Day: June 27, 2024

The Mental Health Authority of Ghana (MHA) has called on stakeholders to join critical efforts to combat drug abuse by investing in prevention.

It said joining forces to implement people-centred drug policies, with a focus on human rights, empathy, compassion, and evidence-based practices, devoid of judgment and discrimination, was crucial to building a healthier, drug-free future for all Ghanaians.

A statement signed by Professor Pinaman Appau, the  Chief Executive of MHA and copied to the Ghana News Agency to commemorate the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking has said.

‘The evidence is clear: investing in prevention not only reduces the incidence of drug abuse but also strengthens community well-being and safeguards our collective future,’ it said.

The Day, which is globally observed annually on June 26 seeks to create awareness of drug abuse and illicit trafficking and was on the theme: ‘The Evidence is Clear: Invest in Prevention.’

Drug abuse is defined as the excessive and
harmful use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol, illicit drugs like cannabis, heroin, and cocaine among others, and prescription medications like tramadol and other opiates and opioids, leading to addiction.

It is caused by socio-economic stressors, response to trauma, peer influence, and mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

Ghana faces a growing challenge with drug abuse, especially among the youth, which undermines public health, safety, and socio-economic development.

Data from the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS) has consistently captured mental disorders due to alcohol and other psychoactive disorders among the top ten (10) causes of mental health outpatient (OPD) attendance.

 In 2023, a total of 3,765 cases of mental disorders due to alcohol use were attended to, and 5,554 cases concerning other psychoactive substance use.

It said the five-year trend of mental disorders due to psychoactive substance use has shown a steady rise in the number of cases
from 4,155 in 2019 to 5,554 cases in 2023, with the age range most affected being 20-34 yrs. 

It must be noted that children as young as 10-14 years are also presenting with conditions stemming from drug use, the statement said.

It said the recent trends Indicated a consistent rise in drug-related incidents and health crises, underscoring the urgent need for robust preventive efforts and intervention strategies.

The statement said the MHA in fighting against drug abuse had come up with various initiatives including Public Awareness Campaigns, Youth and School-Based Programmes, Rehabilitation and Support Services, as well as Policy Advocacy.

It assured stakeholders that moving forward the MHA reaffirms its unwavering commitment to addressing the pervasive challenges and devastating effects of drug abuse and illicit trafficking through promoting evidence-based preventive measures. 

It called for effective prevention and intervention strategies, improved access to treatment, fostered multidisciplinary colla
boration and empowered communities to mitigate the underlying factors and curb the spread of addiction and substance use disorders.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) have received a Canon Image Runner Copier from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The gesture was made under the Health Systems Accelerator Project by the USAID to facilitate their operations.

Dr. Philip A. Bannor, Registrar of HeFRA, said the gesture would facilitate the annual printing of over 15,000 facility licenses.

Dr. Ma’am Anu-Addae, the Country Director, Resource for Development, the implementer of the Health System Strengthening project in Ghana, noted that the initiative would assist HeFRA in fulfilling its mandate of ensuring quality health care delivery.

She was pleased with the successes of HeFRA and the Ministry of Health in achieving universal health objectives in quality care delivery.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Medical equipment and logistics worth GhS2.3 million to ensure improved health care delivery for 164,586 individuals have been donated to 54 health facilities located in nine districts in the Northern, Savannah and Upper East Regions.

The medical equipment and logistics included pediatric stethoscopes, Thermometers (rectal and low reading), infant weighing scale, infantometre, weighing scale adult, dial column, hospital type metric with BMI, height metres, stethoscopes dual head, hemoglobin meters, and weighing scales (hanging).

The rest were 30 motobikes for health facilities and Regional Health Directorates (Nutrition Units), 30 laptops for health facilities and Regional Health Directorates (Nutrition Units), and three laptops, three projectors and three project stands for Regional Coordinating Councils.

The districts included Bole, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, East Gonja, Tolon, Kumbungu, Nanumba South, Builsa South, Kassena-Nankana West and Kassena Nankana Municipal.

The items were donated as part of the Champio
ning Nutrition and Gender Equality (CHANGE) project, which is being implemented by Children Believe, an international NGO, in partnership with Norsaac, an NGO, with funding support from Global Affairs Canada.

The CHANGE project seeks to improve nutrition for the poorest and most marginalised, especially women, adolescent girls, and children in the country.

Mrs Esenam Kavi De Souza, Country Director, Children Believe, speaking during the handing over of the equipment and logistics to the Northern Regional Medical Store in Tamale, said the support would enhance the capacity of the Ghana Health Service at the regional, district, and facility levels to provide improved health services to the people.

She urged the beneficiary facilities to use the items judiciously for the benefit of the targeted populations including the vulnerable, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and adolescent girls.

