Day: November 18, 2023

As part of its 20th Anniversary celebration, the Ashanti Regional Office of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has organised a blood donation exercise to restock blood banks of key health facilities in the region.

The exercise, held at the Kumasi City Mall, saw staff of the Authority from all its district offices and members of the public voluntarily donating blood to save lives, after being declared eligible to do so.

Professionals from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) were on hand to supervise the exercise, which was on the theme: ’20 Years of Care, One Pint at a time: Donate for Life.’

Mr Frank Yeboah, the Director of Procurement and Projects at the NHIA Head Office, who supervised the exercise, said the Authority was targeting at least 300 people to donate in the Ashanti Region.

The availability of blood in health facilities was critical to service delivery, especially during emergencies where patients needed blood to survive.

‘It is always a difficult situation to see blood ban
ks being helpless when patients need blood urgently to live, so we decided to organise this exercise as part of our 20th Anniversary celebration,’ he said.

He said restocking blood banks through blood donation was a life-saving exercise, which required all eligible citizens to participate for the collective good of the health system.

On how the Scheme had impacted healthcare after 20 years, Mr Yeboah said access to healthcare had tremendously improved over the period, especially among the poor.

He said it was impossible in any programme implementation to satisfy all stakeholders but was convinced that the Scheme, to a large extent, had positively impacted the lives of Ghanaians.

‘We are serving people, some may accept it while others may not but we can score ourselves more than 80 per cent in terms of payment of claims and serving our clients,’ he added.

More than 17 million Ghanaians are said to be enrolled on the Scheme, with a goal to hit 20 million by the end of 2023.

Mr Kwadwo Dwomoh, the Regional
Director, said the blood donation exercise formed part of the corporate social responsibility of the Authority as key stakeholders in health delivery.

He encouraged Ghanaians yet to register to take steps to join the Scheme, stressing that one may not know when the NHIS card could save his or her life.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister has on behalf of the Vice President presented a coaster bus to Kumasi Children’s Home.

The Bus, he said was in response to a request made by the school authority when the veep celebrated his 60th birthday with the school earlier this year.

Receiving the bus on behalf of the home, Madam Mabel Amponsah, the home manageress expressed her appreciation to the Vice President for the gift and promised to take good care of the bus.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has initiated processes to absorb the cost of dialysis for kidney patients on the Health Insurance Scheme.

The Authority, through its regional offices, is currently collecting data from all teaching hospitals where dialysis is done, for feasibility assessment for further action.

Mr Fred Appiah, the Central Regional Director of NHIA, who disclosed this to the Ghana news Agency in an interview on Friday, said the move was in response to concerns and appeals from kidney patients in the country.

He said this on the sidelines of a blood donation exercise to help stock the National Blood Bank.

The gesture, which forms part of activities marking the Authority’s 20th Anniversary celebration, is targeted at mitigating the incidence of blood shortage at the various blood banks and its attendant preventable deaths.

He said his office had already submitted data gathered from the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH) to the Head Office.

‘ I believe that once we are done
with the data collection, there will be positive news that we will consider adding dialysis onto our package,’ he said.

‘Looking at the time they gave us, I know management will work on it within the shortest possible time and give the nation feedback.’

The cost of dialysis in Ghana and the difficulty in assessing it has caused public outcry in the past few weeks.

An attempt by the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) to increase the cost of dialysis was strongly resisted by the public, who saw that move as a death sentence for most kidney patients.

Some 19 patients reportedly died after KBTH closed its renal unit for some weeks over indebtedness to the facility.

Mr Appiah indicated that the assessment would determine whether the Authority would absorb the full cost or part of the treatment.

He said the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) covered about 95 per cent of diseases in Ghana, with more than 540 medicines.

Given the fact that they kept on adding more, there was the need to expand the resource
base to absorb more conditions, he said.

Asked whether the addition of kidney treatment to the Scheme would necessitate an increase in the premium paid, he said it was likely but that would not be enough.

‘Premium paid from the informal sector only constitutes 4.5 per cent of the revenue. So even if we move from the current average fee of GHC30.00 to GHC50.00, it may move from 4.5 per cent to about six per cent but it will still not be enough.’

Rather, the Government should increase the funds allocated to the Authority to achieve a sustainable health insurance.

‘If we receive all the taxes and the insurance component of it, at least, we will be dealing with all of these packages.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) says the government’s ‘Gold for Oil’ policy, meant to address the foreign exchange demand of oil importers, is at risk of Illicit Financial Flows (IFF).

