Yaw Oppong has been a poultry farmer for the past 30 years.
When he started, a broiler could be reared at the cost of about GH¢1.50 cedis and sold at GH¢3.00 cedis.
“I could make satisfactory returns, sometimes giving a margin of about 100 per cent” he said.
However,when the importation of the frozen poultry started, Oppong recalls witnessing some reduction in the sale of his broilers.
When the situation was not getting any better, he stopped the production of the broilers and focused on layers which are for egg production.
Oppong’s hope was that the local broiler production would pick up some time later, but it has been several years now and there seems to be no hope for the revival of broiler production.
“Now a kilo of imported chicken is about GH¢5.00 and I sell one reared broiler bird for GH¢25.00. This means people would prefer the imported chicken to the locally produced one” he explained.
“I have to watch in despair as imported frozen chicken flood our market and destroy our business” he stated.
Currently,Oppong has stopped the production of broilers for meat and is focused on the production of layers for eggs.
However, during festive seasons such as Christmas, he rears some broilers since most people prefer the local chicken during the season.
Considering the high cost of feed leading to the high cost of production of local poultry, Oppong says, “it is very expensive now to rear broilers in the country”.
The story of Oppong is not different from most of the poultry farmers in the country.
How poultry started
Early poultry production involved many households having backyard flocks of different chickens. These chickens supplied eggs and an occasional chicken for festivity.
In the early 1950’s, some few entrepreneurs began selling young chickens for meat as a sideline activity on their family farms and that was how commercial poultry started.
Having started at a modest level of less than 20,000 chickens, the poultry industry grew recording an annual growth rate above 40 per cent in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Government began setting up state farms notable among them was the Pomadze Farms.
Consequently, investments in poultry service infrastructure, including day-old chicken (DOC) production and feed milling expanded, attracting a lot of people into the industry.
By 1993, there were about 23 commercial feed mills with annual capacity of 2.40 million tonnes as well as 11 commercial hatcheries with yearly combined output of 25.0 million DOCs.
Until the 1990s, Ghanaian poultry farmers could meet above 90 per cent of the total national demand for poultry. The country was then self-sufficient and could meet about 90 per cent of the total national demand for poultry.
The issues started when the industry had it fair share of the competition from imported goods due to the trade liberalisation.
Competition from the imported chicken
There is no doubt that the importation of the frozen chicken has led to the gradual collapse of the poultry industry in the country.
While total annual chicken consumption in Ghana is estimated at above 200,000 metric tonnes(MT), local broiler production amount to only 10 per cent while the remaining are imported.
According to a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report on Ghana Poultry, in the last five years, the United States poultry imports to the country had increased to reach between 24-31 per cent of the market demand.
In a speech read on his behalf at the inauguration ceremony of the Greater Accra Poultry Farmers Association’s integrated poultry feed mill, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Humado, said over the last five years, chicken imports alone cumulatively accounted for 74.2 per cent of total meat imports.
The minister further stated that the country was deficient in meeting her meat requirements with the growing population.
According to the United States of America Poultry and Eggs Exports Council, Ghana’s importation of frozen chicken rose from from 2009 to 2011, 65,000MT to 157,000MT with imports values of $87 million and $197 million respectively.
The situation forced most farmers out of broiler business to focus on layer production. Now, local broiler production in the country is done mostly to satisfy demand during festivities (Christmas, Easter, Ramadan etc.) with very few farmers producing all year round.
The production of layer chickens for table eggs are a little higher with total layer meat supply of about 12,400 tonnes.
With an estimated number of about 3,000 poultry farmers, the industry is operated in all the ten regions but highly operated in the Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Greater Accra, Central and Western regions.
The dwindling industry has also resulted in the collapse of some of the other value chain connected to the poultry industry. For instance, currently, there are about seven hatcheries that produce day-old chicks for commercial production for broiler and layer birds and less than eight commercial feed mills in the country.
Other issues facing the local industry
One major challenge that faces the local poultry industry is the high cost of feed which has led to the high cost of production.
Currently, poultry feed ranges between GH¢39 to GH¢53 and it could cost a minimum of GH¢12.00 cedis to rear a broiler weighing 2.3kilos.
