Daily Graphic. Pg 11, Tues. June 30
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
KWANSEMA was 36 years old when she had her third child. She was diagnosed a few days later with postpartum depression, a mental disorder which affects some women after delivery.
Efforts to get her cured immediately with orthodox medicine proved futile and her husband abandoned her to her fate when her family took her to a prayer camp for deliverance. The family believed that she had either been bewitched or she was a witch.
At the camp, her right as a human being was abused . She was chained to a tree to prevent her from exhibiting wild behaviours and she was also physically and sexually abused.
Presently, Kwansema, like many other women in the country who experience mental disorders one way or the other, do not have any protection from the current Mental Health Law operating under the National Revolutionary Council Decree (NRCD) 30 of 1972.
The law does not mention human rights issues to enable such people to seek redress but only mentions that women with such conditions should be given separate accommodation.
Also, the law does not make any reference to mental patients outside the psychiatric hospital and therefore such patients are left to their fate either at the hands of traditional healers or pastors.
It is for this reason that the acting Chief Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, together with some other health personnel, advocates and well meaning Ghanaians are advocating for the law on mental health to be passed as soon as possible.
At a forum on ‘Women’s right and mental health in Ghana’, organised by the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) in Accra, Dr Osei said the law was drafted three years ago but was yet to be considered by the Minister of Health.
He said the law had specific provisions for women and children who were considered as vulnerable groups, saying that the law specifically criminalises stigma, discrimination and other human rights abuses.
According to him, the law criminalises forced marriage, forced labour and sexual abuse at prayer camps and decriminalises suicide, explaining that most suicide cases were a result of depression which he said was a mental condition and therefore under the law such people would be treated and counselled instead of imprisoned.
Also, he said the law would ensure that people like Kwansema could maintain their marriage, or at least would not be disadvantaged in marriage on grounds of mental illness. Added to this, they could exercise their franchise to vote as determined by their psychiatrists.
Dr Osei said the new law would also overhaul mental health care and de-emphasise institutionalisation by ensuring that people with mental cases were rehabilitated in their communities.
He said the law would also help to decentralise mental health care by ensuring that regional and district hospitals have psychiatric units attached to them.
The law, he said, would also regulate the activities of pastors and prayer camps to help curtail the numerous abuse of human rights in such camps which also serve as rehabilitation centres for some mental patients.
He said the law would also ensure that more mental health workers are put in the system saying that presently, the country had only seven psychiatrists made up of five permanent doctors of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and two retired ones of which one is a private doctor.
The law, he said, would also ensure that adequate resources were made available to the psychiatric institutions so that they would be able to give better health care to their patients.
According to him, the time had come for the country to take the issue of mental health care in the country seriously saying that it was a condition that could affect anybody at any time.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Food suppliers cut credit to mental homes
Daily Graphic. Pg. 55 Thurs. June 25/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
FOOD suppliers have cut supplies on credit to the three mental health institutions in the country until a debt of GH¢3 million owed them is paid.
The amount is for food supplied to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital (APH), the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital (PPH) and the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital over the last four years.
The situation has resulted in the inmates of the APH sometimes having to take porridge without sugar and bread.
The acting Head of the APH, Dr Akwasi Osei, who made this known during a public forum on ‘Women’s Right and mental health in Ghana’, said the hospitals had resorted to using two-thirds of their allocations to service their debt, thereby leaving them with little money to take care of the inmates.
According to Dr. Osei, who is a Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the 60Gp a day allocated to the inmates was inadequate to sustain them and, therefore, called on the government to increase the amount.
He also called on the government to expedite action on the passage of the Mental Health Bill which, according to him, had, for the past three years, been shelved at the Ministry of Health.
Dr Osei said the APH recorded more female mental health patients than men and attributed that to a number of factors, including the biological make-up of women, differences in physiological responses to stress, hormonal factors as in menses, pregnancy, menopause, mood and behavioural changes associated with fluctuations in sex hormones and the adverse effects of inferior status accorded women generally by society.
He said in 2005 the APH recorded an outpatient attendance of 23,692 females as against 20,519 males; 23,334 females in 2006 as against 19,628 males, and 22,430 females in 2007 as against 18,224 males.
He mentioned some of the frequent ailments that were recorded at the hospital as depression, acute psychotic disorders, schizophrenia, neurosis, epilepsy, substance abuse, mania schizo-affect disorder, alcohol depression and dementia.
He mentioned some of the causes of mental illness in women as marital problems such as divorce and separation, maltreatment within marriage, polygamy, battering, emotional and financial withdrawal, widowhood issues and relationship problems.
Others are the aftermath of childbirth, menopause, rape and defilement, financial burden, domestic problems, drug abuse and genetics.
A clinical psychologist, Dr. Angela Ofori-Atta, who spoke on the topic, 'Understanding women's mental illness in Ghana', said poverty was one of the major causes of mental disorders among most women in the country.
She said women with low or medium income were more susceptible to mental disorder than rich women, saying that depression also accounted for one-third of mental disorders in the country.
The Policy Research Officer of Basic Needs, a non-governmental organisation based in the northern part of the country, Ms Truelove Antwi-Bekoe, who gave a situational report on women's mental health in Ghana and its challenges for advocacy, said women's mental health could be adequately tackled if the government put in more effort at addressing some of the problems being faced in that direction.
Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, the Convenor of NETRIGHT, organisers of the forum, said the forum was necessitated by the fact that the rights of most women with mental disorders were being trampled upon by society because there was no law protecting them.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
FOOD suppliers have cut supplies on credit to the three mental health institutions in the country until a debt of GH¢3 million owed them is paid.
The amount is for food supplied to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital (APH), the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital (PPH) and the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital over the last four years.
The situation has resulted in the inmates of the APH sometimes having to take porridge without sugar and bread.
The acting Head of the APH, Dr Akwasi Osei, who made this known during a public forum on ‘Women’s Right and mental health in Ghana’, said the hospitals had resorted to using two-thirds of their allocations to service their debt, thereby leaving them with little money to take care of the inmates.
According to Dr. Osei, who is a Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the 60Gp a day allocated to the inmates was inadequate to sustain them and, therefore, called on the government to increase the amount.
He also called on the government to expedite action on the passage of the Mental Health Bill which, according to him, had, for the past three years, been shelved at the Ministry of Health.
Dr Osei said the APH recorded more female mental health patients than men and attributed that to a number of factors, including the biological make-up of women, differences in physiological responses to stress, hormonal factors as in menses, pregnancy, menopause, mood and behavioural changes associated with fluctuations in sex hormones and the adverse effects of inferior status accorded women generally by society.
He said in 2005 the APH recorded an outpatient attendance of 23,692 females as against 20,519 males; 23,334 females in 2006 as against 19,628 males, and 22,430 females in 2007 as against 18,224 males.
He mentioned some of the frequent ailments that were recorded at the hospital as depression, acute psychotic disorders, schizophrenia, neurosis, epilepsy, substance abuse, mania schizo-affect disorder, alcohol depression and dementia.
He mentioned some of the causes of mental illness in women as marital problems such as divorce and separation, maltreatment within marriage, polygamy, battering, emotional and financial withdrawal, widowhood issues and relationship problems.
Others are the aftermath of childbirth, menopause, rape and defilement, financial burden, domestic problems, drug abuse and genetics.
A clinical psychologist, Dr. Angela Ofori-Atta, who spoke on the topic, 'Understanding women's mental illness in Ghana', said poverty was one of the major causes of mental disorders among most women in the country.
She said women with low or medium income were more susceptible to mental disorder than rich women, saying that depression also accounted for one-third of mental disorders in the country.
The Policy Research Officer of Basic Needs, a non-governmental organisation based in the northern part of the country, Ms Truelove Antwi-Bekoe, who gave a situational report on women's mental health in Ghana and its challenges for advocacy, said women's mental health could be adequately tackled if the government put in more effort at addressing some of the problems being faced in that direction.
Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, the Convenor of NETRIGHT, organisers of the forum, said the forum was necessitated by the fact that the rights of most women with mental disorders were being trampled upon by society because there was no law protecting them.
‘Promote gender-equitable governance’
Daily Graphic. Pg11. Thurs. June 25/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Gender consultant, Mrs Dede Bedu-Addo, has called on the media to promote a gender-equitable governance and elections that will be globally adjudged as free and fair.
According to her, “media critics feel that the media have not effectively taken up their responsibility to promote women's political participation”.
Mrs Bedu-Addo made the call at a two-day media sensitisation workshop in Accra which was organised by Women, Media and Change (WOMEC) and supported by ABANTU for development with sponsorship from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
It was on the theme “Promoting greater visibility for women in leadership”.
Mrs Bedu-Addo said that “just as the media have assisted male politicians to gain popularity, they should do the same for women”.
She said the media must recognise the enormity of their assignment and handle it with dexterity and seriousness .
She observed that cultural inhibitions had contributed immensely to women not participating in politics and that gender roles put women at a disadvantage where very often a woman's voting right is subjected to external influences, constraints and domination. Sometimes she is intimidated by her spouse to vote for particular candidates or parties.
She said this was one area where good public awareness and public education could help diffuse some of these inhibitions and reduce the undue domination of women by their male relatives and colleagues.
She observed that generally, African politics placed a lot of emphasis on individual connections and affiliations at the expense of ability and qualification and therefore called on the media to take up its responsibility as 'the fourth estate of the realm' or 'the fourth arm of government'.
She said the media should be at the front pushing for both legislative and constitutional reforms that would give credence to women's participation in politics, without the usual cronyism and nepotism that kept women out.
She also advised women politicians to maintain their contacts with media houses which assisted in their campaign during the 2008 elections.
Mrs Bedu-Addo called on women politicians and the media to also foster a relationship that would be sustained till the next election, and beyond, “if we are to see increased participation of Ghanaian women in governance”.
On increasing women's participation in decision-making through Affirmative Action, Mrs Bedu-Addo said targets had been set for governments which could aid them in addressing the gender imbalance in politics.
Such targets, he said, included the United Nation's 30 per cent representation of women in politics by 2005, government setting up a system of monitoring and evaluating women's participation in politics and decision-making and the development of structures and systems that gave more opportunities to women to be represented in politics.
Other measures she said were making funds accessible to women and persons from marginalised sectors who want to participate in politics, as well as instituting measures that would eliminate structural constraints and ensure a safe and violence-free environment for all women aspiring for public office.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Gender consultant, Mrs Dede Bedu-Addo, has called on the media to promote a gender-equitable governance and elections that will be globally adjudged as free and fair.
According to her, “media critics feel that the media have not effectively taken up their responsibility to promote women's political participation”.
Mrs Bedu-Addo made the call at a two-day media sensitisation workshop in Accra which was organised by Women, Media and Change (WOMEC) and supported by ABANTU for development with sponsorship from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
It was on the theme “Promoting greater visibility for women in leadership”.
Mrs Bedu-Addo said that “just as the media have assisted male politicians to gain popularity, they should do the same for women”.
She said the media must recognise the enormity of their assignment and handle it with dexterity and seriousness .
She observed that cultural inhibitions had contributed immensely to women not participating in politics and that gender roles put women at a disadvantage where very often a woman's voting right is subjected to external influences, constraints and domination. Sometimes she is intimidated by her spouse to vote for particular candidates or parties.
She said this was one area where good public awareness and public education could help diffuse some of these inhibitions and reduce the undue domination of women by their male relatives and colleagues.
She observed that generally, African politics placed a lot of emphasis on individual connections and affiliations at the expense of ability and qualification and therefore called on the media to take up its responsibility as 'the fourth estate of the realm' or 'the fourth arm of government'.
She said the media should be at the front pushing for both legislative and constitutional reforms that would give credence to women's participation in politics, without the usual cronyism and nepotism that kept women out.
She also advised women politicians to maintain their contacts with media houses which assisted in their campaign during the 2008 elections.
Mrs Bedu-Addo called on women politicians and the media to also foster a relationship that would be sustained till the next election, and beyond, “if we are to see increased participation of Ghanaian women in governance”.
On increasing women's participation in decision-making through Affirmative Action, Mrs Bedu-Addo said targets had been set for governments which could aid them in addressing the gender imbalance in politics.
Such targets, he said, included the United Nation's 30 per cent representation of women in politics by 2005, government setting up a system of monitoring and evaluating women's participation in politics and decision-making and the development of structures and systems that gave more opportunities to women to be represented in politics.
Other measures she said were making funds accessible to women and persons from marginalised sectors who want to participate in politics, as well as instituting measures that would eliminate structural constraints and ensure a safe and violence-free environment for all women aspiring for public office.
Effective diagnosis training on malaria starts
Daily Graphic, Pg 20. Mon. June 22/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A training programme to ensure that doctors request for laboratory tests from patients with fevers for the effective diagnosis and treatment of malaria has begun at Dodowa.
The programme has become necessary because of the tendency among some health professionals to treat all fever cases as malaria, making it difficult for the health authorities to know the actual cases of malaria in the country.
Already, selected doctors from the northern sector have completed a training-of-trainers programme to enhance their skills and competencies in the diagnosis and treatment of malaria.
This was made known by the Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Dr Constance Bart-Plange, at a two days stakeholders’ meeting of the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Anti-malarials in Africa (INESS) in Accra.
She said the aim of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) was to roll out an effective educational system for doctors on malaria diagnosis and treatment.
The meeting, which brought together stakeholders from the Dodowa, Kintampo and Navrongo Health Research centres, was aimed at briefing them on the INESS project which is aimed at researching into the safety and efficacy of malaria drugs in Ghana, Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Mozambique.
Dr Bart-Plange said there was the need for the introduction of easier methods of diagnosing, such as the use of the Rapid Diagnostic Test Kit, as well as the development of a manual for laboratory technicians.
Giving an overview of the INESS project, the Project Manager, Dr Aziza Mwisongo, said it was intended to provide national, regional and international health policy makers with independent and objective evidence on the safety and effectiveness of new anti-malarial drugs.
She said such evidence could provide the basis for the formulation and implementation of malaria treatment policies.
For his part, the Executive Director of the project, Dr Osman Sankoh, said the mission was to harness the collective potential of the world's surveillance initiatives in resource constrained countries to provide a better understanding of health and social issues and to apply the knowledge to solve health and social challenges.
In a presentation, the Communications and External Relations Manager of INDEPTH, Mr Samuel Mikenga, said INDEPTH was well placed to contribute to further advancing research and developing and testing solutions to health problems for those in the world’s poorest countries.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A training programme to ensure that doctors request for laboratory tests from patients with fevers for the effective diagnosis and treatment of malaria has begun at Dodowa.
The programme has become necessary because of the tendency among some health professionals to treat all fever cases as malaria, making it difficult for the health authorities to know the actual cases of malaria in the country.
Already, selected doctors from the northern sector have completed a training-of-trainers programme to enhance their skills and competencies in the diagnosis and treatment of malaria.
This was made known by the Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Dr Constance Bart-Plange, at a two days stakeholders’ meeting of the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Anti-malarials in Africa (INESS) in Accra.
She said the aim of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) was to roll out an effective educational system for doctors on malaria diagnosis and treatment.
The meeting, which brought together stakeholders from the Dodowa, Kintampo and Navrongo Health Research centres, was aimed at briefing them on the INESS project which is aimed at researching into the safety and efficacy of malaria drugs in Ghana, Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Mozambique.
Dr Bart-Plange said there was the need for the introduction of easier methods of diagnosing, such as the use of the Rapid Diagnostic Test Kit, as well as the development of a manual for laboratory technicians.
Giving an overview of the INESS project, the Project Manager, Dr Aziza Mwisongo, said it was intended to provide national, regional and international health policy makers with independent and objective evidence on the safety and effectiveness of new anti-malarial drugs.
She said such evidence could provide the basis for the formulation and implementation of malaria treatment policies.
For his part, the Executive Director of the project, Dr Osman Sankoh, said the mission was to harness the collective potential of the world's surveillance initiatives in resource constrained countries to provide a better understanding of health and social issues and to apply the knowledge to solve health and social challenges.
In a presentation, the Communications and External Relations Manager of INDEPTH, Mr Samuel Mikenga, said INDEPTH was well placed to contribute to further advancing research and developing and testing solutions to health problems for those in the world’s poorest countries.
Children calls for more commitment from government
Daily Graphic. pg.11 Thurs. June 18/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE tradition where children are seen but not heard and adults allowed to make decisions on their behalf was reversed last Tuesday when representatives of children from across the country handed over a communiqué to Parliament.
The communiqué was developed by some of these children with sponsorship from UNICEF and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs as part of this year’s celebration of the AU Day of the African child on the theme “Africa fit for children: Call for accelerated action towards their survival”, It is being observed on June 16 of every year.
The day was declared by the AU in commemoration of the 1976 massacre of schoolchildren in Soweto, South Africa.
The communiqué, which was presented to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender and Children, Mr Sampson Ahi, among other things, called on the government to make the issue of children a top priority.
According to the representative of children from the northern part of the country, they needed good educational infrastructure and electricity to enable them learn education on child labour, trafficking and migration effectively, and called for an effective collaboration among all stakeholders to reduce child mortality.
From the middle belt, the children called for more spacious classrooms, ICT and science equipment, recreational centres, more health facilities, awareness on child rights and security for children.
From the southern zone, the children called for good educational infrastructure, science and computer laboratories, good learning environments, education on human rights, resources to meet the need of street children, stricter punishments for child traffickers, more national platforms for children’s views, good water supply, salary increment for parents and a stop to illegal mining.
For their part, members of the committee advised the children to ensure that they learnt harder to make the nation and their parents proud.
Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah, a member of the committee, called on the children to ensure that they were always obedient to their elders.
She also reminded them that although the 1992 Constitution granted them freedom to their rights, they should also remember that the freedom would come with responsibilities.
Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway said although children of Ghana were more privileged than many of their counterparts in other African countries, she called on them to ensure that they cherished what they had.
Ms Botchway called on the children to use the little that they had to achieve higher laurels in future, saying that they should work harder to become better and responsible citizens.