Dr Fred Dzanku, Principal Investigator (PI) for ISSER, said a preliminary probe of the policy by ISSER revealed that the absence of parliamentary scrutiny, the lack of a legal basis for the policy, and the absence of pricing regulation made the policy an avenue for illicit financial flows.

He also said a lack of clarity on the refinery status of the gold before sale created an avenue for mispricing and under-devaluation of the gold, which was used as a barter for oil.

Dr Dzanku said the absence of a criteria framework for selecting suppliers and buyers involved in the transactions called into question the transparency of the transaction since the suppliers, buyers, value, and pricing mechanisms of the transactions were unknown.

He said this during the presentation of a report on illicit fi
nancial flow risks in Ghana’s Gold for Oil (G40) policy.

The report analysed the legal, economic, and governance underpinnings of the Gold for Oil policy.

The Gold for Oil Policy, which commenced on January 15, 2023, was aimed at addressing the major challenges hindering oil importers’ access to foreign exchange and a counter-policy initiative to address persistent fuel price increments.

According to the World Bank, illicit financial flow refers to the cross-border movement of capital associated with illegal activity, or more explicitly, money that is illegally earned, transferred, or used that crosses borders.

The United Nations says IFFs cost governments around the world between $500 billion and $600 billion a year in lost tax revenues, while money laundering costs an estimated $1.6 trillion.

Experts say cumulative gross illicit flows in Ghana from mis-invoicing amounted to $14.39 billion over ten years between 2022 and 2011, while illicit outflows through export under-invoicing amounted to $5.11 billi
on.

To address the institutional lapses of the policy, Dr Dzanku asked the government to clarify the valuation of the gold, address the legal regulatory lapses, and disclose the pricing mechanisms.

‘Regulations and the pricing policy for the G40 deal are very important to provide clarity on gold valuation and pricing methods. We also want the government to disclose the pricing to the citizens, and the broker channel must be a legal requirement for Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) and the Bank of Ghana. We also want specific rules for buyer selection and disclosure of beneficial owners. We want the government to enact a Mineral Revenue Management Law to be the legal framework guiding this policy,’ he said.

The event also featured a panel discussion that included individuals from the extractive industry and the IFF ecosystem.

Contributing to the panel discussion, Mr Sulemana Koney, Chief Executive Officer for the Chamber of Mines, bemoaned the inconsistent data characterised by reporting IFFS due
to the variations in data by major regulators of the industry, notably the Bank of Ghana, PMMC, and Chamber of Mines.

He called for disintegration in the collection of data to address the data discrepancies in reporting IFFs due to the peculiarities of the sub-sectors of the mining industry.

Bishop Akologo, United Nations Expert for IFF Statistical Measurement in Ghana, advised the government to organise workshops and orientation programmes to educate the citizens on IFFs.

The regulatory agencies in the extractive sector, he said, must work in a coordinated manner to share data and information to prevent multinational companies from exploiting existing deficiencies in reporting IFFs.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Upper West Regional Directorate of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) at the weekend organised a blood donation exercise in Wa as part of activities to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Authority.

The exercise, on the theme: ’20 Years of Care, One Pint at a Time, Donate for Life,’ saw 73 pints of blood being harvested to support the Regional Hospital Blood Bank to enhance healthcare delivery.

Addressing students at the Wa Technical Institute, where the exercise was held, Mr Samuel Lobber Lekamwe, the Upper West Regional Director of the NHIA, said the Region was chosen to appreciate the trust reposed by the people in the NHIA over the years.

He said the Upper West Region was one of the only two regions in the country that had attained Universal Health Coverage in National Health Insurance registration.

‘In the case of the Upper West Region, we are celebrating our 20 years of existence to say thank you to the people for being with us all the years to date,’ Mr Lekamwe said.

‘Today we can ta
lk about 684,000 of our people being active members, meaning that these are people who have trust that the NHIA is the only vehicle to ensuring quality care without cost.’

The blood donation, he noted, was also to reaffirm the commitment of the NHIA to meeting the critical health needs of the Ghanaian population as it had demonstrated since its inception in 2003.

The exercise was part of the NHIA’s efforts to give back to society after it had rendered quality, committed, and dedicated health insurance services to the people over the years.

‘Today we want to say that we are even ready to give our blood for the population of the Upper West Region and across the country to demonstrate further how committed we are to protecting lives and guaranteeing financial risk protection in healthcare access for everybody resident in Ghana.’