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers, Mr Quame A. Kokroh, in an interview said broilers cost between GH₡ 20-30 , a price too high for the average person to buy.
“The high cost of feed was also a result of unstable raw materials for feed production”, he stated.
He also explained that there were no government policies that supported the development of the industry and added “there is absolute absence of strategies for growing and sustaining the poultry industry”.
Packaging, he said, was also a major challenge because many people found it very difficult to go to the market and buy a live chicken to slaughter before use.
“The industry does not have adequate credit facilities for farmers”, Mr Kokroh said, because most financial institutions were not ready to support the industry.
Government should redeem the industry
The poultry industry has a great potential of reducing the unemployment situation in the country if given the needed attention.
Raw materials for production, rearing, hatcheries, processing, packaging and marketing industries would end up creating jobs for Ghanaians.
According to Mr Kokroh, the government should use a holistic approach to make the various value chain linkages effective, profitable and sustainable.
That, he said, could be done by policy and legislation to avail its huge anchor market of all institutions to positively impact on increased consumption of locally produced poultry products including the eggs and broiler meat.
He encouraged the government to also consider the call by the GNAPF to add eggs to the menu of the National School Feeding Programme.
“Government should gradually and consistently cut the quantities of imported frozen chicken and impose high tariffs to gradually cede the market to locally produced broiler meat” he said.
He also called for appropriate financial packages to suit the needs of the entire poultry chain operations.
Sunday, 29 December 2013
Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire join efforts • To preserve wildlife
Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are to link identified forest reserves in the two countries through a project aimed at establishing a conservation area for wildlife.
The project, which was launched in Accra yesterday, is to link forest reserves and protected areas in and around Bia in the Western Region of Ghana and Diambarakro in Cote d’Ivoire.
Project
Initiated by the Conservation Alliance, an environmental NGO, the project, whose initiation is a collaboration between the NGO and its partners, would ensure that there are passages for the animals in the forest reserves around the identified areas.
The three-year project, titled: “Development of a trans-frontier conservation area linking forest reserves and protected areas in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire,” is funded by the governments of the two countries, the FAO and other partners at an estimated cost of $2.1 million.
Other partners collaborating with Conservation Alliance include Ghana’s Forestry Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and partners from Cote d’Ivoire.
Wildlife species especially elephants in the forest zone of West Africa are now found in small isolated fragments of forests, many of which will probably dwindle to extinction over time.
Need for collaboration
Launching the project, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Ms Barbara Serwaa Asamoah, said the countries which shared boundaries, therefore, needed to collaborate in conservation activities geared towards the protection of wildlife animals.
According to her, the South-Eastern Cote d’Ivoire and South-Western Ghana contained significant populations of key species of large mammals and also supported more than 40 per cent of cocoa production.
Therefore, she said, the need for wildlife passages to facilitate species interaction and sustainable cocoa production was very important.
In her presentation, the Coordinator for Conservation Alliance, Mrs Ernestina Osei-Peprah, explained that the project aimed at facilitating the development and implementation of a single management framework for biodiversity conservation of the Bia-Diambarakro trans-frontier conversation area.
In addition, she said the project would develop, test and promote best practices in cocoa agroforestry for the rehabilitation of degraded forest landscape that would provide connectivity between the fragmented forest blocks and enhance ecosystem.
The FAO Deputy Regional Representative, Dr Lamourdia Thiombiano, in a speech read on his behalf, said human wildlife conflict issues were on the rise, therefore further attention was required to make for the adoption of long-lasting solutions.
“As human activities expand these animals will face an increasing risk of extinction as the process of habitat fragmentation accelerates and they become further isolated from each other,” he stated.
The project, which was launched in Accra yesterday, is to link forest reserves and protected areas in and around Bia in the Western Region of Ghana and Diambarakro in Cote d’Ivoire.
Project
Initiated by the Conservation Alliance, an environmental NGO, the project, whose initiation is a collaboration between the NGO and its partners, would ensure that there are passages for the animals in the forest reserves around the identified areas.