The Chief of the Child Protection Unit of the UNICEF, Ms Sheema Sen Gupta, in a brief remarks, said two representatives each from all the 10 regions of Ghana were drawn to come out with the communiqué, saying that the process would be continued over the years to inspire children to bring out their best for their future.
She said UNICEF was doing this in collaboration with the Children’s Department of the ministry as a means of promoting child participation and of creating awareness and promoting children’s right to survival.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE tradition where children are seen but not heard and adults allowed to make decisions on their behalf was reversed last Tuesday when representatives of children from across the country handed over a communiqué to Parliament.
The communiqué was developed by some of these children with sponsorship from UNICEF and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs as part of this year’s celebration of the AU Day of the African child on the theme “Africa fit for children: Call for accelerated action towards their survival”, It is being observed on June 16 of every year.
The day was declared by the AU in commemoration of the 1976 massacre of schoolchildren in Soweto, South Africa.
The communiqué, which was presented to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender and Children, Mr Sampson Ahi, among other things, called on the government to make the issue of children a top priority.
According to the representative of children from the northern part of the country, they needed good educational infrastructure and electricity to enable them learn education on child labour, trafficking and migration effectively, and called for an effective collaboration among all stakeholders to reduce child mortality.
From the middle belt, the children called for more spacious classrooms, ICT and science equipment, recreational centres, more health facilities, awareness on child rights and security for children.
From the southern zone, the children called for good educational infrastructure, science and computer laboratories, good learning environments, education on human rights, resources to meet the need of street children, stricter punishments for child traffickers, more national platforms for children’s views, good water supply, salary increment for parents and a stop to illegal mining.
For their part, members of the committee advised the children to ensure that they learnt harder to make the nation and their parents proud.
Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah, a member of the committee, called on the children to ensure that they were always obedient to their elders.
She also reminded them that although the 1992 Constitution granted them freedom to their rights, they should also remember that the freedom would come with responsibilities.
Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway said although children of Ghana were more privileged than many of their counterparts in other African countries, she called on them to ensure that they cherished what they had.
Ms Botchway called on the children to use the little that they had to achieve higher laurels in future, saying that they should work harder to become better and responsible citizens.
The Chief of the Child Protection Unit of the UNICEF, Ms Sheema Sen Gupta, in a brief remarks, said two representatives each from all the 10 regions of Ghana were drawn to come out with the communiqué, saying that the process would be continued over the years to inspire children to bring out their best for their future.
She said UNICEF was doing this in collaboration with the Children’s Department of the ministry as a means of promoting child participation and of creating awareness and promoting children’s right to survival.
Ensure development of children
Daily Graphic, Pg 31. Wed. June 17/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, has called on African leaders to make the survival and development of children the focus of their development programmes and agenda.
Making a statement on the floor of Parliament to mark this year’s Day of the African Child in Accra yesterday, Ms Dansua said heightened insecurity on the African continent had thwarted efforts at promoting the development of the African child.
She said hostile environments such as the displacement of families and communities being experienced on the continent had hindered the development and growth of the African child.
The Day of the African Child falls on June 16 every year. The day is being celebrated across the continent on the theme, “Africa fit for children: Call for accelerated action towards their survival”, and, according to the minister, “the African child is also faced with diseases and hunger, both of which negatively impact on his survival and participation in national progress”.
Ms Dansua said her ministry would use this year's celebration to focus on awareness creation on the major challenges of child survival, such as irresponsible parenting, child mortality, malnutrition, education, as well as vulnerable situations and child protection issues such as child labour, child trafficking, effects of conflicts on children, violence against and abuse of children, among others.
She, however, said despite all the challenges that bedevilled the African child, “the continent is making progress towards improving the situation of children”.
She cited good governance, the rule of law and due process as some of the measures used in promoting democracy, peace and security on the continent.
Ms Dansua said one peculiar feature of the day was child participation, saying that the concept was a right enshrined in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1998 Children's Act of Ghana.
She said child protection and development would be a mirage if society did not create the platform for children to participate in matters affecting their welfare.
Contributing to the statement on the Floor of the House, other Members of Parliament (MPs) pledged their commitment to ensure that children in Ghana were better protected.
The MP for Amenfi East, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, in a submission, said children were into social vices such as illegal mining, pottering and street hawking because policies had not been put in place to see to their welfare.
He said if nothing was done about the plight of deprived children in the country, their future would be destroyed, as they would not have any training and employable skills.
The MP for Wa West, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, who is also the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, in his contribution, called on his colleague MPs to encourage their various district assemblies to build children’s clubs that would engage the children to prevent them from engaging in social vices.
The MP for Evalue/Gwira, Mrs Catherine Afeku, in a contribution, called on people to celebrate the positive aspects of the African child, saying that children in Africa were intelligent but had been overshadowed by problems such as poverty, hunger and diseases.
She called on society to embrace children with disability, saying that such children should not be discriminated against but rather encouraged to come out with their best.
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, also called on parents to reproduce responsibly and lay solid foundations for their children's future.
Later, selected children from all the 10 regions interacted with members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender and Children. The children also presented a communiqué which outlined some of their needs, such as improved educational facilities, good healthcare systems, provision of electricity, spacious classrooms, provision of ICT and science resource centres, recreational centres and good water supply.
They also called for an end to child abuse, child trafficking, child mortality and illegal mining by children.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, has called on African leaders to make the survival and development of children the focus of their development programmes and agenda.
Making a statement on the floor of Parliament to mark this year’s Day of the African Child in Accra yesterday, Ms Dansua said heightened insecurity on the African continent had thwarted efforts at promoting the development of the African child.
She said hostile environments such as the displacement of families and communities being experienced on the continent had hindered the development and growth of the African child.
The Day of the African Child falls on June 16 every year. The day is being celebrated across the continent on the theme, “Africa fit for children: Call for accelerated action towards their survival”, and, according to the minister, “the African child is also faced with diseases and hunger, both of which negatively impact on his survival and participation in national progress”.
Ms Dansua said her ministry would use this year's celebration to focus on awareness creation on the major challenges of child survival, such as irresponsible parenting, child mortality, malnutrition, education, as well as vulnerable situations and child protection issues such as child labour, child trafficking, effects of conflicts on children, violence against and abuse of children, among others.
She, however, said despite all the challenges that bedevilled the African child, “the continent is making progress towards improving the situation of children”.
She cited good governance, the rule of law and due process as some of the measures used in promoting democracy, peace and security on the continent.
Ms Dansua said one peculiar feature of the day was child participation, saying that the concept was a right enshrined in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1998 Children's Act of Ghana.
She said child protection and development would be a mirage if society did not create the platform for children to participate in matters affecting their welfare.
Contributing to the statement on the Floor of the House, other Members of Parliament (MPs) pledged their commitment to ensure that children in Ghana were better protected.
The MP for Amenfi East, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, in a submission, said children were into social vices such as illegal mining, pottering and street hawking because policies had not been put in place to see to their welfare.
He said if nothing was done about the plight of deprived children in the country, their future would be destroyed, as they would not have any training and employable skills.
The MP for Wa West, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, who is also the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, in his contribution, called on his colleague MPs to encourage their various district assemblies to build children’s clubs that would engage the children to prevent them from engaging in social vices.
The MP for Evalue/Gwira, Mrs Catherine Afeku, in a contribution, called on people to celebrate the positive aspects of the African child, saying that children in Africa were intelligent but had been overshadowed by problems such as poverty, hunger and diseases.
She called on society to embrace children with disability, saying that such children should not be discriminated against but rather encouraged to come out with their best.
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, also called on parents to reproduce responsibly and lay solid foundations for their children's future.
Later, selected children from all the 10 regions interacted with members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender and Children. The children also presented a communiqué which outlined some of their needs, such as improved educational facilities, good healthcare systems, provision of electricity, spacious classrooms, provision of ICT and science resource centres, recreational centres and good water supply.
They also called for an end to child abuse, child trafficking, child mortality and illegal mining by children.
Africa marks Day of the African Child
Daily Graphic, Pg. 11. Tues. June 16/09
By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
TODAY, June 16, is being commemorated as the 'Day of the African Child'. It is a day marked across Africa every year to seek the welfare of children who most often end up being the worst affected whenever there is civil unrest, famine or bad economic situations.
The day is being celebrated on the theme ,“Africa, Fit for Children: Call for Accelerated Action towards their Survival”.
The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which was promulgated in November 1999, is the first regional treaty on the human rights of children. However, children in Africa continue to suffer various abuses of their rights. These take the form of child labour, child soldiers, trafficking, etc.
Statistics from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reveals that over 40 per cent of the children in Africa are working. They are mainly working as slaves in private households, apart from other industries.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted in 1989 by the UN General Assembly, and in it, Article 32 asserts children’s right not be engaged in work deemed to be "hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health".
The issue of child trafficking in Africa has also gained growing international recognition as a serious violation of children's rights - rights affirmed by important international human rights treaties dating back to the 1956 UN Convention on the abolition of slavery, slave trading and institutions and practices similar to slavery.
The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), its general principles and its specific provisions, particularly Article 35, calls on State parties to “take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form” - and Article 32 recognises the child's right “to be protected from economic exploitation”.
Also, Convention 182 of the ILO on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999), in Article 3 (a) recognises child trafficking as one of the worst forms of child labour and calls for action by Member States to eliminate them.
Another abuse that children in Africa need to be rescued from is the issue of child soldiers. It is estimated that more than 500,000 children under 18 have been recruited into state and non-state armed groups in over 85 countries worldwide, according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
Most child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18 years, but some are as young as seven. The recruitment and use of these children for combat is outlawed by various measures of international human rights law, humanitarian law, labour law and criminal law but a chasm exists between these standards and their application.
Up to half of the world's child soldiers are in Africa, despite the coming into force- in 1999 - of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; the only regional treaty in the world that prohibits the use of child soldiers. The charter forbids member states from recruiting or using children in a participatory role in any acts of war or internal conflicts.
On violence against children in Africa, many forms of violence meted out to children are linked to specific economic, social and cultural contexts. It rarely occurs as an isolated event but is more likely a result of a combination of factors that increase the vulnerability of children and triggers behaviour that results in others preying on this vulnerability in a number of ways, including through violent acts.
Many countries, especially in West and Central Africa, face the challenges of poverty, increasing urbanisation, disease and conflict, and these increase children's vulnerability and deviant social behaviours.
Some cultural traditions also contribute to violence against children. All these factors act as catalysts for violence against children, as do the significant gender disparities across the region, which allow hierarchies of power that put women and girls at particular risk in many circumstances. Some cultural, traditional and religious practices also foster power dynamics that can result in violence being inflicted on those who are seen as weaker or subservient.
Currently, what is being done to stop violence against children is that all countries in West and Central Africa have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the over-arching international agreement that children have rights, including the right to a life free of violence, abuse and exploitation.
Also, some countries have taken some steps, in accordance with the CRC, to bring national laws in line with the provisions of the convention.
However, the enforcement of these laws remains seriously inadequate and there is a huge gap between the intent as embodied in the law and the reality of children's daily lives.
One problem is that in this region, national laws often co-exist with customary or religious laws. Most frequently, the law gives authority to customary law in certain areas and even codifies customary practices in some instances (for example, in laws relating to succession) even if they are contrary to international norms.
There is a real need for a recognised framework based on human rights in all countries of the region that acknowledges the rights and responsibilities of all sectors of society and encourages the protection of children as an overriding objective.
Governments, international agencies and national NGOs have been active in programmes aimed at child protection in recent years, but as we celebrate the Day of the African Child today, what is needed is a massive turn-around in the mindset of people in the region who tolerate violence against children and view it as part and parcel of everyday life.
By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
TODAY, June 16, is being commemorated as the 'Day of the African Child'. It is a day marked across Africa every year to seek the welfare of children who most often end up being the worst affected whenever there is civil unrest, famine or bad economic situations.
The day is being celebrated on the theme ,“Africa, Fit for Children: Call for Accelerated Action towards their Survival”.
The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which was promulgated in November 1999, is the first regional treaty on the human rights of children. However, children in Africa continue to suffer various abuses of their rights. These take the form of child labour, child soldiers, trafficking, etc.
Statistics from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reveals that over 40 per cent of the children in Africa are working. They are mainly working as slaves in private households, apart from other industries.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted in 1989 by the UN General Assembly, and in it, Article 32 asserts children’s right not be engaged in work deemed to be "hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health".
The issue of child trafficking in Africa has also gained growing international recognition as a serious violation of children's rights - rights affirmed by important international human rights treaties dating back to the 1956 UN Convention on the abolition of slavery, slave trading and institutions and practices similar to slavery.
The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), its general principles and its specific provisions, particularly Article 35, calls on State parties to “take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form” - and Article 32 recognises the child's right “to be protected from economic exploitation”.
Also, Convention 182 of the ILO on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999), in Article 3 (a) recognises child trafficking as one of the worst forms of child labour and calls for action by Member States to eliminate them.
Another abuse that children in Africa need to be rescued from is the issue of child soldiers. It is estimated that more than 500,000 children under 18 have been recruited into state and non-state armed groups in over 85 countries worldwide, according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
Most child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18 years, but some are as young as seven. The recruitment and use of these children for combat is outlawed by various measures of international human rights law, humanitarian law, labour law and criminal law but a chasm exists between these standards and their application.
Up to half of the world's child soldiers are in Africa, despite the coming into force- in 1999 - of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; the only regional treaty in the world that prohibits the use of child soldiers. The charter forbids member states from recruiting or using children in a participatory role in any acts of war or internal conflicts.
On violence against children in Africa, many forms of violence meted out to children are linked to specific economic, social and cultural contexts. It rarely occurs as an isolated event but is more likely a result of a combination of factors that increase the vulnerability of children and triggers behaviour that results in others preying on this vulnerability in a number of ways, including through violent acts.
Many countries, especially in West and Central Africa, face the challenges of poverty, increasing urbanisation, disease and conflict, and these increase children's vulnerability and deviant social behaviours.
Some cultural traditions also contribute to violence against children. All these factors act as catalysts for violence against children, as do the significant gender disparities across the region, which allow hierarchies of power that put women and girls at particular risk in many circumstances. Some cultural, traditional and religious practices also foster power dynamics that can result in violence being inflicted on those who are seen as weaker or subservient.
Currently, what is being done to stop violence against children is that all countries in West and Central Africa have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the over-arching international agreement that children have rights, including the right to a life free of violence, abuse and exploitation.
Also, some countries have taken some steps, in accordance with the CRC, to bring national laws in line with the provisions of the convention.
However, the enforcement of these laws remains seriously inadequate and there is a huge gap between the intent as embodied in the law and the reality of children's daily lives.
One problem is that in this region, national laws often co-exist with customary or religious laws. Most frequently, the law gives authority to customary law in certain areas and even codifies customary practices in some instances (for example, in laws relating to succession) even if they are contrary to international norms.
There is a real need for a recognised framework based on human rights in all countries of the region that acknowledges the rights and responsibilities of all sectors of society and encourages the protection of children as an overriding objective.
Governments, international agencies and national NGOs have been active in programmes aimed at child protection in recent years, but as we celebrate the Day of the African Child today, what is needed is a massive turn-around in the mindset of people in the region who tolerate violence against children and view it as part and parcel of everyday life.
“Legalise policy statement on affirmative action”
Daily Graphic Pg. 11. Thurs. June 11/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The government has been called upon as a matter of urgency to initiate the process of legalising the 1998 Policy Statement on Affirmative Action (AA).
This would be in line with the global movement to promote good governance and leadership that allows equal participation in decision-making by both men and women to accelerate development.
Journalists drawn from five regions in the country: Greater Accra, Western, Central, Eastern and Volta, made the call at the end of a two-day workshop which was held on the theme “promoting greater visibility for women in leadership”.
It was jointly organised by the Women Manifesto Coalition, Women Media and Change and ABANTU for Development and was sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The communiqué was signed by all participants “after having noted the contents of the Policy Statement on Affirmative Action of 1998”.
Among some of the recommendations made was a call on the government to put in place structures for the implementation of the said policy statement which includes the setting up of a Committee on Affirmative Action as stipulated in the document being referred to.
Participants also called on the government to institute measures to ensure the implementation of programmes on affirmative action by speeding up the process of ensuring 40 per cent representation of women in all advisory bodies as documented in the 1998 AA document.
They also called on the government to initiate action for 40 per cent representation of women in parliament as stated in the AA document and added that current efforts being made to amend the electoral laws to fund political parties should make it mandatory for political parties to ensure that 40 per cent of their parliamentary candidates are women.
Participants also called on political parties to ensure that adequate representation of women at district and sub-district levels of administration which had the target of at least 40 per cent representation of women was met.
They further called on the government to ensure that the decentralisation process in the country remained non-partisan and devoid of monetary influence.
They also called for the fulfilment of the promise to set up a Special Fund for Girls Education as stated in the AA document for the education and training of women and girls at all levels as well as do a national evaluation of the “Girls Education Programme” of the Ministry of Education.
Participants further urged the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) to collaborate with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to generate
gender disaggregated data to inform the process of increasing women’s participation in governance and leadership in the country.
To step up public education on affirmative action, participants called on political parties to introduce measures to encourage women to participate in politics and recommended that affirmative action be introduced to ensure that 40 per cent of office holders at all levels are women in order to fulfil the objectives of the 1998 Policy Statement on Affirmative Action.
They also called on parties to put up women parliamentary candidates in constituencies considered to be party strongholds or safe seats as well as step up political education to encourage more women to stand for election and also for the electorate to vote for them.
They finally called on political parties to make election processes very transparent and devoid of rancour and acrimony since that tended to discourage women from participating in politics.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The government has been called upon as a matter of urgency to initiate the process of legalising the 1998 Policy Statement on Affirmative Action (AA).
This would be in line with the global movement to promote good governance and leadership that allows equal participation in decision-making by both men and women to accelerate development.
Journalists drawn from five regions in the country: Greater Accra, Western, Central, Eastern and Volta, made the call at the end of a two-day workshop which was held on the theme “promoting greater visibility for women in leadership”.
It was jointly organised by the Women Manifesto Coalition, Women Media and Change and ABANTU for Development and was sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The communiqué was signed by all participants “after having noted the contents of the Policy Statement on Affirmative Action of 1998”.