Mr. Lekamwe commended the management, staff and students of the Wa Technical Institute for their participation and assured the students who donated blood of the fee renewal of their
NHIS membership cards.

Mr Victor Dery, a Medical Laboratory Scientist of the Upper West Regional Hospital, said the facility was running in deficit in bloodstock as the hospital was a major referral centre for the entire region and beyond.

He commended the NHIA for its support in meeting the emergency healthcare needs of the people and appealed to corporate organisations and groups to organise similar exercises to support health facilities to help save lives.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Kwame Anim-Boamah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the University of Ghana Medical Center (UGMC), has asked nurses and midwives to promote immediate Kangaroo Mother care (KMC) between preterm babies and their mothers right after birth.

That, he said, reduced risks of sepsis among small and preterm babies and increased their chances of survival.

Immediate KMC – which combines skin-to-skin contact with exclusive breastfeeding, or provision of breastmilk, is said to reduce suspected sepsis by 18 per cent, sepsis-related deaths by 36 per cent and overall deaths by 25 per cent.

Speaking at an event organised by the UGMC to mark the observation of World Prematurity Day (WPD) in Accra, the CEO said preterm birth was the leading cause of death in children under the age of five.

Each year, about 15 million babies worldwide are born preterm, that is about 1 in 10 children.

The WPD observation saw the graduation of about 14 preterm babies, who survived at the Hospital’s Neonatal and Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Dr Anim-Boamah also urged midwives and nurses to delay bathing babies, especially when they were preterm saying: ‘Ideally, babies are not supposed to be bathed on the first day they are delivered. You can wait and do that the next day.’

He said, ‘bathing babies right after birth may deprive them of the warmth they need to survive.’

‘As soon as a mother delivers, don’t run away with the baby, just leave the baby on the mother’s chest, that’s all,’ he said.

The CEO said starting kangaroo mother care as soon as the baby was born even before they are stabilised provided preterm and low-birthweight babies with the best protection against severe infections.

On World Prematurity Day, parents, health organisations, non-profit organisations, government bodies, societies, communities, companies, media and some individuals come together to discuss the concerns of preterm birth and how it can affect the baby and the family.

The day, observed on November 17, each year, helps in creating conversations regarding the im
provement of healthcare facilities to address health concerns of preterm birth.

It also helps in reinforcing preventive measures that can help the babies stay away from deadly infections and other diseases.

The theme for this year’s World Prematurity Day was – ‘Small actions, big impact: Immediate skin-to-skin care for every baby everywhere.’

Preterm is defined as babies born alive 37 weeks before pregnancy is complete by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Globally, prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 years. Inequalities in survival rates around the world are stark.

In 2020, an estimated 13.4 million babies were born preterm (before 37 completed weeks of gestation).

The WHO says preterm birth complications are the leading cause of death among children under five years of age and responsible for approximately 900,000 deaths in 2019.

Three-quarters of these deaths could be prevented with current and cost-effective interventions.

In low-income settings, half of the
babies born at or below 32 weeks (2 months early) die due to a lack of feasible, cost-effective care such as warmth, breastfeeding support and basic care for infections and breathing difficulties.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Police have filed an application at the High Court to prohibit the Democracy Hub, Patriotic Hub and Patriotic Forum For Accountable Governance from carrying out three separate demonstrations between December 1, 2023, and January 5, 2024.

The application follows a disagreement over the postponement of the protest and change of venue from the forefront or around the Jubilee House.

A statement signed by Superintendent of Police Juliana Obeng, Head of Public Affairs Unit, Greater Accra, said the Police had successfully served the various organisers with the Court process.

The application is slated for hearing on Tuesday, November 21, 2023.

It said on October 11, 2023, the Greater Accra Regional Police Command received a notice to embark on a demonstration signed by Benjamin Akufo Darko (the ‘1st Notice’) for and on behalf of a group named ‘Democracy Hub’.

The statement said the 1st notice was to the effect that the Democracy Hub would embark on a demonstration, picketing at the forefront of the Jubilee
House from 0600 hours on December 1, 2023, until 2200 hours on December 31, 2023, to demand the resignation of the President of the Republic of Ghana or his impeachment by Parliament.

It said October 12, 2023, the Police Command received another notice to embark on a demonstration signed by Denis Appiah Larbi (the ‘2nd Notice’) for and on behalf of a group by the name, ‘Patriotic Hub’.

