Month: November 2023

Members of the Malaria Caucus in Parliament have expressed confidence in the strategies to eliminate the disease in Ghana with a commitment to pushing for more resources for the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) to facilitate its work in taming the disease.

This was after they visited Nakpanzoo in the Savelugu Municipality of the Northern Region where they observed the actual implementation of the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC), where malaria drugs were being administered to children under five years.

They also visited the Savelugu Health Directorate to learn first-hand the operations of the health staff on malaria elimination.

They paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Yoo Traditional Area at Savelugu, as well as the Savelugu Municipal Chief Executive, where they shared strategies on environmental management to destroy breeding sties of mosquitoes.

Later they held discussions with the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, at the Regional Coordinating Counc
il in Tamale on efforts being made to fight malaria.

Dr Sebastian Sandaare, the Member of Parliament for Daffiama-Bussie-Issa, and Member of the Malaria Caucus in Parliament, told the Ghana News Agency that they were impressed at the work done so far to eliminate malaria in the country.

‘The visit has given us the evidence from the field, which we can use in mobilising the resources for the NMEP bearing in mind that we have the goal of eliminating malaria,’ he said.

‘Inadequate financing is a major problem, and we all need to support the NMEP in mobilising resources to continue with this good intervention. It is one area we will look at. Fortunately, we are still in the budgeting process. It is something we will look at.’

Malaria is endemic in the country with the Northern Region being one of the regions with the highest burden of the disease.

Currently, all malaria elimination interventions, except for the malaria vaccine implementation (RTS’S), are implemented in the region resulting in a significant d
ecline in mortality.

However, inadequate resources and delayed release of funds have been identified as some of the challenges in the fight against the disease.

Nana Ayew Afriyie, the Chairman, Members of the Malaria Caucus in Parliament, said: ‘We are clear in our minds that the trend of reduction of malaria at the out-patient department, the trend of reduction of malaria deaths for children under five years, is on course because of the hard work of the NMEP and all stakeholders.’

He said the resources for the SMC were coming from the Presidential Malaria Initiative of the United States Government and the Global Fund.

‘There have been some delays in release of funds for volunteers. We are hoping that money can come so they can continue to execute the great job they are doing for the country.’

Dr Keziah Malm, the Programme Manager, NMEP, described the visit as very successful and said it afforded the Members of Parliament to advocate measures to prevent misuse of insecticide treated nets, and environment
al management to reduce breeding sites of mosquitoes.

Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, the Northern Regional Minister, emphasisised the need for residents to embrace environmental management and keep their surroundings clean so that mosquitoes would not get breeding spaces.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Sickle Gene Action Foundation (SGAF), a Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) advocacy group, has been launched in Accra, with a call on society for a collective action in the fight against the disease in Ghana.

The group aims at advocating legislative to make SCD medications, such as Hydroxyurea and treatment guidelines widely accessible throughout the country such as anteretrovirals.

The organisation will also collaborate with the government and other stakeholders to profer solutions to the challenges hindering the treatment and management of SCD.

SCD is a genetic condition that is present at birth. It is inherited when a child receives two genes-one from each parent-that code for abnormal haemoglobin.

In an address, Ms Victoria Awo Twumasi, Executive Director, SGAF, said: ‘The organisation believes that early diagnoses, early access to affordable treatment and early public health awareness with quality sickle cell centres for prompt management of the condition is critical to saving lives.

Ms Awo Twumasi said mea
sures, such as stakeholder engagements, and public health interventions, such as counselling, were needed in a proactive strategy to help find solutions to the challenges in the treatment and management of SCD.

She, therefore, called on all stakehokders to join in the fight against SCD by driving national awareness.

They should also strengthen the role of civil society in advocacy through a stronger voice both – nationally and internationally.

Dr Yvonne Brew, Paediatrician, Child Health Department, Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH), said: ‘There is the need for newborns to be screened for SCD so that treatment can start early to save their lives.

‘Early detection saves lives. We must know that if a child survives, society also survives.’