Among some of the recommendations made was a call on the government to put in place structures for the implementation of the said policy statement which includes the setting up of a Committee on Affirmative Action as stipulated in the document being referred to.
Participants also called on the government to institute measures to ensure the implementation of programmes on affirmative action by speeding up the process of ensuring 40 per cent representation of women in all advisory bodies as documented in the 1998 AA document.
They also called on the government to initiate action for 40 per cent representation of women in parliament as stated in the AA document and added that current efforts being made to amend the electoral laws to fund political parties should make it mandatory for political parties to ensure that 40 per cent of their parliamentary candidates are women.
Participants also called on political parties to ensure that adequate representation of women at district and sub-district levels of administration which had the target of at least 40 per cent representation of women was met.
They further called on the government to ensure that the decentralisation process in the country remained non-partisan and devoid of monetary influence.
They also called for the fulfilment of the promise to set up a Special Fund for Girls Education as stated in the AA document for the education and training of women and girls at all levels as well as do a national evaluation of the “Girls Education Programme” of the Ministry of Education.
Participants further urged the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) to collaborate with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to generate
gender disaggregated data to inform the process of increasing women’s participation in governance and leadership in the country.
To step up public education on affirmative action, participants called on political parties to introduce measures to encourage women to participate in politics and recommended that affirmative action be introduced to ensure that 40 per cent of office holders at all levels are women in order to fulfil the objectives of the 1998 Policy Statement on Affirmative Action.
They also called on parties to put up women parliamentary candidates in constituencies considered to be party strongholds or safe seats as well as step up political education to encourage more women to stand for election and also for the electorate to vote for them.
They finally called on political parties to make election processes very transparent and devoid of rancour and acrimony since that tended to discourage women from participating in politics.
Two organisations collaborate - To collect health data
Daily Graphic Pg. 44. Mon. June 08/09
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
A US-based research institute is to collaborate with INDEPTH Network, an international non-governmental organisation based in Ghana, to help in the collection and analysis of health data to inform policies both locally and internationally.
Based in Seattle Washington, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) makes available to the world information on population health, its determinants, and the performance of health systems and seeks to achieve this directly, by catalysing the work of others, and training researchers and policy makers.
Through the collaboration, scientists from INDEPTH will be trained at the IHME to help in the building and strengthening of their capacities while the network will also make available its sites to the institute for IHME to collect and analyse data that have been generated over the years.
The INDEPTH Network, which deals in the demographic evaluation of populations and their health in developing countries, has its secretariat in Ghana and is based in 18 other countries across the globe and currently has 33 demographic surveillance systems (DSS) field sites that collectively monitor 2.2 million people at the household level.
When the collaboration is achieved, it will also help improve the methodologies used by INDEPTH in its data collection and also help the network to attract donors for its various research works.
To this end, the Director of the IHME, Dr Christopher Murray, together with a professor at the Department of Global Health at the institute, Dr Rafael Lozano, paid a two-day working visit to the INDEPTH Secretariat in Accra where they were taken to the Dodowa Health Research Centre (DHRC) in the Dangbe West District in the Greater Accra Region to observe at first-hand the difficulties that field officers go through in their day-to-day collection of health data.
The DHRC — which operates its demographic and health surveillance in Ayikuma, Dodowa, Prampram, Asutsuare and Dawa — operates in all seven local councils of the district, which has a DSS population of 106,470 with an infant population of four per cent.
The Director of the centre, Dr Margaret Gyapong, who briefed Dr Murray and his colleague on some of the work that the centre undertakes, said they collected data from the whole community over a period of time to monitor new health threats, track population changes and assess policy interventions.
She said currently the centre, which collaborates with INDEPTH, was collecting data on the impact of the use of Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) in the management of malaria and was looking forward to undertaking other research interventions.
The team also visited Duffor Osudoku near Asutsuare where the DSS Field Worker, Nii Adjatey Adjei, briefed them, saying that he collects data on in and out migration, new births, pregnancies, death, the socio-economic status of the people, as well as verbal autopsy in the community.
Dr Murray, who was impressed with the level of work being done, said the site had a huge resource base that could be used to the benefit of many people.
He said the goal of the IHME was to help inform data globally and that it was normally difficult to get access to data from some of the regions of the world, adding that collaborating with INDEPTH would help bridge that gap.
The Executive Director of INDEPTH, Dr Osman Sankoh, at the end of the two-day visit, said when the collaboration was signed it would help INDEPTH to open up its network to help it undertake other initiatives.
He said the network was willing to share its findings with the international community but added that its capacity needed to be built through collaboration.
Dr Sankoh said such collaborations would help the outside community to understand the enormity of work and challenges that they went through, saying that such knowledge would help strike a strategic partnership.
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
A US-based research institute is to collaborate with INDEPTH Network, an international non-governmental organisation based in Ghana, to help in the collection and analysis of health data to inform policies both locally and internationally.
Based in Seattle Washington, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) makes available to the world information on population health, its determinants, and the performance of health systems and seeks to achieve this directly, by catalysing the work of others, and training researchers and policy makers.
Through the collaboration, scientists from INDEPTH will be trained at the IHME to help in the building and strengthening of their capacities while the network will also make available its sites to the institute for IHME to collect and analyse data that have been generated over the years.
The INDEPTH Network, which deals in the demographic evaluation of populations and their health in developing countries, has its secretariat in Ghana and is based in 18 other countries across the globe and currently has 33 demographic surveillance systems (DSS) field sites that collectively monitor 2.2 million people at the household level.
When the collaboration is achieved, it will also help improve the methodologies used by INDEPTH in its data collection and also help the network to attract donors for its various research works.
To this end, the Director of the IHME, Dr Christopher Murray, together with a professor at the Department of Global Health at the institute, Dr Rafael Lozano, paid a two-day working visit to the INDEPTH Secretariat in Accra where they were taken to the Dodowa Health Research Centre (DHRC) in the Dangbe West District in the Greater Accra Region to observe at first-hand the difficulties that field officers go through in their day-to-day collection of health data.
The DHRC — which operates its demographic and health surveillance in Ayikuma, Dodowa, Prampram, Asutsuare and Dawa — operates in all seven local councils of the district, which has a DSS population of 106,470 with an infant population of four per cent.
The Director of the centre, Dr Margaret Gyapong, who briefed Dr Murray and his colleague on some of the work that the centre undertakes, said they collected data from the whole community over a period of time to monitor new health threats, track population changes and assess policy interventions.
She said currently the centre, which collaborates with INDEPTH, was collecting data on the impact of the use of Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) in the management of malaria and was looking forward to undertaking other research interventions.
The team also visited Duffor Osudoku near Asutsuare where the DSS Field Worker, Nii Adjatey Adjei, briefed them, saying that he collects data on in and out migration, new births, pregnancies, death, the socio-economic status of the people, as well as verbal autopsy in the community.
Dr Murray, who was impressed with the level of work being done, said the site had a huge resource base that could be used to the benefit of many people.
He said the goal of the IHME was to help inform data globally and that it was normally difficult to get access to data from some of the regions of the world, adding that collaborating with INDEPTH would help bridge that gap.
The Executive Director of INDEPTH, Dr Osman Sankoh, at the end of the two-day visit, said when the collaboration was signed it would help INDEPTH to open up its network to help it undertake other initiatives.
He said the network was willing to share its findings with the international community but added that its capacity needed to be built through collaboration.
Dr Sankoh said such collaborations would help the outside community to understand the enormity of work and challenges that they went through, saying that such knowledge would help strike a strategic partnership.
‘Local contractors need government assistance’
Daily Graphic, Pg 37. Wed. May 27/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Vice-President of the Association of Road Contractors (ASROC), Mr Joseph Ebo Hewton, has called on the government to help build the capacities of local contractors so that they can win local and international contracts.
According to him, international companies were often favoured over local ones because the former had more capacity and equipment to win both national and international contracts.
Mr Hewton made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic at a day’s workshop on capacity building and entrepreneurial skills for women in construction in Accra.
The workshop, which was aimed at building the capacities of women contractors on managerial skills, attracted about 60 participants drawn from all the regions in the country.
According to Mr Hewton, many local contractors did not have the capacity to bid for contracts and, therefore, the government’s intervention in terms of providing both financial and logistical support would help them to compete with foreign contractors.
He also called on the government to revisit a programme which was introduced in the 1990s with the aim of building the capacities of contractors to win international contracts.
He said the programme, which for some years now had been halted, enabled a local contractor, Eagle Star Construction Limited, to win contracts outside the country.
Mr Hewton further appealed to the government to make prompt payments to contractors, saying delays in payment were killing the construction industry.
The Executive Secretary of ASROC, Mr Kwaku A. Nuamah, who took the participants through various topics, said it had become necessary to build the capacities of members of the association to make them more dynamic and result- oriented.
According to him, most road contractors in the country operated within as micro, medium and small-scale enterprises which made them vulnerable because they were unable to work to repay the loans they had contracted, a situation which he said had negative repercussions on themselves, their employees, families and the nation at large.
He said the workshop would enable the participants to be able to identify external and internal factors that could impact negatively on their operations.
He took participants through topics such as processes for preparing business plans, stages of corporate development, analysis of environmental factors that affect businesses and analysis of external and internal factors that can affect businesses.
The Executive Secretary of the Greater Accra branch of ASROC, Mr Kwaku Biney, said the workshop was part of efforts at building the image of the association in the country.
He said similar workshops would be organised for all members across the country.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Vice-President of the Association of Road Contractors (ASROC), Mr Joseph Ebo Hewton, has called on the government to help build the capacities of local contractors so that they can win local and international contracts.
According to him, international companies were often favoured over local ones because the former had more capacity and equipment to win both national and international contracts.
Mr Hewton made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic at a day’s workshop on capacity building and entrepreneurial skills for women in construction in Accra.
The workshop, which was aimed at building the capacities of women contractors on managerial skills, attracted about 60 participants drawn from all the regions in the country.
According to Mr Hewton, many local contractors did not have the capacity to bid for contracts and, therefore, the government’s intervention in terms of providing both financial and logistical support would help them to compete with foreign contractors.
He also called on the government to revisit a programme which was introduced in the 1990s with the aim of building the capacities of contractors to win international contracts.
He said the programme, which for some years now had been halted, enabled a local contractor, Eagle Star Construction Limited, to win contracts outside the country.
Mr Hewton further appealed to the government to make prompt payments to contractors, saying delays in payment were killing the construction industry.
The Executive Secretary of ASROC, Mr Kwaku A. Nuamah, who took the participants through various topics, said it had become necessary to build the capacities of members of the association to make them more dynamic and result- oriented.
According to him, most road contractors in the country operated within as micro, medium and small-scale enterprises which made them vulnerable because they were unable to work to repay the loans they had contracted, a situation which he said had negative repercussions on themselves, their employees, families and the nation at large.
He said the workshop would enable the participants to be able to identify external and internal factors that could impact negatively on their operations.
He took participants through topics such as processes for preparing business plans, stages of corporate development, analysis of environmental factors that affect businesses and analysis of external and internal factors that can affect businesses.
The Executive Secretary of the Greater Accra branch of ASROC, Mr Kwaku Biney, said the workshop was part of efforts at building the image of the association in the country.
He said similar workshops would be organised for all members across the country.
Mother needs counselling-To overcome traumatic experience
Daily Graphic pg 11, Tues. May 26/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Clinical Psychologist, Mr Adolf Awuku-Bekoe, has stated that the 25-year-old woman who gave birth at home because she could not readily access medical care at the Kaneshie Polyclinic needs to be counselled to overcome her traumatic experience.
He said the woman, Ms Abigail Inkoom, was currently overwhelmed by her experience such that she would refuse to go to the hospital, which is a normal reaction.
He said the woman was likely to suffer a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and that she needed to see a psychologist.
He said if she was not helped, the experience would always torment her, a situation which would not be good for her, saying she was now sensitive to fear, blood, pain and nurses for which she should be helped to overcome.
Recounting her ordeal to the Daily Graphic, Mr Louis Asilenu, a civil servant, who is the husband of Ms Inkoom, said on May 15, 2009, his wife, an expectant mother, reported to the Kaneshie Polyclinic with severe contractions, but authorities at the clinic asked her to go home and report later to the hospital, since according to them, her time was not due.
According to him, his wife started having contractions on May 14, which became very severe about midnight, so he had to rush her to the polyclinic, where she had been receiving ante-natal care since November, last year. He said she was admitted, but discharged around 8 a.m. the same day with the explanation that her time not due and that she was due to give birth two or three days later.
He said his wife called him at about 8.30 a.m. to inform him that she had been discharged, but he was not comfortable with the tone of his wife’s voice so he rushed home at about 11 a.m. only to find her lying on the floor weak having delivered herself of her baby, with the baby’s umbilical cord hanging.
He said it was depressing seeing his wife in his room with the baby on the floor and the umbilical cord and the placenta not taken care of.
He said his labouring wife was so exhausted that she could not call anyone to come to her aid.
With the aid of other people, he said, he took his wife and the baby to the Mamprobi Polyclinic, where they were attended to and discharged around 5 p.m. the same day.
He said currently, although his wife did not look too well and was traumatised by the ordeal, she was refusing to seek medical attention from any health facility.
Mr Asilenu is demanding a compensation of GH¢40,000 from the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and an additional GH¢10,000 from the Kaneshie Polyclinic for the psychological trauma his wife went through and “for the health authorities turning my wife away while I have subscribed to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) over a year and have renewed without even attending any hospital”.
He said although health authorities claimed they were investigating the matter, he would advise himself, if nothing was done about his demand by seeking redress in the court of law.
When contacted for his comment, Dr Raymond Atuguba, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, said the incident was a clear case of failure on the part of the state to provide quality and accessible health care for its people.
He said the man could sue the state in respect of the right to life and the provision of quality health care, saying that although the right to the provision of quality healthcare was not expressively stated in the Constitution, he could still sue on the grounds of right to life, which is stated in the Constitution.
According to him, the quality of service rendered by some health service providers could not be described as professional, but he was quick to add that the quality of the delivery of such service by health personnel in the country could not be attributed solely to lack of professionalism since they lacked the resources and were also often overwhelmed by the number of patients they attended to on daily basis, a situation he said increased their margin of error.
He said the government should be able to structure its healthcare system by cutting down on waste in other sectors and channelling them into the provision of quality health care.
An official of the Ghana Health Service, who pleaded anonymity, said the service had launched a full-scale investigation into the issue.
According to him, the service would look into the report that would be presented and take appropriate action, assuring that the service would not cover up its mistake.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Clinical Psychologist, Mr Adolf Awuku-Bekoe, has stated that the 25-year-old woman who gave birth at home because she could not readily access medical care at the Kaneshie Polyclinic needs to be counselled to overcome her traumatic experience.
He said the woman, Ms Abigail Inkoom, was currently overwhelmed by her experience such that she would refuse to go to the hospital, which is a normal reaction.
He said the woman was likely to suffer a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and that she needed to see a psychologist.
He said if she was not helped, the experience would always torment her, a situation which would not be good for her, saying she was now sensitive to fear, blood, pain and nurses for which she should be helped to overcome.
Recounting her ordeal to the Daily Graphic, Mr Louis Asilenu, a civil servant, who is the husband of Ms Inkoom, said on May 15, 2009, his wife, an expectant mother, reported to the Kaneshie Polyclinic with severe contractions, but authorities at the clinic asked her to go home and report later to the hospital, since according to them, her time was not due.
According to him, his wife started having contractions on May 14, which became very severe about midnight, so he had to rush her to the polyclinic, where she had been receiving ante-natal care since November, last year. He said she was admitted, but discharged around 8 a.m. the same day with the explanation that her time not due and that she was due to give birth two or three days later.
He said his wife called him at about 8.30 a.m. to inform him that she had been discharged, but he was not comfortable with the tone of his wife’s voice so he rushed home at about 11 a.m. only to find her lying on the floor weak having delivered herself of her baby, with the baby’s umbilical cord hanging.
He said it was depressing seeing his wife in his room with the baby on the floor and the umbilical cord and the placenta not taken care of.
He said his labouring wife was so exhausted that she could not call anyone to come to her aid.
With the aid of other people, he said, he took his wife and the baby to the Mamprobi Polyclinic, where they were attended to and discharged around 5 p.m. the same day.
He said currently, although his wife did not look too well and was traumatised by the ordeal, she was refusing to seek medical attention from any health facility.
Mr Asilenu is demanding a compensation of GH¢40,000 from the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and an additional GH¢10,000 from the Kaneshie Polyclinic for the psychological trauma his wife went through and “for the health authorities turning my wife away while I have subscribed to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) over a year and have renewed without even attending any hospital”.
He said although health authorities claimed they were investigating the matter, he would advise himself, if nothing was done about his demand by seeking redress in the court of law.
When contacted for his comment, Dr Raymond Atuguba, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, said the incident was a clear case of failure on the part of the state to provide quality and accessible health care for its people.
He said the man could sue the state in respect of the right to life and the provision of quality health care, saying that although the right to the provision of quality healthcare was not expressively stated in the Constitution, he could still sue on the grounds of right to life, which is stated in the Constitution.
According to him, the quality of service rendered by some health service providers could not be described as professional, but he was quick to add that the quality of the delivery of such service by health personnel in the country could not be attributed solely to lack of professionalism since they lacked the resources and were also often overwhelmed by the number of patients they attended to on daily basis, a situation he said increased their margin of error.
He said the government should be able to structure its healthcare system by cutting down on waste in other sectors and channelling them into the provision of quality health care.
An official of the Ghana Health Service, who pleaded anonymity, said the service had launched a full-scale investigation into the issue.
According to him, the service would look into the report that would be presented and take appropriate action, assuring that the service would not cover up its mistake.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Private support needed in tourism sector
Daily Graphic, pg. 14. Friday, May 22/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Minister for Tourism, Ms Juliana Azumah-Mensah, has called on the private sector to partner the ministry host this year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) which falls on September 27, to enable the country’s tourism industry gain international recognition.
