceutical industries throughout the world.
THE Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the University of Nottingham, UK have won a £385,500 research grant to investigate the Cape Saint Paul Wilt, a disease that has led to the destruction of many coconut farms in the Western and Central Regions of Ghana.
Known in scientific circles as the phytoplasma or Lethal Yellowing Disease, scientists say it has also destroyed millions of coconut plants across the world.
In Ghana, it is estimated that about one million coconut plants have been destroyed within the last 30 years.
The Director-General of the CSIR, Professor Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah, announced the research grant at the opening of a four-day international workshop on the disease in Accra on Tuesday.
The workshop, which is being organised by the Centre for International Co-operation in Agric Research and Development (CIRAD) in partnership with the CSIR with sponsorship from the French Embassy, brought together 57 research scientist from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, Jamaica, Guaremala-Honduras, Mexico and France.
According to Prof. Owusu-Bennoah, the research would involve the understanding of the transmission of the disease and the development of tolerant varieties of the coconut plants.
He said there were concerns that the disease-causing organism phytoplasma could be transmitted through the seed and, therefore, the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services of the CSIR had imposed severe restrictions on the movement of germplasm.
He added that to ensure security for the coconut industry, resistant germplants had to be exploited to improve varieties and hybrids for replanting.
He expressed the hope that the workshop will consider how the combination of fundamental research into seed transmission along with the development of tools for coconut breeding programmes will result in improved exploitation of coconut germplants as well as the identification of molecular markets that can be used in coconut breeding strategies to form the basis of a global partnership for development.
The Ambassador of France to Ghana, Mr Pierre Jacquemot, in his address said the government of France in collaboration with the government of Ghana had established a programme of co-operation research into agriculture in the country.
He said so far research had been conducted into rubber, cocoa, rice and presently coconut.
The Minister of State in charge of Education, Science and Sports, Ms Elizabeth Ohene, who formally opened the workshop, said the government was committed to ensuring that a solution was found to the disease in the country.
She, therefore, called for collaboration among scientists to help find a lasting solution across the globe to the disease.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, said an estimated eight per cent of the Ghanaian population was dependent on the coconut plant.
Mr Debrah said Ghana had currently expanded its planting material base of coconut by cultivating two new, hybrid seed plantations comprising a 21.2 and 10 hectares each which were resistant to the disease in the Western Region, as well as a seven-hectare pollinator garden at Kumasi to reduce the nation’s importation of pollinators as well as to enable it have control over the purity of the pollens.
A Research Scientist, Dr Sylvester K. Dery, Head of OPRI, called on the government to incorporate the cultivation of coconut into the President’s Special Initiatives (PSI).
According to him, this would help boost the cultivation of the plant. He added that apart from it being a fruit, it was also used in the cosmetic, chemical and pharmaceutical industries throughout the world.
Ministry to attract health workers abroad...Daily Graphic (Spread Lead)..Thursday June 05/08
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE Ministry of Health (MOH) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) yesterday signed a 1.4-million euro four-year project to attract 150 health workers living in three European countries back into the country to strengthen the health system.
The targeted health workers from the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany, will work on a temporary basis.
The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the ministry with the IOM, said the initiative, dubbed ‘brain gain’, is a health sector human resource capacity-building initiative that seeks to attract and mobilise Ghanaian health professionals resident in the Diaspora back into the country to strengthen the country’s health system.
The project, which is in its third phase, is under the Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) Ghana Health III Project and is sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Embassy.
Ending in 2012, the project places emphasis on reproductive and regenerative health issues and concentrates more in the three northern regions and the Brong Ahafo Region.
The project started with a pilot study in 2004 and entered into a second phase in 2005 to 2007 where a total of 65 health professionals temporarily returned to Ghana to work in various hospitals across the country while five Ghana-based health workers also undertook internships in the three countries.
A Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Mrs Gladys Ashitey, in an address said the Ghana health sector had been a victim of global health workforce migration that in the past saw a respectable number of doctors, nurses and other allied health workers leaving the shores of the country for greener pastures in Europe and America.
She said the government had over the past five years taken measures to address ‘brain drain’ through health sector salary rationalisation, the establishment of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons for continuous medical training and the provision of incentives to health workers.