The three-year project, titled: “Development of a trans-frontier conservation area linking forest reserves and protected areas in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire,” is funded by the governments of the two countries, the FAO and other partners at an estimated cost of $2.1 million.
Other partners collaborating with Conservation Alliance include Ghana’s Forestry Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and partners from Cote d’Ivoire.
Wildlife species especially elephants in the forest zone of West Africa are now found in small isolated fragments of forests, many of which will probably dwindle to extinction over time.
Need for collaboration
Launching the project, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Ms Barbara Serwaa Asamoah, said the countries which shared boundaries, therefore, needed to collaborate in conservation activities geared towards the protection of wildlife animals.
According to her, the South-Eastern Cote d’Ivoire and South-Western Ghana contained significant populations of key species of large mammals and also supported more than 40 per cent of cocoa production.
Therefore, she said, the need for wildlife passages to facilitate species interaction and sustainable cocoa production was very important.
In her presentation, the Coordinator for Conservation Alliance, Mrs Ernestina Osei-Peprah, explained that the project aimed at facilitating the development and implementation of a single management framework for biodiversity conservation of the Bia-Diambarakro trans-frontier conversation area.
In addition, she said the project would develop, test and promote best practices in cocoa agroforestry for the rehabilitation of degraded forest landscape that would provide connectivity between the fragmented forest blocks and enhance ecosystem.
The FAO Deputy Regional Representative, Dr Lamourdia Thiombiano, in a speech read on his behalf, said human wildlife conflict issues were on the rise, therefore further attention was required to make for the adoption of long-lasting solutions.
“As human activities expand these animals will face an increasing risk of extinction as the process of habitat fragmentation accelerates and they become further isolated from each other,” he stated.
STUDENTS who fail the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will, from February 2015, be allowed to resit the examination as private candidates.
This follows an agreement reached between the government and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to allow students who fail in BECE to resit as private candidates.
According to the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the policy would be rolled out in September 2014 for the first batch of failed BECE candidates to rewrite in February 2015.
The policy, he explained, was to allow students who failed the BECE to improve on their grades and qualify for placement into senior high and technical schools.
One hundred and eighty two thousand candidates who sat this year’s BECE did not pass in the core subjects.
They could, therefore, not be placed in any of the public senior high schools (SHS) by the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
Similar to WAEC’s November/December resit for WASSCE candidates, the initiative by the government will put to rest the concerns raised by the public about the fate of candidates who fail the BECE.
Currently, those who fail the BECE have to repeat a whole academic year before they can get the chance to write the examination again to enter SHS.
The situation sometimes discourages candidates who fail to repeat because of the stigma associated with writing the examination again.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the African University College of Communications (AUCC) in Accra on Saturday, Mr Ablakwa said the decision was also part of the reforms being undertaken by the ministry towards making the educational system more flexible and accessible to every child.
“Our policy now is that we do not want to leave any child behind and we want to also cut down protocol arrangements because the students have only one chance to enter SHS,” he stated.
Reforms
Mr Ablakwa said the ministry had embarked on a number of reforms to ensure that the educational cycle was improved to give students access and quality education.
As a result of the interventions of the government, he said, the colleges of education which had limited capacity to admit many students had now improved on their intake.
So far, he said, the colleges had improved access from 9,000 in 2012 to 15,340 this year.
The government, Mr Ablakwa said, was also working to ensure that the 10 polytechnics in the country awarded their own degrees, beginning from 2014.
Private universities
He commended private investors for their contribution to education, saying the private universities admitted more than half of WASSCE candidates eligible to go to the university.
“It is evident that without the private universities, education in the country would have been at the crossroads as far as access and quality are concerned,” he stated.
Mr Ablakwa reiterated the government’s commitment to the improvement of tertiary education to enhance human resource capacity.
Nonetheless, he encouraged private universities to focus more on science courses, since the country needed human resource in those fields.
NUMBER CRUNCH
This follows an agreement reached between the government and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to allow students who fail in BECE to resit as private candidates.
According to the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the policy would be rolled out in September 2014 for the first batch of failed BECE candidates to rewrite in February 2015.