According to her, since this was the first time an African country had been given the opportunity to host the celebration, there was the need for all stakeholders to come together to support the ministry put up an impressive performance.
The 30th edition of the WTD, which was expected to attract hundreds of foreign tourists into the country, would be held on the theme “Tourism, celebrating diversity”.
The annual celebration is often used in fostering awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural and economic values.
At the media launch of the event in Accra, Ms Azumah-Mensah stated that since the occasion was a rare opportunity to Ghana, it was an opportune time for Ghana to market itself to the international world.
She said Ghana offered a wide range of unique and exciting natural, cultural and historical resources which when well developed and packaged with the support of all stakeholders, should bring some transformation in the national economy in general and the local economies in particular.
“The challenge is to assert our resolve to work closely with all our partners including both public and private tourism related sectors as well as district assemblies and the communities to plan and showcase what Ghana has to offer to the world,” she stated.
In Ghana, tourism is the number four foreign exchange earner and attracts about 600,000 visitors annually.
In 2008, the sector created over 300,000 jobs both directly and indirectly, and generated more than $1 billion income for the country.
According to Ms Azumah-Mensah, there was the need for Ghanaians to be reminded of the positive impact of tourism in terms of foreign exchange earnings, employment and income generation, as well as conservation of biodiversity and also for poverty reduction.
The minister stated that although tourism in most countries were being hit by the world economic downturn, “it is important for Ghana to continue to improve its potentials and use the celebration to tell the whole world that we are ready to bounce back from the world’s recession.”
She, therefore, called on the media to help in educating the public about tourism in order to shape their thinking to promote the positive image of the country as a tourism destination.
The Chief Director of the Ministry of Tourism, Mrs Bridget Katsriku who chaired the function, said the ministry had drawn up a policy which had decentralised tourism to enable the district assemblies to take charge of the operations of tourist sites.
That, according to her, was aimed at promoting effective management of these sites as well as ensuring that the assemblies identify and develop more sites in their localities.
She said the policy would also ensure that tour guards were given proper training to ensure professionalism to improve on their efficiency.
Mrs Katsriku also said since tourism was influenced by the environment and the attitude of people, there was also the need for Ghanaians to be educated on how to keep their environment clean and maintain good relations with visitors.
The Chairman of the National Planning Committee of the WTD, Mr Charles Osei-Bonsu said as part of the preparations towards the occasion, which sought to firmly secure Ghana’s position on the world tourism map as a major tourism destination, a comprehensive programme had been drawn to spread the celebration of the event nationwide.
He said the event would kick-start with a pre-event tour of all the 10 regions of the country from September 1 to 26 and would be interspersed with conferences, exhibitions, food fairs, an orientation and tours for some foreign and selected local journalists and travel writers.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Minister for Tourism, Ms Juliana Azumah-Mensah, has called on the private sector to partner the ministry host this year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) which falls on September 27, to enable the country’s tourism industry gain international recognition.
According to her, since this was the first time an African country had been given the opportunity to host the celebration, there was the need for all stakeholders to come together to support the ministry put up an impressive performance.
The 30th edition of the WTD, which was expected to attract hundreds of foreign tourists into the country, would be held on the theme “Tourism, celebrating diversity”.
The annual celebration is often used in fostering awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural and economic values.
At the media launch of the event in Accra, Ms Azumah-Mensah stated that since the occasion was a rare opportunity to Ghana, it was an opportune time for Ghana to market itself to the international world.
She said Ghana offered a wide range of unique and exciting natural, cultural and historical resources which when well developed and packaged with the support of all stakeholders, should bring some transformation in the national economy in general and the local economies in particular.
“The challenge is to assert our resolve to work closely with all our partners including both public and private tourism related sectors as well as district assemblies and the communities to plan and showcase what Ghana has to offer to the world,” she stated.
In Ghana, tourism is the number four foreign exchange earner and attracts about 600,000 visitors annually.
In 2008, the sector created over 300,000 jobs both directly and indirectly, and generated more than $1 billion income for the country.
According to Ms Azumah-Mensah, there was the need for Ghanaians to be reminded of the positive impact of tourism in terms of foreign exchange earnings, employment and income generation, as well as conservation of biodiversity and also for poverty reduction.
The minister stated that although tourism in most countries were being hit by the world economic downturn, “it is important for Ghana to continue to improve its potentials and use the celebration to tell the whole world that we are ready to bounce back from the world’s recession.”
She, therefore, called on the media to help in educating the public about tourism in order to shape their thinking to promote the positive image of the country as a tourism destination.
The Chief Director of the Ministry of Tourism, Mrs Bridget Katsriku who chaired the function, said the ministry had drawn up a policy which had decentralised tourism to enable the district assemblies to take charge of the operations of tourist sites.
That, according to her, was aimed at promoting effective management of these sites as well as ensuring that the assemblies identify and develop more sites in their localities.
She said the policy would also ensure that tour guards were given proper training to ensure professionalism to improve on their efficiency.
Mrs Katsriku also said since tourism was influenced by the environment and the attitude of people, there was also the need for Ghanaians to be educated on how to keep their environment clean and maintain good relations with visitors.
The Chairman of the National Planning Committee of the WTD, Mr Charles Osei-Bonsu said as part of the preparations towards the occasion, which sought to firmly secure Ghana’s position on the world tourism map as a major tourism destination, a comprehensive programme had been drawn to spread the celebration of the event nationwide.
He said the event would kick-start with a pre-event tour of all the 10 regions of the country from September 1 to 26 and would be interspersed with conferences, exhibitions, food fairs, an orientation and tours for some foreign and selected local journalists and travel writers.
work-to-rule threat by doctors....Back-up plans in place
Daily Graphic, (front page), Wednesday, May 20/09
Story Emmanuel Bonney & Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
HOSPITAL administrators in Accra have put in place contingency plans to cater for patients after 5 p.m. should doctors adhere to their one week work-to-rule plan.
Among the measures is an arrangement for nurses, medical assistants and other health workers to hold the fort while the doctors are away in the night.
The measures have been adopted by the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, as well as the Ridge and the La General hospitals.
A visit to the Ridge and the La General hospitals yesterday night showed that all the doctors were at post, though the action was supposed to start at that time.
The authorities of both hospitals said they were yet to be notified of the action of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and indicated that all the doctors expected to work after 5 p.m. had reported for work.
However, checks at Korle-Bu revealed that while some of the doctors were on duty on Monday night, others failed to turn up.
The Chief Executive of the hospital, Prof Nii Otu Nartey, who confirmed this to the Daily Graphic, said the government was making efforts to address the problems of doctors and expressed the hope that the matter would be resolved by the end of the week.
He said apart from using nurses and other health personnel in the event of full action by the doctors, “some of us will go to the wards to assist as part of our contingency plan”.
According to him, emergency cases were taken care of on Monday night.
Amina Alhassan, a relative of one of the patients on admission, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that her relative had been attended to in the night.
A press release from the GMA said doctors across the country would embark on the strike from 5 p.m. on Monday, May 18 to May 24, 2009.
According to the release, the GMA had decided to adopt the action for one week to press home its demand for the review of doctors’ salaries and conditions of service and further threatened to attend to only emergencies for another one week if no appropriate response was received from the authorities.
The action was expected to be undertaken by both senior and junior doctors nation-wide after negotiations, according to the GMA, had come to a stalemate between it and the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
According to the association, salaries of doctors had not been reviewed since 2006, in spite of several attempts to get those issues rectified.
However, sources at the various hospitals visited disclosed that doctors were still at post because they were yet to receive a communiqué from the GMA calling on them to embark on the action.
At the La General Hospital, the Health Service Administrator, Mr Adam M. Handi, said the hospital was yet to receive any notice from the GMA on the action.
He said so far all the 10 doctors, made up of five specialists and five medical officers, as well as six house officers, were duly at post.
Mr Handi said the hospital had, however, developed a contingency plan following a meeting with the regional directorate of health, saying that the plan would enable the hospital to provide basic health services, although it would not be able to cater for surgery and other serious cases which demanded the services of doctors.
At the Ridge Hospital, the Administrator, Mr Kwame Opoku, said the hospital was also yet to receive a formal notification from the GMA on its intended action.
He said in spite of that, the hospital had to put out a contingency measure in case the doctors carried out their treat.
He, however, expressed the hope that nothing of the sort would happen, adding, however, that in the event that the doctors embarked on any action, the hospital would be forced not to admit new patients after 5 p.m.
Enoch Darfah Frimpong reports from Kumasi that many patients who reported at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) on Tuesday morning had to wait till after 8 a.m. before doctors started attending to their medical needs.
The patients, some of whom had arrived at the hospital from outside Kumasi at night, hung around miserably till after 8 a.m. before they were attended to by the doctors.
By 5 p.m. on Monday when the work-to-rule strategy started, some doctors on duty at KATH started leaving the consulting rooms and the hospital for their homes.
A tour of the hospital indicated a 50:50 situation as some of the doctors were at post, while some of them had left.
But for some emergency cases which were attended to by some of the doctors, there were no doctors in the consulting rooms and the wards before 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
A source at the hospital indicated that the management had instituted a contingency plan to deal with emergency cases while the doctors were away.
Some of the doctors explained that the matter was in the hands of the GMA and refused to comment.
From Ho, Tim Dzamboe reports that a visit to the Ho Municipal Hospital yesterday showed that the Medical Superintendent, Dr K. G. Normanyo, was the only doctor at post taking care of patients, with the support of medical assistants.
Some of the doctors were said to be on course and others off to Accra for a meeting. Cuban doctors assisting at the hospital were said to be attending an annual review conference.
From Wa, George Folley Quaye & Chris Nunoo report that work was going on smoothly in all the hospitals visited by the Daily Graphic in the Upper West Region.
At the Wa Regional Hospital, the authorities were said to be in a meeting when the Daily Graphic called but one of the doctors who wanted to remain anonymous said all the doctors were at post.
In the district hospitals which were contacted on phone and whose spokespersons did not want to be named, the explanation was that the peculiar nature of the region made it difficult to abandon patients to their fate.
“We are not trying to stab the GMA in the back but our situation is different, as people in other parts of the country can access private health facilities,” they told the Daily Graphic.
At the Koforidua Regional Hospital, all the 34 doctors, most of them housemen, were at post rendering services ranging from consultancy to surgery when the Daily Graphic visited the facility yesterday, reports A. Kofoya Tetteh.
As of midday, most of the patients had been catered for, leaving a few of them waiting in front of the consulting rooms for their turn.
Most of the patients, especially those from the surrounding villages such as Akwadum, Nankese and Sekesua, the Daily Graphic talked to did not even know about the doctors’ planned action.
When contacted on the issue, the Medical Administrator of the hospital, Dr Obeng Apori, said work at the hospital had been going on normally, with doctors responding to urgent calls for duty, particularly in the night.
He, however, said the doctors hoped to hear good news to resolve the problem by 2 p.m. yesterday as indicated by some radio stations.
“Koforidua is not like the big cities where patients do not know the doctors and because we are familiar with the patients it is difficult for us not to treat them when they report here,” he stated, adding, “It is not that we in Koforidua are not sensitive to the plight of doctors but the peculiar situation we find ourselves in makes it difficult for us to withdraw our services between specific periods while patients we are familiar with come here for treatment.”
Kwame Asiedu Marfo reports from Takoradi that medical doctors at the Takoradi Hospital were working 24 hours when he visited the facility yesterday.
“Nothing has changed before and now,” the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Kofi Sagoe, told the Daily Graphic in an interview.
Dr Sagoe said the doctors were not working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and that they were going about their normal duties 24 hours a day.
He said all the outpatients had been cleared for the day, while those at the Casualty Ward were being seen by the doctors.
At the time the Daily Graphic visited the hospital, there were no outpatients waiting to see doctors. All of them had been seen and they had returned to their various homes, leaving only those on admission.
From Cape Coast, Shirley Aseidu-Addo reports that doctors were attending to emergency cases after 5 p.m. when the Daily Graphic visited the Central Regional Hospital and nothing showed that the doctors were on strike as patients were being attended to.
One of the nurses said the doctors had worked since 8 a.m.
“They also take care of all emergencies even after 5 p.m.,” she said.
From Tamale, Vincent Amenuveve reports that members of the Northern Divisional branch of the GMA at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) have stated that although they are on a work-to-rule action from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., they consider emergency cases at the Hospital.
Story Emmanuel Bonney & Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
HOSPITAL administrators in Accra have put in place contingency plans to cater for patients after 5 p.m. should doctors adhere to their one week work-to-rule plan.
Among the measures is an arrangement for nurses, medical assistants and other health workers to hold the fort while the doctors are away in the night.
The measures have been adopted by the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, as well as the Ridge and the La General hospitals.
A visit to the Ridge and the La General hospitals yesterday night showed that all the doctors were at post, though the action was supposed to start at that time.
The authorities of both hospitals said they were yet to be notified of the action of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and indicated that all the doctors expected to work after 5 p.m. had reported for work.
However, checks at Korle-Bu revealed that while some of the doctors were on duty on Monday night, others failed to turn up.
The Chief Executive of the hospital, Prof Nii Otu Nartey, who confirmed this to the Daily Graphic, said the government was making efforts to address the problems of doctors and expressed the hope that the matter would be resolved by the end of the week.
He said apart from using nurses and other health personnel in the event of full action by the doctors, “some of us will go to the wards to assist as part of our contingency plan”.
According to him, emergency cases were taken care of on Monday night.
Amina Alhassan, a relative of one of the patients on admission, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that her relative had been attended to in the night.
A press release from the GMA said doctors across the country would embark on the strike from 5 p.m. on Monday, May 18 to May 24, 2009.
According to the release, the GMA had decided to adopt the action for one week to press home its demand for the review of doctors’ salaries and conditions of service and further threatened to attend to only emergencies for another one week if no appropriate response was received from the authorities.
The action was expected to be undertaken by both senior and junior doctors nation-wide after negotiations, according to the GMA, had come to a stalemate between it and the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
According to the association, salaries of doctors had not been reviewed since 2006, in spite of several attempts to get those issues rectified.
However, sources at the various hospitals visited disclosed that doctors were still at post because they were yet to receive a communiqué from the GMA calling on them to embark on the action.
At the La General Hospital, the Health Service Administrator, Mr Adam M. Handi, said the hospital was yet to receive any notice from the GMA on the action.
He said so far all the 10 doctors, made up of five specialists and five medical officers, as well as six house officers, were duly at post.
Mr Handi said the hospital had, however, developed a contingency plan following a meeting with the regional directorate of health, saying that the plan would enable the hospital to provide basic health services, although it would not be able to cater for surgery and other serious cases which demanded the services of doctors.
At the Ridge Hospital, the Administrator, Mr Kwame Opoku, said the hospital was also yet to receive a formal notification from the GMA on its intended action.
He said in spite of that, the hospital had to put out a contingency measure in case the doctors carried out their treat.
He, however, expressed the hope that nothing of the sort would happen, adding, however, that in the event that the doctors embarked on any action, the hospital would be forced not to admit new patients after 5 p.m.
Enoch Darfah Frimpong reports from Kumasi that many patients who reported at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) on Tuesday morning had to wait till after 8 a.m. before doctors started attending to their medical needs.
The patients, some of whom had arrived at the hospital from outside Kumasi at night, hung around miserably till after 8 a.m. before they were attended to by the doctors.
By 5 p.m. on Monday when the work-to-rule strategy started, some doctors on duty at KATH started leaving the consulting rooms and the hospital for their homes.
A tour of the hospital indicated a 50:50 situation as some of the doctors were at post, while some of them had left.
But for some emergency cases which were attended to by some of the doctors, there were no doctors in the consulting rooms and the wards before 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
A source at the hospital indicated that the management had instituted a contingency plan to deal with emergency cases while the doctors were away.
Some of the doctors explained that the matter was in the hands of the GMA and refused to comment.
From Ho, Tim Dzamboe reports that a visit to the Ho Municipal Hospital yesterday showed that the Medical Superintendent, Dr K. G. Normanyo, was the only doctor at post taking care of patients, with the support of medical assistants.
Some of the doctors were said to be on course and others off to Accra for a meeting. Cuban doctors assisting at the hospital were said to be attending an annual review conference.
From Wa, George Folley Quaye & Chris Nunoo report that work was going on smoothly in all the hospitals visited by the Daily Graphic in the Upper West Region.
At the Wa Regional Hospital, the authorities were said to be in a meeting when the Daily Graphic called but one of the doctors who wanted to remain anonymous said all the doctors were at post.
In the district hospitals which were contacted on phone and whose spokespersons did not want to be named, the explanation was that the peculiar nature of the region made it difficult to abandon patients to their fate.
“We are not trying to stab the GMA in the back but our situation is different, as people in other parts of the country can access private health facilities,” they told the Daily Graphic.
At the Koforidua Regional Hospital, all the 34 doctors, most of them housemen, were at post rendering services ranging from consultancy to surgery when the Daily Graphic visited the facility yesterday, reports A. Kofoya Tetteh.
As of midday, most of the patients had been catered for, leaving a few of them waiting in front of the consulting rooms for their turn.
Most of the patients, especially those from the surrounding villages such as Akwadum, Nankese and Sekesua, the Daily Graphic talked to did not even know about the doctors’ planned action.
When contacted on the issue, the Medical Administrator of the hospital, Dr Obeng Apori, said work at the hospital had been going on normally, with doctors responding to urgent calls for duty, particularly in the night.
He, however, said the doctors hoped to hear good news to resolve the problem by 2 p.m. yesterday as indicated by some radio stations.
“Koforidua is not like the big cities where patients do not know the doctors and because we are familiar with the patients it is difficult for us not to treat them when they report here,” he stated, adding, “It is not that we in Koforidua are not sensitive to the plight of doctors but the peculiar situation we find ourselves in makes it difficult for us to withdraw our services between specific periods while patients we are familiar with come here for treatment.”
Kwame Asiedu Marfo reports from Takoradi that medical doctors at the Takoradi Hospital were working 24 hours when he visited the facility yesterday.
“Nothing has changed before and now,” the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Kofi Sagoe, told the Daily Graphic in an interview.