Mr Eric Chimsi, Senior Development Officer, Canadian High Commission, said the support would enhance the data storage and
processing capacity of the facilities for data-driven decision making and choices.

Dr Abdulai Abukari, Northern Regional Director of Health said, ‘These medical equipment and logistics have become a game changer towards the provision of quality health services for enhancing the nutritional well-being of the most vulnerable and marginalised populations, particularly women, adolescent girls, and children in the project districts.’

He gave assurance that the items would be distributed to the beneficiary facilities and institutions to facilitate their work.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Tema Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), in partnership with the Pleasant Medical Centre, has organised a free health screening for its members as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the association.

The anniversary is on the theme: ’75 Years of Excellence in Journalism: Honouring the Past, Embracing the Present, Shaping the Future.’

The exercise offered a range of screenings, including typhoid, blood sugar, malaria test, Hemoglobin, blood pressure, lipid profile, and prostrate.

Members of the GJA also received sensitization on preventive health, diabetes, hypertension, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, and others.

Mrs Dzifa Tetteh Tay, the Tema GJA Chapter Chairperson, said the initiative was one of the programmes to mark the anniversary as tasked by the national executive of the GJA for a nationwide celebration.

She mentioned that journalists are usually on the run trying to meet deadlines and have little time for their health needs, stressing that the health talk and screen
ing would help journalists in the Tema region to know their health status, detect any health issues early, and put in the right interventions.

She indicated that journalists must be in good health to be able to discharge their duties efficiently in informing the public on electioneering matters.

Mr. Rocky Tettehdzie, a Physician Assistant at the Pleasant Medical Centre, said during the health talk that preventive healthcare had numerous benefits, including improving life expectancy, a quality lifestyle, enhanced productivity, and promoting economic growth.

Mr. Tettehdzie, however, stated that inadequate education and awareness, lifestyle habits, inaccessibility to health care, and others were barriers to preventive healthcare.

Touching on hypertension, he mentioned that it was estimated that 1.28 billion adults aged 30 to 79 years worldwide have hypertension globally, and more than six hundred thousand people are diagnosed with the disease in Ghana annually, and close to 50 percent of those affected are n
ot aware of their status.

He stressed that the disease was no longer for the elderly, as some youth between 25 and 30 were also contracting it.

He said that obesity, sedentary lifestyle, family history, and excessive intake of carbonated drinks were some risk factors for diabetes, while some symptoms of the disease included excessive urination and hunger, blurry vision, persistent boils, delays in wound healing, stressing that early diagnosis was very important.

The physician assistant revealed that prostate cancer was the second most common cancer in men globally and the fifth most common cause of cancer death in males, with symptoms including frequent urination, painful urination, and waist pains.

He said cervical cancer was the fourth most common cancer among women caused by a virus called human papillomavirus (HPV), urging the public to screen for the disease and vaccinate against it.

Mr. Tettehdzie urged journalists to have time for themselves despite their busy schedule by prioritising their meals
and resting in-between schedules while cautioning them against the intake of alcoholic beverages as they add no nutrients to the body and act as a risk factor for many non-communicable diseases.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Kadjebi District Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service, has targeted some 21,974 households for supply of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN), this year.

The registration of households for the supply commences on July 2 and ends on Monday, July 8, 2024.

The Point Mass Distribution (PMD) of Long-Lasting Insecticide Nets starts 13-17 August 2024.

The Directorate is also commencing the first cycle of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) on Tuesday, July 2 to July 8, 2024.

Mrs. Mabel Amankwa-Amoah, Kadjebi District Health Promotion Officer, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), in an interview at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.

To achieve target, she said, effective June 26, 2024, the directorate would be using various channels of communications for social change tools to inform the target population on the exercise.

‘Sleeping under ITN every night and throughout the night and dosing your children is the best way to protect you and your family from Malaria,’ she said.

Mrs Amankwa-Amoah said:
‘The Ghana Health Service with support from its partners will be distributing Insecticide Treated Nets for free and dosing of children 3-59 months with the SMC medicine in our communities.

‘Trained volunteers with identification tags will visit your house to register members of each household to give them nets and give SMC medication to eligible children.’

The Health Promotion Officer said sleeping under nets prevented wasting of household’s income for treatment of malaria, saved caregivers and household members from wasting time at health facilities seeking cure for themselves and their wards due to malaria.

She said sleeping under nets also prevented emotional and psychological stress for caregivers, parents, and family members.

Mrs Amankwa-Amoah said it also prevented malaria mortality, so everyone should be interested and that the expected ITN for distribution was 47,832.

On SMC, she said 16,876 children (3-59 months) had been targeted for dosing during the year.