She requested that government and stakeholders should make screening and hydroxyurea (medication for severe SCD) for new born babies accessible in all facilities to save more lives.

She also stated that families, friends and society should show love to persons livi
ng with SCD because it contributed to treatment.

Madam Mary Lamptey, National Nurse Coordinator for Newborn Screening, who also spoke about newborn screening for SCD, said the process was quite simple and encouraged parents to allow their children to be screened.

She spoke about how the initiative was started by the late Prof Ohene Frimpong in the Ashanti Region in 1992 but had to be halted due to lack of funding.

She used the opportunity to pay tribute to the late Prof. Ohene-Frempong who, introduced newborn screening for SCD to Ghana and Africa, and called on the government to make funds available for the initiative.

The US Center for Disease Control explains that Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders.

Red blood cells contain haemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen. Healthy red blood cells are round, and they move through small blood vessels to carry oxygen to all parts of the body.

In someone who has SCD, the haemoglobin is abnormal, which causes the red blood cells
to become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a ‘sickle.’ The sickle cells die early, which causes a constant shortage of red blood cells.

Also, when they travel through small blood vessels, they get stuck and clog the blood flow. This can cause pain and other serious complications (health problems) such as infection, acute chest syndrome and stroke.

There are different types of the disease, which is diagnosed by a laboratory test.

Though it is incurable, it can be medically managed successfully for patients to live their full healthy lives.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A two-day training to enhance the capacities of some key civil society organisations on anti-corruption, political campaign finance and abuse of state resources has been held in Tamale.

The training is to equip them with knowledge, tools and skills needed to advance greater integrity and accountability in the country.

It was organised by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and attended by representatives of human rights and community-based organisations, religious bodies, youth, and women advocacy groups.

Mr Gilbert Sam, the Senior Elections Specialist, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, said it was important to enhance stakeholders’ capacity and understanding of anti-corruption, international and domestic accountability mechanisms as a viable tool in the fight against corruption.

To enhance political accountability in the country, CSOs and other organisations must strategise, as part of their advocac
y plans, by developing action-driven strategies and techniques to help them monitor, prevent, and expose corrupt practices within the public and the private sectors, he said.

Dr Magnus Ohman, Senior Political Finance Advisor, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, who made a presentation on the abuse of state resources, vote buying to influence electoral choices among other topics, urged CSOs to play active roles in ensuring strict compliance by the political class on legislations pertaining to the abuse of state resources and vote buying.

Although there had been little evidence that suggested that legal bans and sanctions had much impact on vote buying, it was critical to continue to appeal to the conscience of politicians to reverse the repercussions of their actions on national development, he said.

Participants were introduced to anti-corruption and anti-money laundering institutions, international and local legal frameworks for combating corruption and money laundering, monetisation of politi
cs and corruption, and abuse of state resources, among other things.

Some of the participants commended the partners for organising the workshop, which had empowered them with key advocacy techniques to boost their efforts in ensuring political accountability and equitable distribution of state resources.

Source: Ghana News Agency

An initiative to ensure the safe disposal of pharmaceutical products has been launched in Ho.

The goal is to reverse the growing microbial resistance due to the presence of antibiotics in the environment.

A consortium of institutions, comprising the University College London, the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), the Ho Teaching Hospital, and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is leading this programme.

It will supply special bins to health facilities and other strategic spots to collect unused medicines from the public.

The launch, held at the Out-Patients Department of the Ho Teaching Hospital, was chaired by Prof Kwame Ohene Buabeng, Dean of the UHAS School of Pharmacy, who is also head of the nation’s technical working committee on antimicrobial resistance.

‘We’re dealing with a problem bigger than COVID – a silent pandemic,’ he said.

Tonnes of medications continued to end up in the environment, causing an enhancement of resistant mutants in both people and animals.

‘There is the ri
sk of getting exposed to resistant microbes in the environment,’ Prof. Buabeng said, assuring that the collection programme would help reverse the trend.

Dr. Cornelius Dodoo, Team Lead of the School of Pharmacy on the project, said the University had been collaborating with the Ho Teaching Hospital for the past three years for the programme and that the establishment of an antimicrobial management committee, this year, was a milestone.