Dr Sagoe said the doctors were not working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and that they were going about their normal duties 24 hours a day.
He said all the outpatients had been cleared for the day, while those at the Casualty Ward were being seen by the doctors.
At the time the Daily Graphic visited the hospital, there were no outpatients waiting to see doctors. All of them had been seen and they had returned to their various homes, leaving only those on admission.
From Cape Coast, Shirley Aseidu-Addo reports that doctors were attending to emergency cases after 5 p.m. when the Daily Graphic visited the Central Regional Hospital and nothing showed that the doctors were on strike as patients were being attended to.
One of the nurses said the doctors had worked since 8 a.m.
“They also take care of all emergencies even after 5 p.m.,” she said.
From Tamale, Vincent Amenuveve reports that members of the Northern Divisional branch of the GMA at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) have stated that although they are on a work-to-rule action from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., they consider emergency cases at the Hospital.
Helping farmers to sell products across borders-Pilot project begins
Daily Graphic (back Page), Tuesday, May 19/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A PROJECT to enable farmers in the West African sub-region to sell their products across borders is to begin on a pilot phase, beginning with Ghana, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Sponsored by the Co-operative League of the United States of America (CLUSA), a co-operative society in the USA, the project would involve farmers in 21 co-operative societies across the country, who would export products such as fruits, vegetables, maize, yam, palm kernel and salt to Burkina Faso and Niger, where the products are in high demand.
In return, the farmers will import onions, beans and livestock from the two countries to supplement what is being produced locally.
The Secretary General of the Ghana Co-operative Council (GCC), Mr Albert Prempeh, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in Accra at the end of a seminar on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) policies on cross-border trade said the project would later be replicated to other ECOWAS States.
The seminar was aimed at educating the farmers and co-operative heads on the project.
Mr Prempeh said the project would create an opportunity for farmers in the three countries to improve and expand their businesses as well as profits in both local and neighbouring farmers.
If successful, Mr Prempeh said the GCC would establish a market at Paga, in the Upper East Region, where all neighbouring countries could bring their wares to trade and promote cross-border trading activities.
According to him, for a long time now, it had been difficult for farmers to market their produce in other African countries, although cross-border trading was being encouraged by ECOWAS, under its trade liberalisation scheme.
He said coming together would help the farmers to market their wares on a broader scale, a situation he said, would help avoid wastage in the system.
An Assistant Director at the Africa and African Union Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mr Kwasi Asante, briefed the farmers and co-operative leaders on some of the protocols and regulations of cross-border trade based on the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) and other mechanisms put in place to facilitate cross-border trade.
He said lack of knowledge on the provisions of the various protocols was a major hindrance to its effective application.
The ministry would, therefore, organise sensitisation workshops for various security agencies, the private sector and civil society groups to educate them, he noted.
Mr Asante bemoaned the abuse of the ETLS zero per cent duty policy enjoyed by some traders from the member states, who re-label foreign products as locally manufactured, adding that the practice was a major drawback on the free movement of goods and services within member states.
He said the ECOWAS protocol on free movement, right of residence and establishment had also brought in its wake an increase in the trafficking of humans, small arms and drugs, while some traders were also harassed by the police who set up road blocks to demand illegal levies.
To forestall all those problems, Mr Asante said the leadership of ECOWAS had formulated a new vision that placed premium on people within the sub-region instead of within states, with the view to promoting free movement of people to transact business in peace and regional space where the rule of law prevailed.
To expedite clearing procedures at the ports, he said an ECOWAS Desk had been established at various headquarters of the customs offices to disseminate information and advise nationals of member states on import and export procedures.
He said the service had also compiled the names of approved ECOWAS enterprises and their respective products in the National Customs Tariff Schedules for the attention of customs officers and the public at large.
According to him, since the private sector was being recognised as the engine of growth for any country, the ministry, through the ECOWAS National Unit, was working closely with the private sector and civil society groups that dealt with trade and free movement of goods and services in the integration process.
He said to ensure that the involvement of the private sector became a success, the ministry had established a National Approvals Committee to review applications of companies which applied to join the ETLS.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A PROJECT to enable farmers in the West African sub-region to sell their products across borders is to begin on a pilot phase, beginning with Ghana, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Sponsored by the Co-operative League of the United States of America (CLUSA), a co-operative society in the USA, the project would involve farmers in 21 co-operative societies across the country, who would export products such as fruits, vegetables, maize, yam, palm kernel and salt to Burkina Faso and Niger, where the products are in high demand.
In return, the farmers will import onions, beans and livestock from the two countries to supplement what is being produced locally.
The Secretary General of the Ghana Co-operative Council (GCC), Mr Albert Prempeh, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in Accra at the end of a seminar on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) policies on cross-border trade said the project would later be replicated to other ECOWAS States.
The seminar was aimed at educating the farmers and co-operative heads on the project.
Mr Prempeh said the project would create an opportunity for farmers in the three countries to improve and expand their businesses as well as profits in both local and neighbouring farmers.
If successful, Mr Prempeh said the GCC would establish a market at Paga, in the Upper East Region, where all neighbouring countries could bring their wares to trade and promote cross-border trading activities.
According to him, for a long time now, it had been difficult for farmers to market their produce in other African countries, although cross-border trading was being encouraged by ECOWAS, under its trade liberalisation scheme.
He said coming together would help the farmers to market their wares on a broader scale, a situation he said, would help avoid wastage in the system.
An Assistant Director at the Africa and African Union Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mr Kwasi Asante, briefed the farmers and co-operative leaders on some of the protocols and regulations of cross-border trade based on the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) and other mechanisms put in place to facilitate cross-border trade.
He said lack of knowledge on the provisions of the various protocols was a major hindrance to its effective application.
The ministry would, therefore, organise sensitisation workshops for various security agencies, the private sector and civil society groups to educate them, he noted.
Mr Asante bemoaned the abuse of the ETLS zero per cent duty policy enjoyed by some traders from the member states, who re-label foreign products as locally manufactured, adding that the practice was a major drawback on the free movement of goods and services within member states.
He said the ECOWAS protocol on free movement, right of residence and establishment had also brought in its wake an increase in the trafficking of humans, small arms and drugs, while some traders were also harassed by the police who set up road blocks to demand illegal levies.
To forestall all those problems, Mr Asante said the leadership of ECOWAS had formulated a new vision that placed premium on people within the sub-region instead of within states, with the view to promoting free movement of people to transact business in peace and regional space where the rule of law prevailed.
To expedite clearing procedures at the ports, he said an ECOWAS Desk had been established at various headquarters of the customs offices to disseminate information and advise nationals of member states on import and export procedures.
He said the service had also compiled the names of approved ECOWAS enterprises and their respective products in the National Customs Tariff Schedules for the attention of customs officers and the public at large.
According to him, since the private sector was being recognised as the engine of growth for any country, the ministry, through the ECOWAS National Unit, was working closely with the private sector and civil society groups that dealt with trade and free movement of goods and services in the integration process.
He said to ensure that the involvement of the private sector became a success, the ministry had established a National Approvals Committee to review applications of companies which applied to join the ETLS.
MOWAC to initiate educational programmes
Daily Graphic, Pg 11. Thurs. May 14/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) is to embark on sustained educational programmes to sensitise parents to the provision of various acts and policies that protect the rights of children in the country.
According to the sector minister, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, the programme was geared towards addressing the menace of irresponsible parenting in the country, which she said was the major cause of the numerous anti-social vices bedevilling the youth.
Ms Dansua, who made the statement when she addressed the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Ministry of Information on Tuesday, said most parents were unaware of the provisions in the Children’s Act, the Domestic Violence Act and other international laws and treaties that protect children.
According to her, the ministry would compliment its educational efforts by ensuring that such laws were enforced to the letter to prosecute parents who neglected their children.
She said many of the country’s youth were engaged in such vices as prostitution, fraud, streetism, truancy, child delinquency, pornography and migration because they had been neglected and also lacked parental control.
Ms Dansua however acknowledged that the ministry alone could not tackle the problem and called for close collaboration between the ministry and related bodies and organisations, and also urged parents and guardians to be more responsive to the needs of their wards.
She said the ministry would work in conjunction with the Greater Accra Regional Minister to ensure that brothels located in areas such as the Malam Atta Market, Agbobgloshie and the Mantse Agboana, and especially ‘Soldier Bar’, at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, were closed down.
Touching on the way forward, Ms Dansua said that in collaboration with relevant organisations, the ministry would provide micro-credit assistance to support community- based projects to enable parents to earn incomes and thereby cater for their wards.
She said “it is our firm belief that as a nation our quest for accelerated socio-economic development, wealth creation and poverty reduction will be seriously hampered without the involvement and empowerment of women, especially the rural and urban poor”.
Touching on the issue of ‘kayayei’ (female pottering), the Deputy Minister for MOWAC, Hajia Gariba Bora, called on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the urban centres to extend training programmes for ‘kayayei’ to the communities in the three northern regions to curb the migration of young girls to Accra and other major cities.
According to her, when the female potters were trained in Accra and reintegrated in their communities, it rather enticed more girls to come to the south.
She said when the training took place in the rural areas, most of the girls who were in the big cities would prefer to go back when they saw that their relatives back home were doing better than them.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) is to embark on sustained educational programmes to sensitise parents to the provision of various acts and policies that protect the rights of children in the country.
According to the sector minister, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, the programme was geared towards addressing the menace of irresponsible parenting in the country, which she said was the major cause of the numerous anti-social vices bedevilling the youth.
Ms Dansua, who made the statement when she addressed the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Ministry of Information on Tuesday, said most parents were unaware of the provisions in the Children’s Act, the Domestic Violence Act and other international laws and treaties that protect children.
According to her, the ministry would compliment its educational efforts by ensuring that such laws were enforced to the letter to prosecute parents who neglected their children.
She said many of the country’s youth were engaged in such vices as prostitution, fraud, streetism, truancy, child delinquency, pornography and migration because they had been neglected and also lacked parental control.
Ms Dansua however acknowledged that the ministry alone could not tackle the problem and called for close collaboration between the ministry and related bodies and organisations, and also urged parents and guardians to be more responsive to the needs of their wards.
She said the ministry would work in conjunction with the Greater Accra Regional Minister to ensure that brothels located in areas such as the Malam Atta Market, Agbobgloshie and the Mantse Agboana, and especially ‘Soldier Bar’, at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, were closed down.
Touching on the way forward, Ms Dansua said that in collaboration with relevant organisations, the ministry would provide micro-credit assistance to support community- based projects to enable parents to earn incomes and thereby cater for their wards.
She said “it is our firm belief that as a nation our quest for accelerated socio-economic development, wealth creation and poverty reduction will be seriously hampered without the involvement and empowerment of women, especially the rural and urban poor”.
Touching on the issue of ‘kayayei’ (female pottering), the Deputy Minister for MOWAC, Hajia Gariba Bora, called on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the urban centres to extend training programmes for ‘kayayei’ to the communities in the three northern regions to curb the migration of young girls to Accra and other major cities.
According to her, when the female potters were trained in Accra and reintegrated in their communities, it rather enticed more girls to come to the south.
She said when the training took place in the rural areas, most of the girls who were in the big cities would prefer to go back when they saw that their relatives back home were doing better than them.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Health workers receive 126 cars from MoH
Daily Graphic, Spread. Saturday, May 09/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ministry of Health yesterday handed over 126 saloon cars to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for distribution to health workers.
The 126 cars comprise 120 Honda Civic from the Honda Place Ghana Limited and six VW Polo from Universal Motors and they are the first batch of 600 cars that have been ordered for the year.
The cars, each of which costs between GH¢18,000 and GH¢23,000, are payable over an 84-month period.
The presentation is intended to alleviate some of the transportation difficulties facing health professionals, especially doctors.
At the handing-over ceremony in Accra, the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, announced the readiness of the government to embark on a housing project for health workers in the country.
The proposed project, he explained, was part of the government’s efforts to make life more comfortable for health professionals and, therefore, called on health professionals to reciprocate the gesture, trusting that the government was addressing their concerns.
He also called on doctors and other health workers to ensure that they worked diligently to help move the sector and the nation forward.
Last week, junior doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi embarked on a strike to demand the payment of their fuel allowances which had been in arrears for the past 18 months.
Dr Yankey called on doctors not to withdraw their services at the least instance, saying that just as taxpayers’ money had been used to educate them and make them comfortable with the provision of cars and other incentives, they should also endeavour to reciprocate that gesture by giving of their best to serve the public.
The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Elias Sory, who received the cars on behalf of the benefiting health professionals, said since 1997 3,138 health personnel, made up of 1,223 doctors and 1,915 health staff, across the country had benefited from the Ministry of Health Staff Vehicle Hire Purchase Scheme.
He said the scheme, which had been categorised into three — tax waiver, hire purchase and outright purchase — had been made possible through the ministry’s car revolving fund.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ministry of Health yesterday handed over 126 saloon cars to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for distribution to health workers.
The 126 cars comprise 120 Honda Civic from the Honda Place Ghana Limited and six VW Polo from Universal Motors and they are the first batch of 600 cars that have been ordered for the year.
The cars, each of which costs between GH¢18,000 and GH¢23,000, are payable over an 84-month period.
The presentation is intended to alleviate some of the transportation difficulties facing health professionals, especially doctors.
At the handing-over ceremony in Accra, the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, announced the readiness of the government to embark on a housing project for health workers in the country.
The proposed project, he explained, was part of the government’s efforts to make life more comfortable for health professionals and, therefore, called on health professionals to reciprocate the gesture, trusting that the government was addressing their concerns.
He also called on doctors and other health workers to ensure that they worked diligently to help move the sector and the nation forward.
Last week, junior doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi embarked on a strike to demand the payment of their fuel allowances which had been in arrears for the past 18 months.
Dr Yankey called on doctors not to withdraw their services at the least instance, saying that just as taxpayers’ money had been used to educate them and make them comfortable with the provision of cars and other incentives, they should also endeavour to reciprocate that gesture by giving of their best to serve the public.
The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Elias Sory, who received the cars on behalf of the benefiting health professionals, said since 1997 3,138 health personnel, made up of 1,223 doctors and 1,915 health staff, across the country had benefited from the Ministry of Health Staff Vehicle Hire Purchase Scheme.
He said the scheme, which had been categorised into three — tax waiver, hire purchase and outright purchase — had been made possible through the ministry’s car revolving fund.
GIS identifies illegal migration points
Daily Graphic, Pg 15, Saturday, May 09/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has identified four major towns as some of the notorious converging points for illegal migration in the country.
They are Nkoranza, Dormaa Ahenkro and Techiman, all in the Brong Ahafo Region, and Mankessim in the Central Region.
Those converging points, according to the service, were used in transporting hundreds of Ghanaians to nearby Burkina Faso or The Gambia with the intention of crossing over to Libya through to Malta or Sicily and finally to Europe.
However, an Assistant Director of Immigration, Ms Judith Dzokoto, called on people who had the intention of using such routes to use the case of over 40 Ghanaians who were massacred in The Gambia and others who were executed in Libya recently as examples of the fate of irregular migrants.
She said this at a public sensitisation and information programme on the dangers involved in travelling undocumented and the option for safe migration at the Institute of Islamic Studies at Nima in Accra.
Ms Dzokoto said the GIS had decided to intensify its campaign to educate people to desist from using illegal routes to travel.
The campaign, which is also being used to educate people on human trafficking as a way of helping to curb the menace in the country, is a collaboration among the Migration Management Bureau (MMB) of the GIS, Eanfoworld for Sustainable Development, a non-governmental organisation, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
According to Ms Dzokoto, the service recorded the deportation of Ghanaians to the Kotoka International Airport on a daily basis from mostly Libya, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain, a situation which she said was worrying.
She said the MMB, together with the IOM, had established migration consultation centres in Sunyani, Tamale and Takoradi where durbars and seminars were organised to educate the indigenes on the need to use legal channels whenever they wanted to travel.
“The craze to travel abroad at all cost has made it possible for people to believe all stories told by connection men and traffickers. All kinds of job offers are being put out there on the Internet and people fall prey to the machinations of these connection men,” she said.
A Deputy Superintendent of Immigration, Ms Belinda Adwoa Sika Anim, said although most European countries had intensified their land and sea border patrols since 1995, it had not decreased the number of irregular migrants but rather led them to use alternative but dangerous routes.
She, therefore, appealed to people not to risk their lives by travelling undocumented through dangerous routes in search of greener pastures.
The Founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Sheikh Umar Ibrahim Imam, who chaired the ceremony, called on Muslims, especially parents, to wake up to their responsibilities and educate their children not to seek greener pastures outside the country.
The Executive Director of Eanfoworld, Alhaji Alhassan Abdulai, said his organisation was collaborating with the GIS to help stop people from dehumanising themselves through illegal migration.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has identified four major towns as some of the notorious converging points for illegal migration in the country.
They are Nkoranza, Dormaa Ahenkro and Techiman, all in the Brong Ahafo Region, and Mankessim in the Central Region.
Those converging points, according to the service, were used in transporting hundreds of Ghanaians to nearby Burkina Faso or The Gambia with the intention of crossing over to Libya through to Malta or Sicily and finally to Europe.
However, an Assistant Director of Immigration, Ms Judith Dzokoto, called on people who had the intention of using such routes to use the case of over 40 Ghanaians who were massacred in The Gambia and others who were executed in Libya recently as examples of the fate of irregular migrants.
She said this at a public sensitisation and information programme on the dangers involved in travelling undocumented and the option for safe migration at the Institute of Islamic Studies at Nima in Accra.
Ms Dzokoto said the GIS had decided to intensify its campaign to educate people to desist from using illegal routes to travel.
The campaign, which is also being used to educate people on human trafficking as a way of helping to curb the menace in the country, is a collaboration among the Migration Management Bureau (MMB) of the GIS, Eanfoworld for Sustainable Development, a non-governmental organisation, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
According to Ms Dzokoto, the service recorded the deportation of Ghanaians to the Kotoka International Airport on a daily basis from mostly Libya, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain, a situation which she said was worrying.