The Chief of Mission of IOM-Accra, Mr David Terzi, who signed on behalf of the development partners, said through the capacity building component of the project, a total of 8,264 health service workers including students nurses had benefited.
He said the project was on course to achieve a significant impact on the country’s health sector.
The First Secretary for Health and Gender of the Netherlands Embassy, Dr Marius deJong, gave the assurance that the programme was not aimed at reducing Ghanaians living abroad but rather aimed at improving the health system of the country.
He said the project was aimed at seeing an improvement in the health sector of the country especially in the northern part of the country.
The Director of Human Resource at the MOH, Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira, said the project would complement the ministry’s agenda of Human Resource Policies and Strategies (HRPS) for the health sector for 2007 to 2010.
THE Ministry of Health (MOH) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) yesterday signed a 1.4-million euro four-year project to attract 150 health workers living in three European countries back into the country to strengthen the health system.
The targeted health workers from the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany, will work on a temporary basis.
The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the ministry with the IOM, said the initiative, dubbed ‘brain gain’, is a health sector human resource capacity-building initiative that seeks to attract and mobilise Ghanaian health professionals resident in the Diaspora back into the country to strengthen the country’s health system.
The project, which is in its third phase, is under the Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) Ghana Health III Project and is sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Embassy.
Ending in 2012, the project places emphasis on reproductive and regenerative health issues and concentrates more in the three northern regions and the Brong Ahafo Region.
The project started with a pilot study in 2004 and entered into a second phase in 2005 to 2007 where a total of 65 health professionals temporarily returned to Ghana to work in various hospitals across the country while five Ghana-based health workers also undertook internships in the three countries.
A Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Mrs Gladys Ashitey, in an address said the Ghana health sector had been a victim of global health workforce migration that in the past saw a respectable number of doctors, nurses and other allied health workers leaving the shores of the country for greener pastures in Europe and America.
She said the government had over the past five years taken measures to address ‘brain drain’ through health sector salary rationalisation, the establishment of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons for continuous medical training and the provision of incentives to health workers.
The Chief of Mission of IOM-Accra, Mr David Terzi, who signed on behalf of the development partners, said through the capacity building component of the project, a total of 8,264 health service workers including students nurses had benefited.
He said the project was on course to achieve a significant impact on the country’s health sector.
The First Secretary for Health and Gender of the Netherlands Embassy, Dr Marius deJong, gave the assurance that the programme was not aimed at reducing Ghanaians living abroad but rather aimed at improving the health system of the country.
He said the project was aimed at seeing an improvement in the health sector of the country especially in the northern part of the country.
The Director of Human Resource at the MOH, Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira, said the project would complement the ministry’s agenda of Human Resource Policies and Strategies (HRPS) for the health sector for 2007 to 2010.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Mixed reaction to Talk Tax...Daily Graphic..Pg 31..Tues. June 3/08
Story Caroline Boateng & Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
Communications service providers have given mixed responses to the Communications Service Tax (CST) introduced last Sunday.
Separate interviews with some of the providers, who are to collect the tax, indicated that while some were comfortable with the tax regime and had been sensitised to it, others complained that they had not received enough sensitisation to the tax.
A source at the Busy Internet, who did not want to be named, said they had not been given adequate training on how the CST was going to be operated.
According to the source, although they are expected to start charging for the CST this month, they had attended just one seminar organised by the VAT Service, a programme that it described as not being “exhaustive enough”.
The source said they had not been given in-depth training on the CST to equip them on how to compute the tax, adding that the forms for the CST were more complex when compared to the VAT and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), since the latter came with a supplementary document, which the service provider was also required to fill.
The source further expressed the concern that contrary to the perception that the CST was not going to overburden the end user, it was going to create an unnecessary inflation in the country and therefore called for adequate training on it.
For instance, with the coming into force of the CST, technically, charges for VAT and NHIS was going to go up by six per cent, since they were expected to compute the VAT and NHIS after they had added the CST to their gross sales.
The source who identified three problems that they were going to encounter with the CST, mentioned the first as being that at the end of every month, they as service providers were going to be required to show their wholesale revenue for the month, a situation that the source said was going to bring an additional responsibility of which they had not had any training on.