She said the SMC is in five cycles a
nd that the first cycle is from 2-8 July second cycle is 7-11 August third cycle 10-16 September fourth cycle is 8-14 October and the fifth cycle is 5-11 November 2024.

Mrs Amankwa-Amoah said SMC was a special intervention to reduce malaria morbidity during rainy season and that the SMC medication is not harmful and it is free.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Rotary Club of Obuasi, in partnership with Doctors and Engineers Without Borders, and the Brown University Club, has embarked on a medical outreach project to provide free medical services to the inmates of the Obuasi local Prisons.

The partners also presented drugs to the infirmary of the prisons and a table top fridge to store the drugs at a high temperature.

The goal of the free medical screening for the inmates, was to create awareness on prison hygiene and supply the infirmary with drugs in line with Rotary International area of focus; Disease Prevention and Treatment and sanitation.

The exercise brought together doctors and other health practitioners, who screened over 300 inmates and officers of the Obuasi local prisons.

The inmates were screened for hypertension, tuberculosis, diabetes, malaria, hepatitis B, and other ailments.

The doctors provided consultation services and dispensed medications for common ailments, while provisions were made for those who will need prolong treatment.

Mada
m Delphine Gbogblorvor, President- elect of the Rotary Club of Obuasi during her interaction with the media, stated that the exercise had become necessary because the Club recognised prison health as an area which needed support in view of the poor living conditions in the prisons.

The inmates were at risk of contracting and spreading various ailments if the needed support and logistics were not available.

She emphasized the need to prioritize the health needs of inmates at the prisons since they were being prepared to be integrated into the larger society.

‘We need to recognize that these inmates are not outcasts, they will definitely be integrated into society at a point, so health screening like this is important in making sure they are in good condition before they come out’, she stressed.

Ms Gborgblovor further assured the prison of the Club’s continued support towards improving the living conditions of inmates as the three-year partnership which started in 2023 was expected to be rolled out in the n
ext two years with support from the Doctors and Engineers Without Borders, Brown University.

To additionally support the water and sanitation needs of the inmates, a new mechanized borehole had been constructed for the inmates to ensure continuous supply of clean water for drinking and domestic use.

She said the Club would continue to create hope for the world by implementing the ‘ magic of rotary’ initiative, where some of the activities would be based on promoting peace ahead of the 2024 elections.

Ms Esther Ako-Nunoo, Officer in-charge of the Obuasi Local Prisons, thanked the Club and its partners for their timely support.

She called for more support towards improving the conditions at the prisons and charged the officers to continue the discharge of their duties as mandated by their ethics to support the prisons service.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has expressed worry at the slow pace of work on some hospital projects in the country, particularly those in the Ashanti Region, and called for swift actions to complete such projects.

He said although ‘we will not have the money to do it all at once, we must try hard and do our best to ensure the health of the people is prioritized.

‘I have realized that things are improving in the financial sector, from now on, try and confer with the Finance Ministry to help raise money to complete the other projects in the country to see to it that the agenda 111 projects are completed on schedule,’ the King instructed.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu made the call when a delegation from the Ministry of Health, led by the sector Minister, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, called on him at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, as part of his working visit to the Ashanti region.

‘I have been to Sewua Hospital, I see no reason you should not get work done. Workers on site are saying it is power, others are blaming th
e delays on the road network, and meanwhile, the Government has spent huge sums to install hospital equipment at the facility.

‘When I probed why it is still not operational, the reasons were for the lack of power and poor road network, if this is not fixed on time, the equipment installed will go to waste with time,’ the Asantehene bemoaned.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said if hospitals such as the one at Sewua were in operation, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) could have sent some of its patients there to facilitate the smooth and uninterrupted implementation of the ‘Heal the KATH’ project.

He said the KNUST Teaching Hospital was one such project stalled and called on the Health Minister to fast-track its completion for use.

He said although Fomena and Kumawu hospitals were now operational, works going on at Trede should also be prioritized.

Dr. Okoe-Boye, in response, commended the Asantehene for initiating the ‘Heal KATH’ project to ensure advanced healthcare delivery.

He said the Government was
doing everything possible to complete all ongoing health projects in the region.

The Minister later visited the KATH and inspected the ongoing construction site of the KATH Maternity and Children’s block.

In an interaction with the management of KATH, he stressed a need for prompt actions to operationalize the Afari Military and Sewua hospitals to be able to decongest KATH.

He suggested that the Ghana Health Service could sign a memorandum of understanding, with the Teaching Hospital, which could spell out some modalities by way of directing some exceptional care services to facilities such as Sewua hospital to be able to further ease the pressure on KATH.

Source: Ghana News Agency