She said the MMB, together with the IOM, had established migration consultation centres in Sunyani, Tamale and Takoradi where durbars and seminars were organised to educate the indigenes on the need to use legal channels whenever they wanted to travel.
“The craze to travel abroad at all cost has made it possible for people to believe all stories told by connection men and traffickers. All kinds of job offers are being put out there on the Internet and people fall prey to the machinations of these connection men,” she said.
A Deputy Superintendent of Immigration, Ms Belinda Adwoa Sika Anim, said although most European countries had intensified their land and sea border patrols since 1995, it had not decreased the number of irregular migrants but rather led them to use alternative but dangerous routes.
She, therefore, appealed to people not to risk their lives by travelling undocumented through dangerous routes in search of greener pastures.
The Founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Sheikh Umar Ibrahim Imam, who chaired the ceremony, called on Muslims, especially parents, to wake up to their responsibilities and educate their children not to seek greener pastures outside the country.
The Executive Director of Eanfoworld, Alhaji Alhassan Abdulai, said his organisation was collaborating with the GIS to help stop people from dehumanising themselves through illegal migration.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
HIV/TB Workplace Policy Document for AGs dept
Daily Graphic, Pg 47, Thursday, May 07/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A WORKPLACE programme on HIV and TB for the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department and its allied agencies, was launched in Accra last Monday.
The programme, which is supported by the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ)’s Legal Sector Reform Programme as part of its effort to mainstream HIV and TB in the working environment, will benefit over 1,000 employees of the ministry and their dependants.
Among the objectives of the programme is the prevention and diagnosis of HIV and TB, treatment, care and support of infected employees and their close family members. It also aims to create an enabling and non-discriminative working environment in the framework of an HIV and TB policy.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, who chaired the launch of the programme, called on all leaders to set the pace for their subordinates to follow by ensuring that they tested to know their HIV and TB status.
She said no country could ignore the devastating effect that HIV was having on both their human resource and economy and therefore said it was important to have a workplace policy to help workers to be more informed about HIV and TB.
She also called for an urgent need to address the issue of stigmatisation of infected and affected persons, saying that “stigmatisation has been one of the main scourges in finding ways of addressing the HIV and AIDS pandemic”.
She, therefore, called for an enabling environment where working colleagues would feel free to discuss their HIV status without fear or inhibition.
She called for intensification of public education on stigmatisation, adding that people should be made aware that contracting “HIV was not a death sentence”.
A representative of the German Ambassador, Mr Hans-Christian Winkler, in an address, said HIV and TB were still some of the biggest threat to human existence and therefore called on people to help stop them.
He commended Ghanaians for their effort in keeping a low prevalence of 1.9, saying that HIV was also one of the greatest threat to posterity if not effectively controlled.
The Programme Manager of the GTZ’s Legal Sector Reform Programme, Dr Elisabeth Leiss, said her outfit was committed to supporting institutions with workplace policies on HIV and TB with the aim of raising awareness about the two diseases.
She called on institutions and organisations to ensure that their staff registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme so that they could benefit from it.
A representative from the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Dr Nii Akwei Addo, said although 97 per cent of women and 99 per cent of men were aware of HIV and know how to protect themselves, there was no increase in the rate of the use of condom in the last five years.
According to him, 15 per cent of persons living with HIV were also TB positive but said TB could be cured within six months and therefore called on people to seek early treatment.
The team leader of the project, Dr Holger Till, reminded people that TB could be cured and HIV could be managed and therefore called on people to get tested.
The Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), Prof. Sakyi Awuku Amoa, said his outfit together with the USAID and the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) had intiated moves to address the issue of stigma in the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department, the Judiciary, the Police and Prison’s services and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), as part of a programme dubbed “HIV and AIDS stigma reduction and Human rights initiative”, aimed at addressing stigma in the country.
He emphasised that the need for HIV and AIDS to be acknowledged as a major business issue in the public and private enterprises could not be underestimated in view of the profound negative impact on workers and their families in enterprises in particular and on the national economy in general.
Prof. Amoa said it was, therefore, imperative that public and private sector organisations took responsibility for managing HIV and AIDS at the workplace and put in place effective policies and intervention programmes to address the complex ramifications of the epidemic.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A WORKPLACE programme on HIV and TB for the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department and its allied agencies, was launched in Accra last Monday.
The programme, which is supported by the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ)’s Legal Sector Reform Programme as part of its effort to mainstream HIV and TB in the working environment, will benefit over 1,000 employees of the ministry and their dependants.
Among the objectives of the programme is the prevention and diagnosis of HIV and TB, treatment, care and support of infected employees and their close family members. It also aims to create an enabling and non-discriminative working environment in the framework of an HIV and TB policy.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, who chaired the launch of the programme, called on all leaders to set the pace for their subordinates to follow by ensuring that they tested to know their HIV and TB status.
She said no country could ignore the devastating effect that HIV was having on both their human resource and economy and therefore said it was important to have a workplace policy to help workers to be more informed about HIV and TB.
She also called for an urgent need to address the issue of stigmatisation of infected and affected persons, saying that “stigmatisation has been one of the main scourges in finding ways of addressing the HIV and AIDS pandemic”.
She, therefore, called for an enabling environment where working colleagues would feel free to discuss their HIV status without fear or inhibition.
She called for intensification of public education on stigmatisation, adding that people should be made aware that contracting “HIV was not a death sentence”.
A representative of the German Ambassador, Mr Hans-Christian Winkler, in an address, said HIV and TB were still some of the biggest threat to human existence and therefore called on people to help stop them.
He commended Ghanaians for their effort in keeping a low prevalence of 1.9, saying that HIV was also one of the greatest threat to posterity if not effectively controlled.
The Programme Manager of the GTZ’s Legal Sector Reform Programme, Dr Elisabeth Leiss, said her outfit was committed to supporting institutions with workplace policies on HIV and TB with the aim of raising awareness about the two diseases.
She called on institutions and organisations to ensure that their staff registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme so that they could benefit from it.
A representative from the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Dr Nii Akwei Addo, said although 97 per cent of women and 99 per cent of men were aware of HIV and know how to protect themselves, there was no increase in the rate of the use of condom in the last five years.
According to him, 15 per cent of persons living with HIV were also TB positive but said TB could be cured within six months and therefore called on people to seek early treatment.
The team leader of the project, Dr Holger Till, reminded people that TB could be cured and HIV could be managed and therefore called on people to get tested.
The Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), Prof. Sakyi Awuku Amoa, said his outfit together with the USAID and the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) had intiated moves to address the issue of stigma in the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department, the Judiciary, the Police and Prison’s services and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), as part of a programme dubbed “HIV and AIDS stigma reduction and Human rights initiative”, aimed at addressing stigma in the country.
He emphasised that the need for HIV and AIDS to be acknowledged as a major business issue in the public and private enterprises could not be underestimated in view of the profound negative impact on workers and their families in enterprises in particular and on the national economy in general.
Prof. Amoa said it was, therefore, imperative that public and private sector organisations took responsibility for managing HIV and AIDS at the workplace and put in place effective policies and intervention programmes to address the complex ramifications of the epidemic.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Physician calls for national statistics on Asthma
Daily Graphic, Pg 14, Wednesday, May 06/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Physician at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Augustine Kwashie, has called on the Ministry of Health to collate data on asthma cases in Ghana.
According to him, although various health institutions have their own data on the number of cases they attend to, they have not been able to collate data to give a true picture of a national statistics.
He said knowing the national statistics of people with asthma would help to inform and in planning policy decisions.
Dr Kwashie made the call in Accra at a public lecture to mark this year’s World Asthma Day which was organised by the Global Initiative for Asthma under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and sponsored by Qodesh Group International, producers of Quodesh powder for the management of asthma.
The day, which falls on the second Tuesday of May every year, was celebrated globally on the theme: “You can control asthma” with a sub-theme: “Asthma can kill, seek early treatment”.
Globally, Dr Kwashie said, three million people were estimated to have asthma, saying that the prevalence in countries had been increasing over the years and therefore there was the need for Ghana to capture such data to know its trend.
Dr Kwashie said asthma, which is a chronic inflammatory disorder of a persons airwaves, was widespread and mainly affected children and mostly adults between the ages of 50 and 65.
According to him, asthma — which patients are most often hyper-responsive leading to recurrent episodes of wheezing and breathlessness and are triggered by dust, tobacco smoke, mites, cockroaches, viral infections and emotions — was hereditary.
He said although asthma had equal gender presentation globally, in Ghana the KBTH had 74 per cent of adult females and 26 per cent of adult males under its care.
He said although there was no global cure for asthma, it could be treated when well managed and called on people to seek early care when they were confronted with it.
The General Manager of the Qodesh Group International, Reverend David Kyenkyenhene, in an address called for a statistical report on asthma especially its mortality rate and the effect on the economy.
He also called on the government to give equal recognition to the day and make it a national event as had been done with malaria and HIV and AIDS and further called for the enforcement of the law on the ban on public smoking.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Physician at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Augustine Kwashie, has called on the Ministry of Health to collate data on asthma cases in Ghana.
According to him, although various health institutions have their own data on the number of cases they attend to, they have not been able to collate data to give a true picture of a national statistics.
He said knowing the national statistics of people with asthma would help to inform and in planning policy decisions.
Dr Kwashie made the call in Accra at a public lecture to mark this year’s World Asthma Day which was organised by the Global Initiative for Asthma under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and sponsored by Qodesh Group International, producers of Quodesh powder for the management of asthma.
The day, which falls on the second Tuesday of May every year, was celebrated globally on the theme: “You can control asthma” with a sub-theme: “Asthma can kill, seek early treatment”.
Globally, Dr Kwashie said, three million people were estimated to have asthma, saying that the prevalence in countries had been increasing over the years and therefore there was the need for Ghana to capture such data to know its trend.
Dr Kwashie said asthma, which is a chronic inflammatory disorder of a persons airwaves, was widespread and mainly affected children and mostly adults between the ages of 50 and 65.
According to him, asthma — which patients are most often hyper-responsive leading to recurrent episodes of wheezing and breathlessness and are triggered by dust, tobacco smoke, mites, cockroaches, viral infections and emotions — was hereditary.
He said although asthma had equal gender presentation globally, in Ghana the KBTH had 74 per cent of adult females and 26 per cent of adult males under its care.
He said although there was no global cure for asthma, it could be treated when well managed and called on people to seek early care when they were confronted with it.
The General Manager of the Qodesh Group International, Reverend David Kyenkyenhene, in an address called for a statistical report on asthma especially its mortality rate and the effect on the economy.
He also called on the government to give equal recognition to the day and make it a national event as had been done with malaria and HIV and AIDS and further called for the enforcement of the law on the ban on public smoking.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Gender Centre launches project-On women’s work
Daily Graphic, Pg 11. Tuesday, May 05/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A three-year research project on the changing character of women’s work and its implications for women’s livelihood security has been launched in Accra.
The project, known as “Formalising the informal and informalising the formal: Analysing changes in women’s work in Ghana”, will examine women’s work in two sectors, namely banking and paid domestic work.
Funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the project which is being undertaken by the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA) of the University of Ghana, in three urban centres, namely Accra, Kumasi and Tamale, seeks to examine the changing nature of work, especially in the banking and domestic sector, with the view to making policy recommendations for improving work conditions in the two sectors.
According to the Project Lead researcher, Dr Dzodzi Tsikata, the two sectors, one in the formal and the other in the informal economies were illustrations of some of the important developments in the character of women’s work.
She said both sectors had seen significant changes since the 1990s when economic liberalisation policies began to gain root, and that domestic work was increasingly being procured through agents and agencies while on the other hand the banking sector, traditionally seen as the bastion of formality and long term employment is changing with the introduction of labour agencies into the sector.
These changes, she said, were taking place in a general context of labour market liberation and the informalisation of work in both developed and developing countries , with these two sectors being illustrations of the changing character of women’s livelihood.
She said informal work was becoming more prominent among women across the country with most women going into hawking, trading, sewing, domestic and other unpaid work, a situation which she said generated lesser incomes and therefore jeopardised their security.
According to her, the country’s labour law favours formal work but the focus should be looked at since most people were now becoming self employed and called for equal opportunities for both formal and informal work in the labour laws.
Dr Tsikata who mentioned some of the objectives of the research, said it was to create a gender profile for the domestic and banking sectors, as well as agencies involved in the sectors and to examine the changes in labour conditions and its implications for employment security and the social security of women workers in the banking and domestic sectors.
She said the study was also to explore ways in which reproductive work differentiated women and men’s experiences of change in the domestic and banking sectors.
The project, she said would also analyse any relationship between labour legislation and policies and informalisation and explore the extent to which laws and policies were tackling the challenges of informalisation.
The research which was undertaken by four female researchers, Prof. Nana Akua Anyidoho, Prof. Akosua Darkwa, Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Dr Tsikata, established that most banks sampled, preferred to use agency staff as a way of saving cost.
According to the research, a total of 13 banks in the three research areas which were sampled, also revealed that sourcing for agency staff enabled the banks to focus on their core businesses.
The research also revealed among other things that domestic workers employed through an agent or agencies, normally received better conditions of service than bank staff employed through an agency, although in monitory terms the bankers received better pay conditions.
It further revealed that agencies out-sourced more women both to the banks and as domestic staffs than men.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A three-year research project on the changing character of women’s work and its implications for women’s livelihood security has been launched in Accra.
The project, known as “Formalising the informal and informalising the formal: Analysing changes in women’s work in Ghana”, will examine women’s work in two sectors, namely banking and paid domestic work.
Funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the project which is being undertaken by the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA) of the University of Ghana, in three urban centres, namely Accra, Kumasi and Tamale, seeks to examine the changing nature of work, especially in the banking and domestic sector, with the view to making policy recommendations for improving work conditions in the two sectors.
According to the Project Lead researcher, Dr Dzodzi Tsikata, the two sectors, one in the formal and the other in the informal economies were illustrations of some of the important developments in the character of women’s work.
She said both sectors had seen significant changes since the 1990s when economic liberalisation policies began to gain root, and that domestic work was increasingly being procured through agents and agencies while on the other hand the banking sector, traditionally seen as the bastion of formality and long term employment is changing with the introduction of labour agencies into the sector.
These changes, she said, were taking place in a general context of labour market liberation and the informalisation of work in both developed and developing countries , with these two sectors being illustrations of the changing character of women’s livelihood.
She said informal work was becoming more prominent among women across the country with most women going into hawking, trading, sewing, domestic and other unpaid work, a situation which she said generated lesser incomes and therefore jeopardised their security.
According to her, the country’s labour law favours formal work but the focus should be looked at since most people were now becoming self employed and called for equal opportunities for both formal and informal work in the labour laws.
Dr Tsikata who mentioned some of the objectives of the research, said it was to create a gender profile for the domestic and banking sectors, as well as agencies involved in the sectors and to examine the changes in labour conditions and its implications for employment security and the social security of women workers in the banking and domestic sectors.
She said the study was also to explore ways in which reproductive work differentiated women and men’s experiences of change in the domestic and banking sectors.
The project, she said would also analyse any relationship between labour legislation and policies and informalisation and explore the extent to which laws and policies were tackling the challenges of informalisation.
The research which was undertaken by four female researchers, Prof. Nana Akua Anyidoho, Prof. Akosua Darkwa, Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Dr Tsikata, established that most banks sampled, preferred to use agency staff as a way of saving cost.
According to the research, a total of 13 banks in the three research areas which were sampled, also revealed that sourcing for agency staff enabled the banks to focus on their core businesses.
The research also revealed among other things that domestic workers employed through an agent or agencies, normally received better conditions of service than bank staff employed through an agency, although in monitory terms the bankers received better pay conditions.
It further revealed that agencies out-sourced more women both to the banks and as domestic staffs than men.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Korle Bu Maternity Unit cries for help
Daily Graphic, Pg 11, Thursday, April 30/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Conditions at the Maternity Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), as a result of inadequate operation theatres, defective elevators, irregular flow of water and lack of other materials and equipment, have hindered the effective operation of health personnel at the unit.
It is disheartening to learn that prior to visits to the unit by the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, on April 24 and April 27, the lift to the six-storey block had not been working and women in labour were asked to climb the steps to the various floors of the Maternity Ward of the hospital, while those who could not climb were carried on the stretcher.
According to a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report, the over-aged lifts had been breaking down frequently since February, and stopped working over the past few days.
It took the intervention of the Health Minister to have one of the lifts restored on Monday, after he had directed the Administration of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Department to ensure that the lift was replaced within one month.
The report said the minister wondered why the department could not use part of its internally generated funds to make the lifts work, but the Head of the department, Prof. Yao Enyonam Kwawukume, attributed the situation to administrative bottlenecks at the hospital.
“We feel that they don't really care for women,” Prof. Kwawukume said, adding that because of the deplorable conditions at the ward, caesarean sections were performed at times at the Cardiothoracic Centre and other departments.
“We perform between 12 and 15 caesarian sections a day, but only one of the two theatres is currently active,” Prof. Kwawukume said.
The conditions at the Korle Bu Maternity Unit and the Maternity Wards of the Ridge Hospital, as well as other health facilities in parts of the country, in spite of the country’s quest to attain a reduction in maternal and infant mortality, is pathetic considering the fact that delays at the health facility had been identified as one of the causes of pregnancy-related conditions, also known as obstetric complications.
Health experts also say the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age in many developing countries include post-partum haemorrhage (bleeding at delivery), infections, eclampsia (hypertension in pregnancy), prolonged or obstructed labour, and complications of abortion.
In support of set goals and priorities for the Global Safe Motherhood Initiative and also in conformity with national safe motherhood programmes, the stimulation of research, mobilisation of resources, provision of technical assistance and sharing of information, services at the health facilities need to be improved to make childbirth and pregnancy safer.
The fifth target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) talks about improving maternal health by reducing maternal mortality ratio by three quarters in areas where high risk of women dying during pregnancy or childbirth is prevalent.
Although a pregnant woman for the sake of herself and her unborn baby would like to access quality and skilled antenatal services, the issue of affordability will also determine where a pregnant woman would want to seek care.