The second problem is that since they provided a pre-paid service they were currently in a fix as to how to get their clients to pay for the June service, since most of them had already been sent invoices of which they had paid for and therefore called for some consideration from the government.
The third is that the CST was going to make their already seemingly expensive service more expensive, saying that it was going to cause an inflationary spiral, which would make their product unattractive to people.
The source said currently they were in the process of revising their charges to include the CST and wondered how their clients were going to take the changes in the July invoices, which would reflect the CST.
The Head of Marketing of the Ghana Telecom (Onetouch), Mr Steven Kofi Badu, said Onetouch had started charging for the CST.
He, however, said as a mitigation measure, his outfit had taken measures to absorb some of the cost of the service by ensuring that calls made from Onetouch to Onetouch or any Ghana Telecom (GT) line was going to be borne by the service while calls from Onetouch to other network services were going to be paid for by the user.
Mr Badu said with effect from June 1, as required by the CST Act, Onetouch had revised its charges with an increase of six per cent to enable them to honour their tax obligations.
He explained that his outfit did not have any problem with the tax as it only had to take six per cent from its gross sales and pay it into the government chest, adding that they were ready to work with it.
The Managing Director of Kasapa, Mr Robert Palitz, said they were still studying it.
He said although Kasapa would comply with the directive, they were yet to revise their charges to include the tax.
He, however, gave the assurance that when they finally got on board, "we will continue to be the cheapest paying cellular network".
Efforts at getting the Communications Director of MTN, Ms Mawuena Dumor, proved futile.
The Value Added Tax (VAT) Service, when contacted, however, stated that guidelines on the collection of the tax had been prepared and distributed to all the service providers while notices had been sent out to all of them.
In addition, the Service has organised several workshops and fora on the implementation from June 1, 2008.
The Head, Public Affairs and Information Unit, of the Service, Ms Florence Asante, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that contrary to some media reports that some communications service providers were unaware of the commencement of the tax regime, the service had notified all of them.
Ms Asante said the sensitisation programmes were not over, adding that more programmes would be organised to help all stakeholders better grasp the law and their obligations under the Act.
She advised the public to be vigilant and monitor the success of the implementation of the tax as it was intended for a good purpose.
Twenty per cent of the tax will be used to fund the National Employment Programme (NYEP) under the CST Act 754, and with that stipulation under the Act, Parliament would also monitor the collection and intended use of the funds accruing from the tax, she pointed out.
She added that there was, therefore, no need for anyone to be apprehensive that the tax would be misused.
Under the CST Act 754, national fixed networks and mobile cellular network operators, Internet Service Providers (ISP), public or corporate data operators, providers of radio FM broadcasting services and providers of free-on-air and pay-per-view television services are businesses included in the tax regime.
A licence, that is, Class one, to be granted by the National Communications Authority (NCA), is required by all such businesses to charge the CST levy on consumers under the Act.
Ms Asante further explained that the same process for charging VAT was used in the CST tax.
Thus, service providers had one month to account for the tax of the previous month.
With the commencement of the tax on June 1, 2008, it is expected that all those licensed to collect the tax will make returns from July 1 to 31.
However, unlike penalties under the VAT law, default in making returns and payments under the CST attracts stiffer punishments.
Ms Asante explained that GH¢2000 spot penalty would be paid if a licensed business did not make any returns after the last prescribed day of making returns on the tax.
Moreover, an interest of 150 per cent of the prevailing commercial bank rate would be charged on the tax collected.
Communications service providers have given mixed responses to the Communications Service Tax (CST) introduced last Sunday.
Separate interviews with some of the providers, who are to collect the tax, indicated that while some were comfortable with the tax regime and had been sensitised to it, others complained that they had not received enough sensitisation to the tax.
A source at the Busy Internet, who did not want to be named, said they had not been given adequate training on how the CST was going to be operated.
According to the source, although they are expected to start charging for the CST this month, they had attended just one seminar organised by the VAT Service, a programme that it described as not being “exhaustive enough”.
The source said they had not been given in-depth training on the CST to equip them on how to compute the tax, adding that the forms for the CST were more complex when compared to the VAT and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), since the latter came with a supplementary document, which the service provider was also required to fill.
The source further expressed the concern that contrary to the perception that the CST was not going to overburden the end user, it was going to create an unnecessary inflation in the country and therefore called for adequate training on it.