He spoke of a ‘robust’ antimicrobial strategy, which would be required in other health facilities in the region.

The programme was working with the pharmaceutical sector to ensure quality drugs to the public while engaging communities on safe disposal, Dr Dodoo said, adding that plans were underway to introduce house-to-house collection of the drugs.

Officials of the FDA present said unwanted medicines could be found in all homes as people tended to save drugs for future use, which posed a risk to children and other unsuspecting persons.

Mr Gorden Akurugu, the Volta Region
al Head of the FDA, said the recall of the drugs would enhance the Authority’s monitoring of drug use and authenticity.

It called for public support to help ensure a safe environment.

Prof Harry Tagbor, Pro Vice Chancellor of UHAS, commended stakeholders for the initiative and said the programme should be made to reach all people.

He advised that the patronage of health facilities be considered in designing the approach.

Dr John Tampouri, CEO of the Ho Teaching Hospital, said microbial resistance to antibiotics was a risk factor to disease control and a growing challenge to health delivery.

‘There has been no way forward, and we have to keep trying different medicines. There seems to be no end to the triage,’ he lamented.

Dr Tampouri called for proper use of antibiotics, saying it was one of the key performance indicators in the delivery of quality health care.

There were suggestions that the collection bins should be designed in a way that would discourage theft of the returned drugs.

Source: Ghana
News Agency

Aggrieved customers of the defunct Gold Fund Management company have begun the second round of a 32-hour picketing at the Ministry of Finance.

This is the second time in a year that the aggrieved customers of the defunct fund management company have picketed the premises of the Finance Ministry.

The customers, displaying placards with various inscriptions registered their displeasure against the delays in accessing their investment from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Finance Ministry.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in accordance with Section 122(2)(b) of the Securities Industry Act 2016, (Act 929) (SIA), announced on November 8, 2019, the revocation of 53 fund management companies, which included Gold Coast Fund Management.

That, according to the Commission, was due to significant breaches of applicable rules that created risks to financial stability and their inability to return clients’ funds totaling GHC 8 billion.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, a customer
who wanted to be anonymous, said they were unable to pay important bills, particularly health and school fees.

He also said some of the customers had died due to their inability to access their locked-up funds after the revocation of the company’s licence.

Another customer, who also pleaded anonymity, pleaded with the authorities to help resolve the situation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Madam Gifty Twum-Ampofo, a Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), says the current TVET curriculum is aligned with industry needs and trends.

She said it formed part of the Government’s education reform strategy to roll out curriculum that would equip learners with critical problem solving and creative skills.

Madam Twum-Ampofo said this at the opening of the Ghana Career and Migration Fair 2023 in Accra.

The Fair is organised by the Ghanaian-European Centre for Jobs (GEC), Migration and Development in partnership with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and the Youth Employment Agency.

The Fair provided a platform for more than 2,000 participants to explore career opportunities and educational prospects in Ghana, Germany and within the European Union.

Madam Twum-Ampofo said the Ministry was bridging the gap between academia and industry to ensure that learners were equipped with industry relevant skills.

‘With the help of GIZ, we h
ave set up 12 sector skills point and the skills gap analysis and audit through which we gain insight and seek advice on industry demands and needs,’ she added.

The Deputy Education Minister encouraged young people to be open to learning new skills in addition to what they had acquired through formal education to make them competitive in the world of work.

Dr Dirk Aßmann, Country Director of GIZ Ghana, said since 2019, the GEC had connected approximately 16,891 jobseekers to 413 employers and 1,855 job vacancies, with more than 1,258 vacancies filled.

‘Skilled labour migration is a win-win for the host country and the country of origin. Germany and Europe are looking for skilled workers.’

‘This need provides opportunities for young ambitious Ghanaians to gain valuable experiences abroad and send remittances back home to support the local economy,’ he added.

Mr Irchad Razaaly, European Union Ambassador in Ghana, said the EU placed special emphasis on promoting mobility, encouraging the exchange of student
s and staff, and fostering research and innovation.