With the introduction of free antenatal and delivery services by the government coupled with the availability of skilled health workers at various public health facilities, most women prefer to deliver at the KBTH, and other public health facilities, since they are assured of quality health care. But the current problems bedevilling the Maternity Unit of the nation’s premier hospital are worrying.
The department is supposed to have two operating theatres functioning at any given time but currently only one theatre is functioning. The situation, according to the health officers, has left doctors to decide on which of the expectant mothers needing caesarean section must first be attended to, although they contend that every pregnant case can become critical at any given time.
Also water, which is crucial for the operation at the unit, is sometimes scarce and the problem is compounded by the fact that the hospital does not own a water tanker.
The Maternity Unit has 155 midwives, who attend to about 200 pregnant women and also records between 30 and 50 normal deliveries a day.
For these reasons, some of the health officials interviewed by the Daily Graphic suggested that various departments of the hospital need to be given some level of autonomy to enhance their efficiency and explained that the situation whereby all the departments were dependant on the central administration of the hospital for funds to undertake their day-to-day activities was crippling their operations and that of the hospital as a whole.
In an interview, the Public Relations Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Mr Mustapha Salifu, stated that the management was working on these requests in order to come out with feasible plans and programmes to improve quality healthcare delivery at the hospital.
He also gave the assurance that in the short term, 13 of the hospital’s old lifts would be rehabilitated at a cost of $330,000 with a view of replacing all the them in future.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Conditions at the Maternity Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), as a result of inadequate operation theatres, defective elevators, irregular flow of water and lack of other materials and equipment, have hindered the effective operation of health personnel at the unit.
It is disheartening to learn that prior to visits to the unit by the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, on April 24 and April 27, the lift to the six-storey block had not been working and women in labour were asked to climb the steps to the various floors of the Maternity Ward of the hospital, while those who could not climb were carried on the stretcher.
According to a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report, the over-aged lifts had been breaking down frequently since February, and stopped working over the past few days.
It took the intervention of the Health Minister to have one of the lifts restored on Monday, after he had directed the Administration of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Department to ensure that the lift was replaced within one month.
The report said the minister wondered why the department could not use part of its internally generated funds to make the lifts work, but the Head of the department, Prof. Yao Enyonam Kwawukume, attributed the situation to administrative bottlenecks at the hospital.
“We feel that they don't really care for women,” Prof. Kwawukume said, adding that because of the deplorable conditions at the ward, caesarean sections were performed at times at the Cardiothoracic Centre and other departments.
“We perform between 12 and 15 caesarian sections a day, but only one of the two theatres is currently active,” Prof. Kwawukume said.
The conditions at the Korle Bu Maternity Unit and the Maternity Wards of the Ridge Hospital, as well as other health facilities in parts of the country, in spite of the country’s quest to attain a reduction in maternal and infant mortality, is pathetic considering the fact that delays at the health facility had been identified as one of the causes of pregnancy-related conditions, also known as obstetric complications.
Health experts also say the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age in many developing countries include post-partum haemorrhage (bleeding at delivery), infections, eclampsia (hypertension in pregnancy), prolonged or obstructed labour, and complications of abortion.
In support of set goals and priorities for the Global Safe Motherhood Initiative and also in conformity with national safe motherhood programmes, the stimulation of research, mobilisation of resources, provision of technical assistance and sharing of information, services at the health facilities need to be improved to make childbirth and pregnancy safer.
The fifth target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) talks about improving maternal health by reducing maternal mortality ratio by three quarters in areas where high risk of women dying during pregnancy or childbirth is prevalent.
Although a pregnant woman for the sake of herself and her unborn baby would like to access quality and skilled antenatal services, the issue of affordability will also determine where a pregnant woman would want to seek care.
With the introduction of free antenatal and delivery services by the government coupled with the availability of skilled health workers at various public health facilities, most women prefer to deliver at the KBTH, and other public health facilities, since they are assured of quality health care. But the current problems bedevilling the Maternity Unit of the nation’s premier hospital are worrying.
The department is supposed to have two operating theatres functioning at any given time but currently only one theatre is functioning. The situation, according to the health officers, has left doctors to decide on which of the expectant mothers needing caesarean section must first be attended to, although they contend that every pregnant case can become critical at any given time.
Also water, which is crucial for the operation at the unit, is sometimes scarce and the problem is compounded by the fact that the hospital does not own a water tanker.
The Maternity Unit has 155 midwives, who attend to about 200 pregnant women and also records between 30 and 50 normal deliveries a day.
For these reasons, some of the health officials interviewed by the Daily Graphic suggested that various departments of the hospital need to be given some level of autonomy to enhance their efficiency and explained that the situation whereby all the departments were dependant on the central administration of the hospital for funds to undertake their day-to-day activities was crippling their operations and that of the hospital as a whole.
In an interview, the Public Relations Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Mr Mustapha Salifu, stated that the management was working on these requests in order to come out with feasible plans and programmes to improve quality healthcare delivery at the hospital.
He also gave the assurance that in the short term, 13 of the hospital’s old lifts would be rehabilitated at a cost of $330,000 with a view of replacing all the them in future.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
'Let's control malaria'
Daily Graphic, Pg. 3. Saturday, April 25/09
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
AS the world celebrates World Malaria Day today, the government and the private sector have been called upon to collaborate more to make malaria control a priority by allocating more resources to the relevant agencies that work towards eradicating the disease from the country.
Mr James Frimpong of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) noted that malaria is one of the leading causes of death, especially among children under five, and that there was the need for adequate internal funds to ensure sustainability of activities to eliminate it after donor funds ran out.
Mr Frimpong was speaking at a day’s seminar organised by the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) for the media as part of activities marking World Malaria Day on the sub-theme, “Counting on the media to eradicate malaria”.
This year’s world theme is, “Counting Malaria Out”.
It is estimated that there are between 300 million and 500 million clinical cases of malaria per year, with 80 per cent of those cases in Africa. In Ghana, about 4,500 deaths traceable to malaria are recorded annually and 1,500 children under five die from malaria every year, while 60 pregnant women die every year from malaria.
Mr Frimpong said the current control strategy was to ensure that there was early diagnosis with the use of a tool known as the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kit, prompt laboratory confirmation, especially for in-patients, the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, especially for children and pregnant women, and environmental management.
He said the NMCP was also partnering multilateral and bilateral organisations for financial and technical support to control malaria and collaborate with local and international research groups on malaria-related issues.
The President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Dr Alex Dodoo, said there was an urgent need for rigorous data to inform malaria policy in Africa.
Consequently, he said, a new project dubbed the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies (INESS) of anti-malaria drugs in Africa that would provide the platform for the effectiveness and efficiency of anti-malaria drugs to be studied in real-life settings in Africa was in the offing.
The four-year project, which is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will take place in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 90 per cent of all malaria cases world-wide.
The countries involved in the project are Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique and Burkina Faso. It will, however, start in Ghana and Tanzania.
In Ghana, Dr Dodoo said, the research would be undertaken at three sites, namely, Dodowa, Kintampo and Navrongo, and the participants would be monitored when given Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs).
According to Dr Kwaku Poku Asante of the Kintampo Health Research Centre, a vaccine was being developed to help in eradicating malaria, adding that advanced trials were being undertaken in Ghana, Tanzania and Gabon and that about 1,500 children in Kintampo would be involved in the clinical trial which would be replicated across Africa.
Dr Daniel Ansong of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) said a vaccine would be a key component in defeating malaria.
He noted that the vaccine had the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives in Africa, saying that it would make a positive impact on the economy and the capacity of the country’s healthcare system.
Dr George Obeng Adjei of the Centre for Tropical Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics of the University of Ghana, Legon, said the efficacy of ACTs in curing uncomplicated malaria was well documented but added that when the drug was misused, it might lead to compromised efficacy.
A media consultant, Mr Kofi Wellington, called on the media to develop closer relations with scientists and also ensure that their stories were well researched and accurate.
The Executive Secretary of AMMERN, Mrs Charity Binka, said the media were the gatekeepers of every society and, therefore, they must not be left out in efforts to hound malaria out of the world.
“It is only through the active participation of the media in malaria eradication efforts that the menace can be conquered,” she said.
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
AS the world celebrates World Malaria Day today, the government and the private sector have been called upon to collaborate more to make malaria control a priority by allocating more resources to the relevant agencies that work towards eradicating the disease from the country.
Mr James Frimpong of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) noted that malaria is one of the leading causes of death, especially among children under five, and that there was the need for adequate internal funds to ensure sustainability of activities to eliminate it after donor funds ran out.
Mr Frimpong was speaking at a day’s seminar organised by the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) for the media as part of activities marking World Malaria Day on the sub-theme, “Counting on the media to eradicate malaria”.
This year’s world theme is, “Counting Malaria Out”.
It is estimated that there are between 300 million and 500 million clinical cases of malaria per year, with 80 per cent of those cases in Africa. In Ghana, about 4,500 deaths traceable to malaria are recorded annually and 1,500 children under five die from malaria every year, while 60 pregnant women die every year from malaria.
Mr Frimpong said the current control strategy was to ensure that there was early diagnosis with the use of a tool known as the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kit, prompt laboratory confirmation, especially for in-patients, the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, especially for children and pregnant women, and environmental management.
He said the NMCP was also partnering multilateral and bilateral organisations for financial and technical support to control malaria and collaborate with local and international research groups on malaria-related issues.
The President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Dr Alex Dodoo, said there was an urgent need for rigorous data to inform malaria policy in Africa.
Consequently, he said, a new project dubbed the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies (INESS) of anti-malaria drugs in Africa that would provide the platform for the effectiveness and efficiency of anti-malaria drugs to be studied in real-life settings in Africa was in the offing.
The four-year project, which is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will take place in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 90 per cent of all malaria cases world-wide.
The countries involved in the project are Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique and Burkina Faso. It will, however, start in Ghana and Tanzania.
In Ghana, Dr Dodoo said, the research would be undertaken at three sites, namely, Dodowa, Kintampo and Navrongo, and the participants would be monitored when given Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs).
According to Dr Kwaku Poku Asante of the Kintampo Health Research Centre, a vaccine was being developed to help in eradicating malaria, adding that advanced trials were being undertaken in Ghana, Tanzania and Gabon and that about 1,500 children in Kintampo would be involved in the clinical trial which would be replicated across Africa.
Dr Daniel Ansong of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) said a vaccine would be a key component in defeating malaria.
He noted that the vaccine had the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives in Africa, saying that it would make a positive impact on the economy and the capacity of the country’s healthcare system.
Dr George Obeng Adjei of the Centre for Tropical Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics of the University of Ghana, Legon, said the efficacy of ACTs in curing uncomplicated malaria was well documented but added that when the drug was misused, it might lead to compromised efficacy.
A media consultant, Mr Kofi Wellington, called on the media to develop closer relations with scientists and also ensure that their stories were well researched and accurate.
The Executive Secretary of AMMERN, Mrs Charity Binka, said the media were the gatekeepers of every society and, therefore, they must not be left out in efforts to hound malaria out of the world.
“It is only through the active participation of the media in malaria eradication efforts that the menace can be conquered,” she said.
Ministry to ban unapproved malaria drugs
Daily Graphic, Back Page, Monday, April 27/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ministry of Health (MoH) has decided to ban the importation of unapproved malarial drugs into the country.
A directive to this effect is expected to be issued today by the ministry to the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in Accra.
The Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, said this at the launch of this year’s World Malaria Day in Accra at the weekend.
The day, which was celebrated globally on the theme; ‘Counting Malaria Out’, is the second to be organised and the minister used the occasion to launch a malarial elimination song, which is expected to be reproduced in the local languages for a wider coverage.
The minister also used the occasion to open an exhibition mounted by both public and private health organisations and institutions including the Noguchi Memorial Institute with their products and services all aimed at controlling malaria.
Dr Yankey said banning the importation of ineffective malarial drugs would help to ensure that only drugs that were tested and proven to be efficacious would be brought into the country.
He said the directive would also help to boost local industries that had the licence to produce MoH-approved Arthesunate-based Combination Therapy (ACT) drugs for the treatment of malaria in the country.
Presently, the use of monotherapies that are single drugs, such as chloroquine, for the treatment of malaria is no longer acceptable in the country and the MoH has recommended Artesunate-Amodiaquine, Arthemeter-Lumefantrine and Quinine as the recommended drugs for the treatment of complicated and uncomplicated malaria.
According to the minister, he was also going to launch a national malarial elimination project this year and called on all stakeholders to join hands in the fights against the disease.
The Programme Manager of the NMCP, Dr Constance Bart-Plange, said the country was on course at controlling the malarial parasite due to the numerous measures that had been put in place to help in the fight against the disease.
She said the country was not doing badly in interventions towards the control of severe malaria, adding that counting out malaria was feasible when people adopted healthy and aggressive measures in controlling the disease.
She mentioned some of the interventions to include the use of treated bed nets especially by children and pregnant women, indoor residual spraying, proper diagnosis of malarial cases, Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) and the use of coils and other repellents to help in the country’s control effort.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Country representative, Dr Daniel Kertesz, said the country needed about $25,000 to eradicate malaria between 2010 and 2020, saying that malaria control was possible and cost-effective.
He said the tools for eradication existed and were available in most countries and, therefore, called on people to use them.
In a statement from the Ghana Health Office Chief at the USAID, Ms Beth-Ann Moskov said although the country had achieved a lot of successes in its control of malaria, there was no time to become complacent, saying that the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) released in 2008 and other surveys showed that much more work remained to be done especially in the area of the use of insecticide treated bed nets by pregnant women and children under five.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ministry of Health (MoH) has decided to ban the importation of unapproved malarial drugs into the country.
A directive to this effect is expected to be issued today by the ministry to the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in Accra.
The Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, said this at the launch of this year’s World Malaria Day in Accra at the weekend.
The day, which was celebrated globally on the theme; ‘Counting Malaria Out’, is the second to be organised and the minister used the occasion to launch a malarial elimination song, which is expected to be reproduced in the local languages for a wider coverage.
The minister also used the occasion to open an exhibition mounted by both public and private health organisations and institutions including the Noguchi Memorial Institute with their products and services all aimed at controlling malaria.
Dr Yankey said banning the importation of ineffective malarial drugs would help to ensure that only drugs that were tested and proven to be efficacious would be brought into the country.
He said the directive would also help to boost local industries that had the licence to produce MoH-approved Arthesunate-based Combination Therapy (ACT) drugs for the treatment of malaria in the country.
Presently, the use of monotherapies that are single drugs, such as chloroquine, for the treatment of malaria is no longer acceptable in the country and the MoH has recommended Artesunate-Amodiaquine, Arthemeter-Lumefantrine and Quinine as the recommended drugs for the treatment of complicated and uncomplicated malaria.
According to the minister, he was also going to launch a national malarial elimination project this year and called on all stakeholders to join hands in the fights against the disease.
The Programme Manager of the NMCP, Dr Constance Bart-Plange, said the country was on course at controlling the malarial parasite due to the numerous measures that had been put in place to help in the fight against the disease.
She said the country was not doing badly in interventions towards the control of severe malaria, adding that counting out malaria was feasible when people adopted healthy and aggressive measures in controlling the disease.
She mentioned some of the interventions to include the use of treated bed nets especially by children and pregnant women, indoor residual spraying, proper diagnosis of malarial cases, Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) and the use of coils and other repellents to help in the country’s control effort.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Country representative, Dr Daniel Kertesz, said the country needed about $25,000 to eradicate malaria between 2010 and 2020, saying that malaria control was possible and cost-effective.
He said the tools for eradication existed and were available in most countries and, therefore, called on people to use them.
In a statement from the Ghana Health Office Chief at the USAID, Ms Beth-Ann Moskov said although the country had achieved a lot of successes in its control of malaria, there was no time to become complacent, saying that the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) released in 2008 and other surveys showed that much more work remained to be done especially in the area of the use of insecticide treated bed nets by pregnant women and children under five.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Sub-regional workshop on HIV/AIDS in education
Daily Graphic, Pg. 44, Thursday, April 23/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THIRTY civil servants and educationist from Anglophone West Africa are in Accra to participate in a five-day workshop on mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS in the educational sector.
The workshop is aimed at conceptualising and analysing the interaction between the epidemic and educational planning management, as well as planning and developing strategies to mitigate its impact.
Organised by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in collaboration with the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and the Regional Office for Education in Africa, the workshop is also aimed at heightening awareness of the educational planning and management issues that the epidemic raises for the education sector and to impart planning skills.
The workshop, which is on the theme: “Educational Planning and Management in a world with AIDS”, drew participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and the Gambia.
The Deputy Minister of Education (Tertiary), Dr Joseph Samuel Annan, in a message said the increase in the number of children and young people living with HIV and the need to support infected learners, teachers and educational workers in general posed new challenges to the education sector.
Quoting a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2005) report that described the epidemic as the “single greatest reversal in human development” in modern history, the deputy minister said the stark realities of HIV and AIDS made it “imperative for a concerted and co-ordinated response, stronger leadership and building on successes”, with an aim of achieving the Millennium Development Goal six by 2015.
He said Ghana had made significant strides in controlling the spread of the epidemic since hosting the first ECOWAS sub-regional workshop on Accelerating Education Sector Response on HIV and AIDS in 2004.
Dr Annan said the educational sector also played pivotal roles in the prevention of new infection by establishing a full-time HIV and AIDS secretariat with a mandate to co-ordinate and harmonise all HIV and AIDS activities within the sector.
He said the ongoing implementation of an HIV schools alert programme initiated in 2005 with an aim of increasing knowledge and awareness among teachers, pupils or students and the school community, was a harmonised school-based initiative aimed at reducing the spread of HIV in schools.
He said there was the need to reach out to HIV infected teachers, since they could help in educating people to reduce stigma and to influence the care and support of infected learners saying that “HIV positive teachers are thus gradually being organised by the sector to enable them to play significant roles in the mitigation of the impact of the disease on themselves and on others particularly in the education sector”.
The Director and Representative of the UNESCO Cluster Office, Accra, Ms Elizabeth Moundo, in an address said UNESCO continued to promote comprehensive, scaled-up education sector responses to AIDS and deepened education sector engagement in national responses.