The statement said the 2nd notice was to the effect that the Patriotic Hub would embark on a demonstration, picketing at the forefront of the Jubilee House, every 24 hours from December 1, to December 31, 2023, to call for improved living conditions for the citizenry. It said whilst the Police assessment of the two preceding notifications was ongoing, the Police Command, on October 23, 2023, received another notice to embark on a demonstration, signed by Kwame Baffoe Abronye (the ‘3rd Notice’) for and on behalf of a group by name, ‘Patriotic Forum for Accountable Governance’.

The statement said the 3rd notice was to the effe
ct that the Patriotic Forum For Accountable Governance would embark on a procession at the forefront of the Jubilee House from 0800 hours to 1900 hours each day from December 1, 2023, to January 5, 2024, to express their heartfelt appreciation to the President of Ghana, for sustaining the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic and setting the nation on a path of economic recovery.

It said the Police Command undertook a security threat assessment of the proposed common destination, overlapping timelines and conflicting objectives for the three planned demonstrations.

The statement said per the assessment, it was determined that the three special events, if held around or at the forefront of the Jubilee House, and at the given timelines, especially around the Christmas and New Year Festivities, may endanger public safety, public defence, public order, the running and delivery of essential services and violate the rights and freedoms of other persons among others.

It said accordingly, that the Police Command ha
d engaged the organisers for the three groups and conveyed the security challenges and concerns to them.

The statement said the Police Command also indicated its inability to provide security for the three groups to hold their respective special events lasting over 31 days due to the Command’s operational and security engagements during the Christmas and New Year festivities.

The Police, therefore, urged the organisers, in the interest of public safety, public defence, public order, among others, to postpone the holding of their respective special events to any date after January 5, 2024, within which period the Command would be able to provide the demonstrators adequate security.

The Police also advised that they chose different locations for the demonstrations.

The statement said the organisers disagreed with the Police Command’s request to postpone the demonstrations to any date after January 5, 2024.

They also disagreed with the Police on the location and insisted on holding special events around or
at the forefront of the Jubilee House.

It said considering the disagreement on the matter and the worrisome situation of three different groups intending to demonstrate at the same place, within the same time frame and having conflicting objectives, the Police Command, acting in accordance with the Public Order Act, resolved to refer the issue to the appropriate institution to settle the disagreements and provide direction to the Police as well as the various organisers.

The statement assured the public that the Police remained committed to nurturing Ghana’s growing democratic freedoms by providing the necessary security for individuals and groups as they exercised their constitutional right to protest safely and peacefully in accordance with the laws governing protests.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Plastic waste is projected to rise to 116m tonnes annually by 2060, six times more than the 18m tonnes of waste produced in 2019.??

The main driver of rising plastic consumption in sub-Saharan Africa,?where 70 per cent of the population is under 30,?is rising income and population growth.?

Plastic waste is also projected to almost triple by 2060, with half of all plastic waste still being landfilled and less than a fifth recycled, according to a new analysis by the?Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD)?Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060.??

The soaring demand for plastic predicted across sub-Saharan Africa, where many countries do not have the capacity to manage it, was revealed before a meeting of governments in Nairobi,?Kenya, this week to ‘hammer’ a UN treaty to fight plastic pollution.?

The burning of plastic waste, a common practice in some regions of Africa, releases harmful pollutants into the air, including toxic gases and particulate matter, according to t
he World Health Organisation (WHO).??

Mr Solomon Noi, Director of the Waste Management Department at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, said Ghana and the sub-regional countries were still grappling with the plastic pollution with much of it going into the marine bodies stockpiling while others were burnt.

‘There is no reliable data on the quantum of different categories of plastics coming into the countries to be able to account for it after use. There are no concrete regulations and structures to limit plastic based on the country’s capacity to deal with plastic waste,’ he said.?

Ghana, just like many African countries, he stated, did not have the adequate infrastructure, including a standard land field and a state-of-the-art incinerator to address the pollution associated with plastic.

Mr Noi accused foreign firms of establishing businesses that would otherwise not survive in the global north due to their plastic footprint.

The Director, who is a Sanitary Engineer, acknowledged the efforts of plastic wa
ste collection initiatives by some private sector actors, noting that that formed a very small part of the problem.

‘For example, the sachet water category of plastic is collected but the carrier bags are left. They either land in the drainage or on the land field site. Here, they are burnt with other materials and emit chemicals into the atmosphere,’ he said.

Plastic leakage to the environment is projected to double to 44 million tonnes a year, while the build-up of plastics in aquatic environments will more than triple, exacerbating environmental and health impacts.?