‘The EU is a main partner of the Government of Ghana in Skills Development for the Digital and Green Job Market. Green and digital skills and technologies certainly possess transformative power in shaping

the future job landscape,’ he added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Over hundred HIV positive cases have so far been recorded since the distribution of self-testing kits in July 2023, Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo, Programme Manager, National Aids Control Programme (NACP), told the Ghana News Agency.

He said ‘as we speak, patronage has been massive and we have more than a hundred thousand to two hundred thousand people subscribing to the test and quite a number of people are positive out of the self-test’.

‘We are now collating data from our constituencies….we have picked not less than hundred positive cases, who would have been missed if the self-test kits were not available,’ he added.

He said though some persons who tested positive had been linked to care and were on antiretroviral therapy, a few of them were still in denial.

The HIV Self-Testing initiative is one of the newest innovations and strategies by the NACP and stakeholders to support the nation’s efforts in increasing HIV testing and linking individuals to antiretroviral therapy.

It is also an initiative to encour
age persons to know their status and to help address the challenge of delayed treatment of persons living with HIV due to lack of knowledge and to achieve the UNAIDS 95-95-95 target by the end of 2025.

The 95-95-95 goal was set by the UNAIDS in 2020 calling for 95 per cent of all people living with HIV to know their status, 95 per cent of all people with diagnosed HIV infection to receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 95 per cent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy to have viral suppression by 2025.

At the National Launch of the HIV Self-Testing in Accra, Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu, the Health Minister, said the availability of the kit was an effort in the quest to create a healthier nation, while bridging the gap in testing coverage among hard-to-reach populations.

He said: ‘The initiative is receiving massive response and we are happy because it is achieving two things, bringing people into care who otherwise will not have come to the facility for testing as well as linking people to HIV car
e services for (pre-exposure prophylaxis).

The Programme Manager said the NACP would continue to highlight the blood based aspect of the self-testing and plan to increase advocacy and demand next year, to help achieve the first 95.

He expressed worry that about 80 per cent of the people who had accepted to do self-testing had never tested, which was not good

Dr Ayisi Addo said though the initiative had been positive, there were few challenges, saying ‘you will find people who are already on treatment also testing because they want to be sure that, the prayer camps thy have been going to has yielded positive results. Another challenge is that people are in a state of denial and not everybody who had tested is willing to tell us the result.’

Dr Ayisi Addo said stigmatisation was still a major setback, as the situation was preventing people from testing and knowing their status while those who had already tested positive were unwilling to seek treatment, a situation which was fueling new infections among the
public.

He advised the public to desist from stigma and support persons living with HIV to come up boldly for treatment and prevent exposure and deaths.

He also encouraged everyone to take advantage of the initiative, currently free to know their status for immediate care and support.

‘At this day and age no one should die from HIV because there is treatment, let us all create an enabling environment to support one another,’ Dr Ayisi Addo said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), has called for waste to be treated as resources.

He said there were companies that relied on waste to manufacture other products through recycling.

Mr Afriyie made the call on the sidelines of the donation of some 38 tricycles by the Nestlé Ghana Limited to the Pure Water Waste Collectors Association through the Ministry.

The Minister said the companies were creating value out of what was previously regarded as waste.

He said the whole environment was littered with plastics and said there was a policy to recycle plastics, which the Ministry had endorsed because when plastics got into the value chain, they contaminated the food web and everything.

”We have a value chain system mostly driven by the public sector and Nestlé has been over the years very supportive, very responsible as a corporate entity,’Mr Afriyie stated.

The Minister announced that the last Cabinet had discussions on plastics and that there would be
many visible programmes that the Ministry would run next year.

He assured that the Ministry would monitor the tricycles to get value for money from Nestlé Ghana’s investment in the Association.

Mr Georgios Badaro, Managing Director, Nestlé Ghana, who presented the keys to the tricycles to the Ministry, said the donation was part of its numerous supports to the MESTI.

He said the tricycles were to help the plastic waste collectors collect waste for recycling.