The policy, he explained, was to allow students who failed the BECE to improve on their grades and qualify for placement into senior high and technical schools.
One hundred and eighty two thousand candidates who sat this year’s BECE did not pass in the core subjects.
They could, therefore, not be placed in any of the public senior high schools (SHS) by the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
Similar to WAEC’s November/December resit for WASSCE candidates, the initiative by the government will put to rest the concerns raised by the public about the fate of candidates who fail the BECE.
Currently, those who fail the BECE have to repeat a whole academic year before they can get the chance to write the examination again to enter SHS.
The situation sometimes discourages candidates who fail to repeat because of the stigma associated with writing the examination again.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the African University College of Communications (AUCC) in Accra on Saturday, Mr Ablakwa said the decision was also part of the reforms being undertaken by the ministry towards making the educational system more flexible and accessible to every child.
“Our policy now is that we do not want to leave any child behind and we want to also cut down protocol arrangements because the students have only one chance to enter SHS,” he stated.
Reforms
Mr Ablakwa said the ministry had embarked on a number of reforms to ensure that the educational cycle was improved to give students access and quality education.
As a result of the interventions of the government, he said, the colleges of education which had limited capacity to admit many students had now improved on their intake.
So far, he said, the colleges had improved access from 9,000 in 2012 to 15,340 this year.
The government, Mr Ablakwa said, was also working to ensure that the 10 polytechnics in the country awarded their own degrees, beginning from 2014.
Private universities
He commended private investors for their contribution to education, saying the private universities admitted more than half of WASSCE candidates eligible to go to the university.
“It is evident that without the private universities, education in the country would have been at the crossroads as far as access and quality are concerned,” he stated.
Mr Ablakwa reiterated the government’s commitment to the improvement of tertiary education to enhance human resource capacity.
Nonetheless, he encouraged private universities to focus more on science courses, since the country needed human resource in those fields.
NUMBER CRUNCH
‘We need sustainable policies to address illiteracy’, Daily Graphic
The Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Major Albert Don-Chebe, has called for vibrant and sustainable policies to address illiteracy in the country.
According to him, the country needs policies with specific timelines, strict deadlines and precise targets aimed at enlightening the people on the unlimited opportuneness of attaining higher education.
Speaking on the theme; “Illiteracy: The challenge of our generation,” at the 5th congregation of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) on Saturday, Major Don-Chebe stated that education was important to safeguard the country’s future and stimulate development.
He said for a country to ascend the ranks of upper middle income status, it needed to achieve 95 per cent literacy rate, with at least 20 per cent of the population accessing higher education.
“For us to progress beyond lower middle income to even mid-middle income status, we have to cure the unnecessary disease of illiteracy,” he stated.
According to Major Don-Chebe, access to tertiary education is still inadequate, despite the proliferation of tertiary institutions in the country, with only five per cent of the total population acquiring higher education.
He urged educational researchers to delve more into the relationship between education, especially higher education, and accelerated development.
Graduates
A total of 2,642 students were awarded diploma and degree certificates in Management Studies, Accounting and Finance, Communication Studies and School of Graduate Studies.
Out of the number, there were 523 diploma graduates, 1,934 undergraduates and 185 postgraduates students.
The UPSA, which was initially known as the Institute of Professional Studies, was founded in 1965 as a private institution and was taken over by government in 1978 by the University of Professional Studies Decree, 1978 (SMCD 200).
It is a pre-eminent public institution that provides both academic and professional business education.
The university was subsequently established as a tertiary institution by the University of Professional Studies Act, 1999 (Act 566) with a mandate to provide tertiary and professional education in the academic disciplines of Accountancy, Management and other related areas of study.
Academic Affairs
In his address, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Joshua Alabi, said the university intended to enhance the profile of its academic disciplines by employing information and communication technologies to enhance exchange programmes and increase the visiting lecturer portfolio from other countries around the world.
This year, he said, 4,599 students were admitted, bringing the total enrolment of the university to 10,389 students. The number comprises diploma, professional, undergraduate and postgraduate students.
He said new programmes, including MBA in Total Quality Management, Petroleum Accounting and Finance, have been introduced, while the existing ones have being reviewed.