For instance, with the coming into force of the CST, technically, charges for VAT and NHIS was going to go up by six per cent, since they were expected to compute the VAT and NHIS after they had added the CST to their gross sales.
The source who identified three problems that they were going to encounter with the CST, mentioned the first as being that at the end of every month, they as service providers were going to be required to show their wholesale revenue for the month, a situation that the source said was going to bring an additional responsibility of which they had not had any training on.
The second problem is that since they provided a pre-paid service they were currently in a fix as to how to get their clients to pay for the June service, since most of them had already been sent invoices of which they had paid for and therefore called for some consideration from the government.
The third is that the CST was going to make their already seemingly expensive service more expensive, saying that it was going to cause an inflationary spiral, which would make their product unattractive to people.
The source said currently they were in the process of revising their charges to include the CST and wondered how their clients were going to take the changes in the July invoices, which would reflect the CST.
The Head of Marketing of the Ghana Telecom (Onetouch), Mr Steven Kofi Badu, said Onetouch had started charging for the CST.
He, however, said as a mitigation measure, his outfit had taken measures to absorb some of the cost of the service by ensuring that calls made from Onetouch to Onetouch or any Ghana Telecom (GT) line was going to be borne by the service while calls from Onetouch to other network services were going to be paid for by the user.
Mr Badu said with effect from June 1, as required by the CST Act, Onetouch had revised its charges with an increase of six per cent to enable them to honour their tax obligations.
He explained that his outfit did not have any problem with the tax as it only had to take six per cent from its gross sales and pay it into the government chest, adding that they were ready to work with it.
The Managing Director of Kasapa, Mr Robert Palitz, said they were still studying it.
He said although Kasapa would comply with the directive, they were yet to revise their charges to include the tax.
He, however, gave the assurance that when they finally got on board, "we will continue to be the cheapest paying cellular network".
Efforts at getting the Communications Director of MTN, Ms Mawuena Dumor, proved futile.
The Value Added Tax (VAT) Service, when contacted, however, stated that guidelines on the collection of the tax had been prepared and distributed to all the service providers while notices had been sent out to all of them.
In addition, the Service has organised several workshops and fora on the implementation from June 1, 2008.
The Head, Public Affairs and Information Unit, of the Service, Ms Florence Asante, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that contrary to some media reports that some communications service providers were unaware of the commencement of the tax regime, the service had notified all of them.
Ms Asante said the sensitisation programmes were not over, adding that more programmes would be organised to help all stakeholders better grasp the law and their obligations under the Act.
She advised the public to be vigilant and monitor the success of the implementation of the tax as it was intended for a good purpose.
Twenty per cent of the tax will be used to fund the National Employment Programme (NYEP) under the CST Act 754, and with that stipulation under the Act, Parliament would also monitor the collection and intended use of the funds accruing from the tax, she pointed out.
She added that there was, therefore, no need for anyone to be apprehensive that the tax would be misused.
Under the CST Act 754, national fixed networks and mobile cellular network operators, Internet Service Providers (ISP), public or corporate data operators, providers of radio FM broadcasting services and providers of free-on-air and pay-per-view television services are businesses included in the tax regime.
A licence, that is, Class one, to be granted by the National Communications Authority (NCA), is required by all such businesses to charge the CST levy on consumers under the Act.
Ms Asante further explained that the same process for charging VAT was used in the CST tax.
Thus, service providers had one month to account for the tax of the previous month.
With the commencement of the tax on June 1, 2008, it is expected that all those licensed to collect the tax will make returns from July 1 to 31.
However, unlike penalties under the VAT law, default in making returns and payments under the CST attracts stiffer punishments.
Ms Asante explained that GH¢2000 spot penalty would be paid if a licensed business did not make any returns after the last prescribed day of making returns on the tax.
Moreover, an interest of 150 per cent of the prevailing commercial bank rate would be charged on the tax collected.
Monday, June 2, 2008
World No Tobacco Day launched...Daily Graphic pg.32 Tuesday June 02/08
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THIS year’s World No Tobacco Day has been launched in Accra with a call on stakeholders to help take action against the rising trend of tobacco use among the youth.