Other environmental impacts through the plastics lifecycle are also projected to increase, mostly due to the plastics production phase.??

Green House Gas (GHG)?emissions from the plastics lifecycle will more than double from 1.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2e) to 4.3 Gt CO2e.??

Ozone formation, acidification, and human toxicity are also projected to more than double.?

According to the World Health Organisation’s study, p
ollutants have been proven to cause respiratory problems, exacerbating existing respiratory conditions, and contributing to air pollution-related diseases.?

Accra generates nearly?900,000 metric tons?of solid waste annually which includes waste plastics, studies by Clean Air Fund said.?

The figure for solid waste is expected to double by 2030 as 14.6 per cent of households burn their daily solid waste, and 17.4 per cent of waste is disposed of in public spaces.??

The country’s ability to implement identified indicative clean air policies to reduce air pollution can unlock more than $ 28 million for Accra – around 16 per cent of its financial costs under the business-as-usual scenario in 2040 alone.??

Source: Ghana News Agency

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has broken the ground for the construction of a state-of-the-art maternal and child health centre at the HopeXchange Medical Centre in Kumasi.

The facility, projected to be completed within 18 months, will help address the increasing maternal and child mortality in the Ashanti and peripheral regions.

It would include a labour suite, neonatal and paediatric intensive care units, in-patient and out-patient wards, and adolescent clinic.

Ms Virginia Palmer, the US Ambassador to Ghana, said a healthy start was the first step to a lifetime of good health, which was why the USAID had continued to invest in the health facility.

The Agency had so far invested about $3.5 million in the HopeXchange Medical Centre, Ghana, she said.

‘In addition to the support to HopeXchange, every year, the United States invests over $12 million to improve the health and lives of mothers, babies and children across the country.’

Ms Palmer noted that the United States l
aunched a Women’s Cancer Centre at HopeXchange Ghana in 2019 that serves as a regional hub for medical training, research, and patient care to address public health priorities in sub-Saharan Africa.

The US, she said, was Ghana’s largest bilateral development partner, adding: ‘In 2023, our bilateral assistance totalled over $150 million dedicated to supporting health, economic growth, agriculture, education, governance and security’.

Dr Rita Larsen-Reindorf, the Ashanti Regional Deputy Director of Health Services in charge of Clinical Care, commended the US Government for the continuous support and investment in the healthcare of the country.

She said issues of maternal and newborn mortality were critical and still high in the region and that the facility would help reduce the trend.

The region recorded 134 per 100,000 live births in terms of maternal mortality and 11 per 1,000 still births in 2022.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Ghana and some development partners have commemorated the International Volunteers Day (IVD) with school children in the Greater Accra region.

The children were sensitised to personal and environmental cleanliness by KOICA through its World Friends Korea (WFK) Volunteer Program, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Peace Corps, and UN Volunteers.

The engagement, which took place at the Dawhenya Cluster of Schools Basic ‘1’ and ‘2’, Dawhenya Methodist A and B and Dawhenya D/A Basic School, was to help shape and raise healthy pupils as the bedrock for inclusive and high-quality education.?

Mr. Dong Hyun LEE, KOICA’s Country Director, said this year’s commemoration with head teachers and the children resonated with their development programmes, highlighting their commitment to deploying volunteers to developing countries under the World Friends Korea (WFK) Program.?

He donated personal hygiene items, including soaps, toilet rolls and sanitisers wo
rth $7,000 to both the pupils and the school authorities.

Miss Jo Anne Yeager, Acting Country Director of Peace Corps Ghana, said the volunteering activities of Peace Corps reinforced the bilateral relationship and culture exchange between Ghana and the United States of America.

She said: ‘The Corps is enthusiastic about promoting hygiene?in schools through the provision of WASH facilities and public education.’?

Madam Rita Arhin, Headteacher for Dawhenya Methodist ‘B’ School commended the volunteers?for their support and the provision of ICT facilities to the schools.?

International Volunteer Day is observed annually on December 5, and it is a United Nations initiative designed to inspire volunteer-involving organisations and individuals to champion volunteerism.

The Day also aims to encourage governments to actively support volunteer efforts and acknowledge the invaluable contributions of volunteers toward the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on local, national, and international
scales.

KOICA Ghana supports and executes development programmes in four key sectoral areas: Public Health, Agricultural and Rural Development, Education, and Governance. Among their ongoing flagship projects is the Implementation of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) in Ghana, designed to enhance health security measures.?

Source: Ghana News Agency