Mr Elvis Oppong, Chairman of the Pure Water Waste Collectors Association, expressed appreciation to the Ministry and Nestlé Ghana for the support.

He promised that the Association would use the tricycles for their intended purposes.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has donated assorted relief items to victims of the Akosombo Dam spillage upstream in the Oti Region.

The essential items valued at a cost of GH?300,000 will ameliorate the plights of the displaced victims in the Kete Krachi District.

The items include: 110 bags of rice, 150 boxes of tomatoes, 110 boxes of oil, 45 boxes of mackerel, 45 boxes of sardine, 500 sachet water.

The rest are 60 boxes of carbolic soap, 40 boxes of washing soap, 10 boxes of antiseptic, 120 bags of toilet rolls, 300 mosquito nets, 170 boxes of sanitary pads and two large water tanks for the provision of water to the victims.

The donation forms part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility to provide some respite to the communities that are still grappling with the aftermath of the destructive floods.

The presentation was made to the Volta River Authority through the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in Accra, for onward distribution to the affected communities in the
Keta Krachi District by GRIDCo.

Mr Samuel Kwo Acquah Jnr., Director, Office of the Chief Executive of GRIDCo, who made the donation, in the company of Ms. Florence Adjei, Director, Human Resource and General Services said, the gesture was in support of their sister utility company, the VRA.

He said, as a corporate entity, it behoved on the company to reach out to the victims of the spillage and empathise with them in their troubled times.

‘GRIDCo deems it necessary to support the national course,’ he said

Thousands have been displaced and adversely affected by heavy flooding resulting from spillage of excess water from the Akosombo and the Kpong Hydeo-electruc Dams.

The displaced are sheltering in make shift shelters in camps as their homes and livelihoods have been destroyed.

Mr Eric Nana Agyeman-Prempeh, Director General, NADMO who received the items symbolically in Accra on behalf of Government and the Inter-Ministerial Committee, expressed appreciation to GRIDCo for responding to the national call f
or individuals and organisations to support the affected victims.

He said for the past weeks, the nation had been battling with flood disasters in the country with the overflow of the Black Volta and the White Volta as a result of heavy rains in the north and south resulting from the Akosombo Dam spillage.

Six regions, he noted, were affected, but attention was being paid to parts of Greater Accra, Volta, and the Eastern Region at the downstream.

He said, ‘The people at the top too have been affected a lot. I am happy that GRIDCo has come to their aid, and they have chosen to send their items to the upstream, and it is in good direction. ‘

The Director General said only the affected victims of the floods would get the relief items.

According to him, the water had not entirely receded in some parts as many persons remained displaced because their houses were still in flood waters.

Mr Agyeman-Prempeh said, as part of their disaster management efforts in the affected communities before residents returned,
fumigation was being done while the water systems were being critically monitored as they were contaminated among others.

The NADMO Director General urged individuals and organisations to come to aid of affected communities to augment the Government’s efforts to provide relief support to the victims.

The Government has budgeted GHS220 million to support the relief phase for the communities affected by the Akosombo spillage as well as floods upstream in the Oti, Savannah, and Bono-East Regions.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Some squatters at Mensah Guinea, a settlement behind the Art Centre, gutted by fire last week have started rebuilding their structures.

The residents, who were seen busily arranging cement blocks and wood to commence rebuilding, said they did not have any alternative place to sleep.

The Sunday morning fire outbreak saw about 150 wooden structures razed.

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the fire scene, it observed that most of the burnt wares had been moved to make way for the rebuilding of new structures.

Mr Issac Lamptey, a victim of the fire outbreak, said they felt neglected because no benevolent person or public official paid them a visit.

‘Are we not part of the country? Nobody has paid us a visit since the fire destroyed our houses. We feel very sad because we are really confused, and we do not even know where to go after here,’ he said.

Kojo Fosu, another victim, a building contractor, who is out of job, said he was staying at a friend’s place because his structure was consumed by fire.

T
he victims said they did not contact any authority before rebuilding because they were homeless.

Source: Ghana News Agency