The stakeholders — including the government, religious bodies, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and the media — are being challenged to pursue actions aimed at protecting the youth from the subtle and deceptive marketing strategies of tobacco manufacturing companies.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Tobacco free youth” and it was launched by the Deputy Minister of Health (MoH), Dr Mrs Gladys Norley Ashitey.
According to statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco smoking is the second most common risk factor for diseases worldwide, killing one in every 10 adults, while 70 per cent of teenagers who smoke die by age 45 from tobacco-related illnesses.
Dr Ashitey said tobacco use across the world had reached an epidemic proportion, which her ministry alone could not handle.
She said the ministry, together with other partners including the Ghana Education Service, was working to get a tobacco bill passed into law.
When passed, she said, the law would give more meaning to the ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an internationally standardised treaty for tackling the tobacco epidemic.
Dr Ashietey said the bill would also constitute the legal framework for the enforcement of tobacco control activities in the country.
The health minister, who lectured the youth from some junior and senior high schools in Accra on some of the dangers of tobacco smoking at the launch, mentioned some of the immediate health consequences of smoking as respiratory and non-respiratory effects and addiction to nicotine.
A Chief Psychiatrist at the Ministry, Dr Akwasi Osei, who spoke on the effects of tobacco smoking, said tobacco contained nicotine, tar and other chemicals with over 4,000 compounds including ammonia, carbon monoxide, formalin, mercury and other irritants, toxicants and mutagens, adding that most of those compounds could cause cancer.
The WHO Country Representative in Ghana, Dr Joachim Saweka, said tobacco was the leading preventable cause of death in the world.
He said a ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship was a powerful tool to protect the youth, stressing that it was one of WHO’s strategies designed to combat tobacco use.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory, called on the youth to stay away from smoking because it could lead to improper development of their lungs and other health complications as they grow up.
The Deputy Director of the Ghana Education Service, Ms Dora Asorsor, who chaired the function, said the Service had put in place school health programmes aimed at educating the youth on the effects of smoking and drug usage.
She called on the youth to be involved in the campaign against tobacco use, especially among their peers.
THIS year’s World No Tobacco Day has been launched in Accra with a call on stakeholders to help take action against the rising trend of tobacco use among the youth.
The stakeholders — including the government, religious bodies, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and the media — are being challenged to pursue actions aimed at protecting the youth from the subtle and deceptive marketing strategies of tobacco manufacturing companies.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Tobacco free youth” and it was launched by the Deputy Minister of Health (MoH), Dr Mrs Gladys Norley Ashitey.
According to statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco smoking is the second most common risk factor for diseases worldwide, killing one in every 10 adults, while 70 per cent of teenagers who smoke die by age 45 from tobacco-related illnesses.
Dr Ashitey said tobacco use across the world had reached an epidemic proportion, which her ministry alone could not handle.
She said the ministry, together with other partners including the Ghana Education Service, was working to get a tobacco bill passed into law.
When passed, she said, the law would give more meaning to the ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an internationally standardised treaty for tackling the tobacco epidemic.
Dr Ashietey said the bill would also constitute the legal framework for the enforcement of tobacco control activities in the country.
The health minister, who lectured the youth from some junior and senior high schools in Accra on some of the dangers of tobacco smoking at the launch, mentioned some of the immediate health consequences of smoking as respiratory and non-respiratory effects and addiction to nicotine.
A Chief Psychiatrist at the Ministry, Dr Akwasi Osei, who spoke on the effects of tobacco smoking, said tobacco contained nicotine, tar and other chemicals with over 4,000 compounds including ammonia, carbon monoxide, formalin, mercury and other irritants, toxicants and mutagens, adding that most of those compounds could cause cancer.
The WHO Country Representative in Ghana, Dr Joachim Saweka, said tobacco was the leading preventable cause of death in the world.
He said a ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship was a powerful tool to protect the youth, stressing that it was one of WHO’s strategies designed to combat tobacco use.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory, called on the youth to stay away from smoking because it could lead to improper development of their lungs and other health complications as they grow up.
The Deputy Director of the Ghana Education Service, Ms Dora Asorsor, who chaired the function, said the Service had put in place school health programmes aimed at educating the youth on the effects of smoking and drug usage.
She called on the youth to be involved in the campaign against tobacco use, especially among their peers.
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