Infrastructure development
On infrastructure development of the university, Prof. Alabi said the school had finished paying for a 6,000-seating capacity lecture theatre estimated at GH¢15million.
He added that the 1,500-seating capacity library was 70 per cent complete and would be ready for use by next year.
Furthermore, he noted that a seven-storey-building hostel, which would house about 1,500 students, was also expected to be completed by June next year.
Prof. Alabi said the university had plans to build a 2000-seating capacity auditorium for ceremonies.
He advised the graduates to be innovative, hardworking, disciplined, honest and embrace the challenges of life.
The acting Chairman of the UPSA, Mr Emmanuel Acquaye, urged the graduates to be creative, innovative, interrogative and explore new answers and solutions to emerging challenges.
According to him, the country needs policies with specific timelines, strict deadlines and precise targets aimed at enlightening the people on the unlimited opportuneness of attaining higher education.
Speaking on the theme; “Illiteracy: The challenge of our generation,” at the 5th congregation of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) on Saturday, Major Don-Chebe stated that education was important to safeguard the country’s future and stimulate development.
He said for a country to ascend the ranks of upper middle income status, it needed to achieve 95 per cent literacy rate, with at least 20 per cent of the population accessing higher education.
“For us to progress beyond lower middle income to even mid-middle income status, we have to cure the unnecessary disease of illiteracy,” he stated.
According to Major Don-Chebe, access to tertiary education is still inadequate, despite the proliferation of tertiary institutions in the country, with only five per cent of the total population acquiring higher education.
He urged educational researchers to delve more into the relationship between education, especially higher education, and accelerated development.
Graduates
A total of 2,642 students were awarded diploma and degree certificates in Management Studies, Accounting and Finance, Communication Studies and School of Graduate Studies.
Out of the number, there were 523 diploma graduates, 1,934 undergraduates and 185 postgraduates students.
The UPSA, which was initially known as the Institute of Professional Studies, was founded in 1965 as a private institution and was taken over by government in 1978 by the University of Professional Studies Decree, 1978 (SMCD 200).
It is a pre-eminent public institution that provides both academic and professional business education.
The university was subsequently established as a tertiary institution by the University of Professional Studies Act, 1999 (Act 566) with a mandate to provide tertiary and professional education in the academic disciplines of Accountancy, Management and other related areas of study.
Academic Affairs
In his address, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Joshua Alabi, said the university intended to enhance the profile of its academic disciplines by employing information and communication technologies to enhance exchange programmes and increase the visiting lecturer portfolio from other countries around the world.
This year, he said, 4,599 students were admitted, bringing the total enrolment of the university to 10,389 students. The number comprises diploma, professional, undergraduate and postgraduate students.
He said new programmes, including MBA in Total Quality Management, Petroleum Accounting and Finance, have been introduced, while the existing ones have being reviewed.
Infrastructure development
On infrastructure development of the university, Prof. Alabi said the school had finished paying for a 6,000-seating capacity lecture theatre estimated at GH¢15million.
He added that the 1,500-seating capacity library was 70 per cent complete and would be ready for use by next year.
Furthermore, he noted that a seven-storey-building hostel, which would house about 1,500 students, was also expected to be completed by June next year.
Prof. Alabi said the university had plans to build a 2000-seating capacity auditorium for ceremonies.
He advised the graduates to be innovative, hardworking, disciplined, honest and embrace the challenges of life.
The acting Chairman of the UPSA, Mr Emmanuel Acquaye, urged the graduates to be creative, innovative, interrogative and explore new answers and solutions to emerging challenges.
ECG upgrades facilities to improve service, Daily Graphic
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is investing $20 million to upgrade its systems and installations to minimise the frequency and duration of power outages.
As a complement to the project, mobile transformers and substations have been procured and deployed to all regional offices to support the network’s operations.
At a news conference in Accra yesterday on matters arising after the recent approved electricity tariffs, the Officer in-charge of Regulation and Government Affairs of the ECG, Mr Daniel Azu, said the ECG was doing all it could to ensure improved availability and accessibility of its services.