Her speech, which was read on her behalf by the Programme Specialist on Science of the UNESCO Cluster Office, Accra, Mr Abou Amani, said through partnership with UN sister agencies, UNESCO had helped the education sector in Ghana to launch a publication on, ‘A study of the education sector’s response to HIV and AIDS in Ghana’, saying that the case study would help the ministry to know what was happening in the educational front in the country.
She said the study depicted the manner in which a country could plan to inform itself about how the epidemic and the response to it were carried out, showcasing numerous examples of how educational interventions had been implemented across the education sector.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THIRTY civil servants and educationist from Anglophone West Africa are in Accra to participate in a five-day workshop on mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS in the educational sector.
The workshop is aimed at conceptualising and analysing the interaction between the epidemic and educational planning management, as well as planning and developing strategies to mitigate its impact.
Organised by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in collaboration with the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and the Regional Office for Education in Africa, the workshop is also aimed at heightening awareness of the educational planning and management issues that the epidemic raises for the education sector and to impart planning skills.
The workshop, which is on the theme: “Educational Planning and Management in a world with AIDS”, drew participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and the Gambia.
The Deputy Minister of Education (Tertiary), Dr Joseph Samuel Annan, in a message said the increase in the number of children and young people living with HIV and the need to support infected learners, teachers and educational workers in general posed new challenges to the education sector.
Quoting a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2005) report that described the epidemic as the “single greatest reversal in human development” in modern history, the deputy minister said the stark realities of HIV and AIDS made it “imperative for a concerted and co-ordinated response, stronger leadership and building on successes”, with an aim of achieving the Millennium Development Goal six by 2015.
He said Ghana had made significant strides in controlling the spread of the epidemic since hosting the first ECOWAS sub-regional workshop on Accelerating Education Sector Response on HIV and AIDS in 2004.
Dr Annan said the educational sector also played pivotal roles in the prevention of new infection by establishing a full-time HIV and AIDS secretariat with a mandate to co-ordinate and harmonise all HIV and AIDS activities within the sector.
He said the ongoing implementation of an HIV schools alert programme initiated in 2005 with an aim of increasing knowledge and awareness among teachers, pupils or students and the school community, was a harmonised school-based initiative aimed at reducing the spread of HIV in schools.
He said there was the need to reach out to HIV infected teachers, since they could help in educating people to reduce stigma and to influence the care and support of infected learners saying that “HIV positive teachers are thus gradually being organised by the sector to enable them to play significant roles in the mitigation of the impact of the disease on themselves and on others particularly in the education sector”.
The Director and Representative of the UNESCO Cluster Office, Accra, Ms Elizabeth Moundo, in an address said UNESCO continued to promote comprehensive, scaled-up education sector responses to AIDS and deepened education sector engagement in national responses.
Her speech, which was read on her behalf by the Programme Specialist on Science of the UNESCO Cluster Office, Accra, Mr Abou Amani, said through partnership with UN sister agencies, UNESCO had helped the education sector in Ghana to launch a publication on, ‘A study of the education sector’s response to HIV and AIDS in Ghana’, saying that the case study would help the ministry to know what was happening in the educational front in the country.
She said the study depicted the manner in which a country could plan to inform itself about how the epidemic and the response to it were carried out, showcasing numerous examples of how educational interventions had been implemented across the education sector.
GHS develops manual on malaria diagnosis
Daily Graphic, Back Page, Thursday, April 23/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ghana Health Service (GHS) has developed a manual to guide laboratory technicians in the accurate diagnosis of malaria in the country.
The manual, which was developed in conjunction with the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), will help reduce the high cases of malaria reported at various health centres.
The Programme Manager of the NMCP, Dr Constance Bart-Plange, made this known at a media seminar as part of the celebration of this year’s World Malaria Day.
The day, which falls on April 25, 2009, is being celebrated on the theme: “Counting Malaria Out”.
Dr Bart-Plange said the manual would be used in training laboratory technicians and other clinicians to help get the true picture of malaria in the country.
Information at the NMCP indicates that only about 10 per cent of presumptive malaria cases diagnosed at various hospitals and clinics were really malaria.
Other illnesses have the same symptoms as malaria, are most often diagnosed as malaria and are, therefore, treated as such, a situation that she said increased reported cases of malaria.
Dr Bart-Plange said illnesses that had symptoms of fever such as typhoid, HIV and AIDS, pelvic infections, appendicitis, urinary track infection, meningitis and early pregnancy were most often wrongly diagnosed as malaria.
Dr Bart-Plange was of the view that if the incidence of wrong diagnosis was not checked it would lead to a situation where the people could become resistant to the country’s first line drug prescription.
The consequence of such development, she said, would precipitate the introduction of a second line drug, which would not augur well for the country’s health system.
A private medical practitioner, Dr Joseph Somuah Akuamoah, who gave a presentation on the case management of malaria in the country, said a strip to conduct Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) for accurate recordings of malaria would soon be introduced nationwide to help in the accurate diagnosis of malaria.
The strip, which he said detects plasmodial antigens present in the blood, would be able to establish whether or not a patient was suffering from malaria or other conditions.
In a presentation, Dr Keziah Malm of the NMCP said Ghana was currently at the control stage of eliminating malaria from the country, saying that the country had adopted combined methods such as the use of treated nets, insecticides, coils and repellents to get to the pre-elimination and finally the elimination stages.
According to her, seven per cent of children who survive cerebral malaria were left with permanent neurological problems such as weakness, blindness, speech problems, attention deficits and epilepsy.
A medical entomologist with the NMCP, Dr Aba Baffoe Wilmot, who spoke on ‘Epidemiology of malaria and malaria vector control in Ghana’, said the general Ghanaian population was at risk of malarial attack.
The Country Director of the John Hopkins Centre for Communication Programmes — Voices Project, Mr Emmanuel Fiagbey, called for stronger partnership between the media and malaria professionals to bring issues of malaria to the fore front.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ghana Health Service (GHS) has developed a manual to guide laboratory technicians in the accurate diagnosis of malaria in the country.
The manual, which was developed in conjunction with the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), will help reduce the high cases of malaria reported at various health centres.
The Programme Manager of the NMCP, Dr Constance Bart-Plange, made this known at a media seminar as part of the celebration of this year’s World Malaria Day.
The day, which falls on April 25, 2009, is being celebrated on the theme: “Counting Malaria Out”.
Dr Bart-Plange said the manual would be used in training laboratory technicians and other clinicians to help get the true picture of malaria in the country.
Information at the NMCP indicates that only about 10 per cent of presumptive malaria cases diagnosed at various hospitals and clinics were really malaria.
Other illnesses have the same symptoms as malaria, are most often diagnosed as malaria and are, therefore, treated as such, a situation that she said increased reported cases of malaria.
Dr Bart-Plange said illnesses that had symptoms of fever such as typhoid, HIV and AIDS, pelvic infections, appendicitis, urinary track infection, meningitis and early pregnancy were most often wrongly diagnosed as malaria.
Dr Bart-Plange was of the view that if the incidence of wrong diagnosis was not checked it would lead to a situation where the people could become resistant to the country’s first line drug prescription.
The consequence of such development, she said, would precipitate the introduction of a second line drug, which would not augur well for the country’s health system.
A private medical practitioner, Dr Joseph Somuah Akuamoah, who gave a presentation on the case management of malaria in the country, said a strip to conduct Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) for accurate recordings of malaria would soon be introduced nationwide to help in the accurate diagnosis of malaria.
The strip, which he said detects plasmodial antigens present in the blood, would be able to establish whether or not a patient was suffering from malaria or other conditions.
In a presentation, Dr Keziah Malm of the NMCP said Ghana was currently at the control stage of eliminating malaria from the country, saying that the country had adopted combined methods such as the use of treated nets, insecticides, coils and repellents to get to the pre-elimination and finally the elimination stages.
According to her, seven per cent of children who survive cerebral malaria were left with permanent neurological problems such as weakness, blindness, speech problems, attention deficits and epilepsy.
A medical entomologist with the NMCP, Dr Aba Baffoe Wilmot, who spoke on ‘Epidemiology of malaria and malaria vector control in Ghana’, said the general Ghanaian population was at risk of malarial attack.
The Country Director of the John Hopkins Centre for Communication Programmes — Voices Project, Mr Emmanuel Fiagbey, called for stronger partnership between the media and malaria professionals to bring issues of malaria to the fore front.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Study confirms child sexual abuse in some schools
Daily Graphic, pg 11. April 18/09
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A survey conducted by Plan Ghana, a child rights, sexual and reproductive health organisation, has established that child sexual abuse exists in some schools in the Awutu-Senya, Effutu and Upper Manya Krobo districts.
The survey also established that child sexual abuse was intense and widespread mostly in senior and junior high schools in the study areas, with girls being more vulnerable than their male counterparts.
The survey, which was conducted in December 2008 among 198 schoolchildren aged between 10 and 17 in eight schools, made up of six basic schools, one SHS and one JHS, from eight communities in the three districts, showed that 15 per cent of the children had been sexual abused.
Sexual abuse, according to the study, manifested itself mostly in the form of both contact, such as touching, fondling and pinching in a sexual way, and non-contact, such as the sending of sexually motivated messages, request for sexual favours and unwelcome sexual advances.
The survey identified factors such as poverty, sexual pleasure, lack of parental control and care and peer influence as the main causes of child sexual abuse among the respondents indicating that the way and manner children are protected and cared for, both at home and in school was weak.
The study revealed that most children did not feel protected at school, home or places of worship, with majority of respondents believing that they were more safer with their peers while majority of the male respondents believed that girls were more at risk than boys.
The survey showed that girls mostly suffered from request for sexual favours, unwelcome sexual advances or attacks, fondling, touching, pinching and sexual messages given to them at school.
Majority of the victims were also found to be living with their parents, or in boarding schools, or were living alone with their mothers.
The survey further identified that sexual abuse of children was a human rights violation affecting all age groups within the childhood period adding that effects of the phenomenon the children was devastating and have both short and long term consequences.
It further identified that the prevalence of sexual abuse was difficult to determine due to the varied definitions and its sensitive nature which is accompanied by shame and stigma experienced by victims.
According to the survey, while substantial improvements have been made in recent years with regard to the promotion and protection of the rights of children through child-related legislation, there still remained a wide gap between enactment on one hand and implementation on the other.
Although Ghana as a country has many laws and policies that protect the rights and fundamental human rights of children, many children continue to experience sexual abuse from their peers, teachers or people in their communities.
Among these laws are specific chapters such as Chapter Five of the 1992 Constitution which spells out the fundamental human rights and freedoms of all citizens including children.
There is also the Children's Act of 1998 (Act 560) and the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 1998 (Act 554) which defines various aspects of sexual offences and penal measures for offenders.
Aside these laws protecting children from sexual abuse, the country is also a signatory to other international protocols and conventions which include the UN Convention on the Right of the Child (Article 34, CRC, 1990) which also prohibits child sexual abuse.
However, reports from the Ghana Prison Service’s annual report indicate that nationally a total of 662 people were convicted for defilement in 2007, while the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service also recorded 449 defilement cases in 2007 and 552 in 2008.
In the survey, it was established that 77.8 per cent of 148 male schoolchildren between the ages of 10 and 17 have had forced sex or have been lured to have sex before.
The survey further revealed that, 22.2 per cent of a total of 150 girls within the same age and in the same schools, have also experienced similar sexual encounters with men.
The survey which is a prelude to an advocacy campaign dubbed “Learn without fear”, aimed at creating a safer school environment for children, and it captured a total of 411 people made up of 148 male and 150 female schoolchildren and 30 teachers, 21 parents and nine key informants.
According to the survey, the main perpetrators of sexual abuse were classmates, with 88.9 per cent of respondents saying they had been abused by them; 54.7 per cent was perpetrated by female friends; 36.8 per cent by male friends; 35.9 per cent by neighbours; 20.5 per cent by teachers; 12.8 per cent by relatives, while what was perpetrated by adults in the community constituted 13.7 per cent.
Also 35 per cent of the respondents were said to have been given sexual photographs, while 25.8 per cent said they had had sexually motivated physical contacts.
It further identified that although majority of the victims indicated that they did not like the sexual abuse they experienced, only 30 per cent reported the incident. That meant that 70 per cent did not report their ordeal to anyone, while among those who reported, 45 per cent said they told their friends, 20.2 per cent told their parents, 12.4 reported to their relatives, 7.4 per cent confided in a teacher, only 1.6 per cent was reported to the police, while the remaining 13.6 per cent mentioned traditional authorities, assembly members and health workers in instances where a pregnancy occurred.
The survey further discovered that majority of the abused children (87.2 per cent) did not know of any institution that supports victims of sexual abuse.
Only 12.8 per cent indicated knowledge of such institutions in their communities, with 2.6 per cent of the children identifying the school, 2.6 per cent identified the police, 1.6 per cent identified Plan Ghana and 1.3 per cent identified traditional authorities.
Among its recommendations, Plan Ghana has called for the sensitisation of children and adults to sexual abuse, the strict implementation of policies, the incorporation of child sexual abuse education in school curriculum, the strengthening of institutions at the district level, poverty reduction at the household level, raising the level of school guidance and counselling services, the provision of recreational facilities and the regulation of pornographic materials in the media.
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A survey conducted by Plan Ghana, a child rights, sexual and reproductive health organisation, has established that child sexual abuse exists in some schools in the Awutu-Senya, Effutu and Upper Manya Krobo districts.
The survey also established that child sexual abuse was intense and widespread mostly in senior and junior high schools in the study areas, with girls being more vulnerable than their male counterparts.
The survey, which was conducted in December 2008 among 198 schoolchildren aged between 10 and 17 in eight schools, made up of six basic schools, one SHS and one JHS, from eight communities in the three districts, showed that 15 per cent of the children had been sexual abused.
Sexual abuse, according to the study, manifested itself mostly in the form of both contact, such as touching, fondling and pinching in a sexual way, and non-contact, such as the sending of sexually motivated messages, request for sexual favours and unwelcome sexual advances.
The survey identified factors such as poverty, sexual pleasure, lack of parental control and care and peer influence as the main causes of child sexual abuse among the respondents indicating that the way and manner children are protected and cared for, both at home and in school was weak.
The study revealed that most children did not feel protected at school, home or places of worship, with majority of respondents believing that they were more safer with their peers while majority of the male respondents believed that girls were more at risk than boys.
The survey showed that girls mostly suffered from request for sexual favours, unwelcome sexual advances or attacks, fondling, touching, pinching and sexual messages given to them at school.
Majority of the victims were also found to be living with their parents, or in boarding schools, or were living alone with their mothers.
The survey further identified that sexual abuse of children was a human rights violation affecting all age groups within the childhood period adding that effects of the phenomenon the children was devastating and have both short and long term consequences.
It further identified that the prevalence of sexual abuse was difficult to determine due to the varied definitions and its sensitive nature which is accompanied by shame and stigma experienced by victims.
According to the survey, while substantial improvements have been made in recent years with regard to the promotion and protection of the rights of children through child-related legislation, there still remained a wide gap between enactment on one hand and implementation on the other.
Although Ghana as a country has many laws and policies that protect the rights and fundamental human rights of children, many children continue to experience sexual abuse from their peers, teachers or people in their communities.
Among these laws are specific chapters such as Chapter Five of the 1992 Constitution which spells out the fundamental human rights and freedoms of all citizens including children.
There is also the Children's Act of 1998 (Act 560) and the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 1998 (Act 554) which defines various aspects of sexual offences and penal measures for offenders.
Aside these laws protecting children from sexual abuse, the country is also a signatory to other international protocols and conventions which include the UN Convention on the Right of the Child (Article 34, CRC, 1990) which also prohibits child sexual abuse.
However, reports from the Ghana Prison Service’s annual report indicate that nationally a total of 662 people were convicted for defilement in 2007, while the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service also recorded 449 defilement cases in 2007 and 552 in 2008.
In the survey, it was established that 77.8 per cent of 148 male schoolchildren between the ages of 10 and 17 have had forced sex or have been lured to have sex before.
The survey further revealed that, 22.2 per cent of a total of 150 girls within the same age and in the same schools, have also experienced similar sexual encounters with men.
The survey which is a prelude to an advocacy campaign dubbed “Learn without fear”, aimed at creating a safer school environment for children, and it captured a total of 411 people made up of 148 male and 150 female schoolchildren and 30 teachers, 21 parents and nine key informants.
According to the survey, the main perpetrators of sexual abuse were classmates, with 88.9 per cent of respondents saying they had been abused by them; 54.7 per cent was perpetrated by female friends; 36.8 per cent by male friends; 35.9 per cent by neighbours; 20.5 per cent by teachers; 12.8 per cent by relatives, while what was perpetrated by adults in the community constituted 13.7 per cent.
Also 35 per cent of the respondents were said to have been given sexual photographs, while 25.8 per cent said they had had sexually motivated physical contacts.
It further identified that although majority of the victims indicated that they did not like the sexual abuse they experienced, only 30 per cent reported the incident. That meant that 70 per cent did not report their ordeal to anyone, while among those who reported, 45 per cent said they told their friends, 20.2 per cent told their parents, 12.4 reported to their relatives, 7.4 per cent confided in a teacher, only 1.6 per cent was reported to the police, while the remaining 13.6 per cent mentioned traditional authorities, assembly members and health workers in instances where a pregnancy occurred.
The survey further discovered that majority of the abused children (87.2 per cent) did not know of any institution that supports victims of sexual abuse.
Only 12.8 per cent indicated knowledge of such institutions in their communities, with 2.6 per cent of the children identifying the school, 2.6 per cent identified the police, 1.6 per cent identified Plan Ghana and 1.3 per cent identified traditional authorities.
Among its recommendations, Plan Ghana has called for the sensitisation of children and adults to sexual abuse, the strict implementation of policies, the incorporation of child sexual abuse education in school curriculum, the strengthening of institutions at the district level, poverty reduction at the household level, raising the level of school guidance and counselling services, the provision of recreational facilities and the regulation of pornographic materials in the media.
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