On September 25, the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced a 78.9 per cent increment in electricity and 52 per cent for water, effective October 1, this year.
To ensure improved availability and accessibility to its services, Mr Azu said ECG was introducing 24-hour vending systems, including the establishment of more district offices and customer centres, to address customer complaints and challenges.
He added that the company was also replacing all 33Kv obsolete switch gears at the primary substations in the Accra metropolis at the cost £13million.
Quality of service
Since the tariff increases, a section of the public has been calling for improvement in the quality of service by the providers, while others have asked for a reduction of the new tariffs.
Responding to such concerns, Mr Azu said, the company was implementing strategies to ensure that there was significant improvement in electricity distribution services.
As part of the strategy, he said the ECG was constructing a number of bulk supply points, primary and secondary substations together with interconnectivity high voltage, medium and low voltage lines to properly distribute electricity.
To ensure quality human relations between staff and the company’s customers, he said, management was monitoring the attitude of its employees by installing CCTV cameras at the front-end of its offices.
Tariffs
Touching on the tariffs, Mr Azu explained that the cost of production had gone up, making the increase in electricity tariff necessary to enable the company to recover part of its operational cost.
The new tariff increased the distribution service charge ( which is the component that went to the ECG) from 9.76 pesewas per unit to 14.72 pesewas per unit, representing an increase of 50 per cent.
Though ECG requested for 214 per cent increment, Mr Azu indicated that the company would be content with what was approved by the PURC.
He urged all customers who had any form of challenge since the implementation of the new tariffs to report to the nearest customer service centre for redress.
Efficient use of energy
Mr Azu encouraged customers to use energy efficient equipment which had been endorsed by the Energy Commission.
“The most efficient way to mitigate the effect of the new tariffs is through energy conservation as recent studies have shown that conservation of energy can reduce bills by about 30 per cent” he said.
As a complement to the project, mobile transformers and substations have been procured and deployed to all regional offices to support the network’s operations.
At a news conference in Accra yesterday on matters arising after the recent approved electricity tariffs, the Officer in-charge of Regulation and Government Affairs of the ECG, Mr Daniel Azu, said the ECG was doing all it could to ensure improved availability and accessibility of its services.
On September 25, the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced a 78.9 per cent increment in electricity and 52 per cent for water, effective October 1, this year.
To ensure improved availability and accessibility to its services, Mr Azu said ECG was introducing 24-hour vending systems, including the establishment of more district offices and customer centres, to address customer complaints and challenges.
He added that the company was also replacing all 33Kv obsolete switch gears at the primary substations in the Accra metropolis at the cost £13million.
Quality of service
Since the tariff increases, a section of the public has been calling for improvement in the quality of service by the providers, while others have asked for a reduction of the new tariffs.
Responding to such concerns, Mr Azu said, the company was implementing strategies to ensure that there was significant improvement in electricity distribution services.
As part of the strategy, he said the ECG was constructing a number of bulk supply points, primary and secondary substations together with interconnectivity high voltage, medium and low voltage lines to properly distribute electricity.
To ensure quality human relations between staff and the company’s customers, he said, management was monitoring the attitude of its employees by installing CCTV cameras at the front-end of its offices.
Tariffs
Touching on the tariffs, Mr Azu explained that the cost of production had gone up, making the increase in electricity tariff necessary to enable the company to recover part of its operational cost.
The new tariff increased the distribution service charge ( which is the component that went to the ECG) from 9.76 pesewas per unit to 14.72 pesewas per unit, representing an increase of 50 per cent.
Though ECG requested for 214 per cent increment, Mr Azu indicated that the company would be content with what was approved by the PURC.
He urged all customers who had any form of challenge since the implementation of the new tariffs to report to the nearest customer service centre for redress.
Efficient use of energy
Mr Azu encouraged customers to use energy efficient equipment which had been endorsed by the Energy Commission.
“The most efficient way to mitigate the effect of the new tariffs is through energy conservation as recent studies have shown that conservation of energy can reduce bills by about 30 per cent” he said.
Collapsing church building injures worker
SECTION of a Methodist Church building under construction collapsed at Sakaman in Accra yesterday, leaving one person seriously injured.
The identity of the injured person had not been established at the time of filing this report.
When the Daily Graphic reached the scene around 4pm, the building had been surrounded by the police, while a number of residents had also thronged the area to see the building.
A neighbour, who gave her name as Auntie Lizzy, said she was at home at 2 p.m when she heard the noise of a collapsing building.
“When I saw that it was the church building close to my house, I got scared and ran out with the fear that it might come to my house,” she said.
According to Auntie Lizzy, about four people were then working on the roofing but she saw that one had fallen from the top.
She said the man, apparently a carpenter, was immediately rushed to the hospital, while the others remained there.
Auntie Lizzy, who claimed to have stayed in the community for about 30 years, said the incident was the third with regard to that building.
In the first and second instances, the church members demolished the building themselves because they realised that it had some defects.
However, some of the church members who came around said the portion that collapsed was being constructed as rain gutter meant to collect water whenever it rained.
Others also said engineers in the church had marked out some pillars to be replaced.
The Dansoman Police District Commander, DSP Susan Adjei, stated that the police responded to a call that the building had collapsed and indicated that investigations would be carried out to find the cause of the incident.
The identity of the injured person had not been established at the time of filing this report.
When the Daily Graphic reached the scene around 4pm, the building had been surrounded by the police, while a number of residents had also thronged the area to see the building.
A neighbour, who gave her name as Auntie Lizzy, said she was at home at 2 p.m when she heard the noise of a collapsing building.
“When I saw that it was the church building close to my house, I got scared and ran out with the fear that it might come to my house,” she said.
According to Auntie Lizzy, about four people were then working on the roofing but she saw that one had fallen from the top.
She said the man, apparently a carpenter, was immediately rushed to the hospital, while the others remained there.
Auntie Lizzy, who claimed to have stayed in the community for about 30 years, said the incident was the third with regard to that building.
In the first and second instances, the church members demolished the building themselves because they realised that it had some defects.
However, some of the church members who came around said the portion that collapsed was being constructed as rain gutter meant to collect water whenever it rained.
Others also said engineers in the church had marked out some pillars to be replaced.
The Dansoman Police District Commander, DSP Susan Adjei, stated that the police responded to a call that the building had collapsed and indicated that investigations would be carried out to find the cause of the incident.
Fifty Seven died in fire in the first haf of the year
FIFTY-SEVEN people lost their lives in 3,077 fire incidents recorded across the country between January and June, this year. The figure represents an average of four deaths and 522 fires monthly with financial loss amounting to GH¢2.83 million monthly.
A further breakdown of the figures indicate that at least 128 fires occurred weekly with a life lost and GH¢700,000 lost.
The data, released by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNSF), gave the breakdown as 1,116 domestic, 110 industrial, 367 vehicular and 58 institutional fires, while 274 were attributed to electrical faults.
Commercial fires accounted for 281, with bushfires and others resulting in a total of 871.
The Ashanti Region topped the list with 697 fire incidents, followed by the Brong Ahafo Region, 468; Greater Accra Region, 370; Eastern Region, 290 and Western Region, 266.
The rest are Central Region, 233; Tema, 184; Northern Region, 166; Upper East Region, 125; Upper West Region, 98 and the Volta Region, 55.
Market Fires
Speaking in an interview on measures adopted to reduce the rampant fire outbreaks in the markets of late, the acting Head of Public Relations of the GNFS, Mr Ellis Robinson Okoe said fire personnel had been deployed to the various markets to monitor the activities of traders.
The personnel, who would be on guard at the various markets in groups of between four and five, were also to educate the traders on fire safety, he said.
Mr Okoe said sensitisation and simulation programmes were also being held for traders and other institutions on fire safety.
To ensure effective results, he underscored the need for city authorities to also implement recommendations made by the service.
Key findings from investigation
Mr Okoe said a report by an audit and investigation team indicated that the markets were congested.
He explained that different items were mixed up and sold at the same places making it difficult for fire personnel to extinguish fires because of the mixture of chemicals and other items.
Other key findings in the report, he said were that aged wiring of the markets, illegal connections, power outages, unprofessional way of wiring, faulty electrical wires, over loading of electrical power, cooking in the markets and negative human behavioural attitudes, caused most of the fires.
Mr Okoe added that most people had a very bad attitude towards the use of electrical appliances which they did not put off after use, hence leading to overheating, among other causes of fire.
Recommendations
He said the report recommended to the local assemblies to implement and enforce guidelines that had been adopted for the protection of markets against fire outbreaks.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Okoe said, adopted 13 guidelines as part of its measures to curb fire outbreaks in the metropolis.
He also called on the city authorities to collaborate with the Fire Service to establish fire posts at the various markets.
“The markets need to be rebuilt into modern ones by the city authorities in consultation with the Fire Service and not to be left for the traders to build,” he said.
In addition, he said the markets should be decongested and planned well to make them accessible for fire personnel in the event of fire outbreaks.
“As the city authorities collected tax from the traders, they should be able to re-wire the markets and also collaborate effectively with the Electricity Company of Ghana to check illegal connections,” he added.
A further breakdown of the figures indicate that at least 128 fires occurred weekly with a life lost and GH¢700,000 lost.
The data, released by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNSF), gave the breakdown as 1,116 domestic, 110 industrial, 367 vehicular and 58 institutional fires, while 274 were attributed to electrical faults.
Commercial fires accounted for 281, with bushfires and others resulting in a total of 871.
The Ashanti Region topped the list with 697 fire incidents, followed by the Brong Ahafo Region, 468; Greater Accra Region, 370; Eastern Region, 290 and Western Region, 266.
The rest are Central Region, 233; Tema, 184; Northern Region, 166; Upper East Region, 125; Upper West Region, 98 and the Volta Region, 55.
Market Fires
Speaking in an interview on measures adopted to reduce the rampant fire outbreaks in the markets of late, the acting Head of Public Relations of the GNFS, Mr Ellis Robinson Okoe said fire personnel had been deployed to the various markets to monitor the activities of traders.
The personnel, who would be on guard at the various markets in groups of between four and five, were also to educate the traders on fire safety, he said.
Mr Okoe said sensitisation and simulation programmes were also being held for traders and other institutions on fire safety.
To ensure effective results, he underscored the need for city authorities to also implement recommendations made by the service.
Key findings from investigation
Mr Okoe said a report by an audit and investigation team indicated that the markets were congested.
He explained that different items were mixed up and sold at the same places making it difficult for fire personnel to extinguish fires because of the mixture of chemicals and other items.
Other key findings in the report, he said were that aged wiring of the markets, illegal connections, power outages, unprofessional way of wiring, faulty electrical wires, over loading of electrical power, cooking in the markets and negative human behavioural attitudes, caused most of the fires.
Mr Okoe added that most people had a very bad attitude towards the use of electrical appliances which they did not put off after use, hence leading to overheating, among other causes of fire.
Recommendations
He said the report recommended to the local assemblies to implement and enforce guidelines that had been adopted for the protection of markets against fire outbreaks.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Okoe said, adopted 13 guidelines as part of its measures to curb fire outbreaks in the metropolis.
He also called on the city authorities to collaborate with the Fire Service to establish fire posts at the various markets.
“The markets need to be rebuilt into modern ones by the city authorities in consultation with the Fire Service and not to be left for the traders to build,” he said.
In addition, he said the markets should be decongested and planned well to make them accessible for fire personnel in the event of fire outbreaks.
“As the city authorities collected tax from the traders, they should be able to re-wire the markets and also collaborate effectively with the Electricity Company of Ghana to check illegal connections,” he added.
GNFS warns of more market fires if .... Daily Graphic
THE Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has alerted assemblies that more fire outbreaks could occur at the markets if the recommended fire safety measures are not implemented.
According to the service, the recommendations made to the assemblies were intended to reduce potential fire risk at the marketplaces.
The GNFS made some recommendations to assemblies a few months ago after investigations into market fires to ensure that the markets were safe from potential fire risks.
Congestion, overage wiring, illegal connections, cooking at the markets and negative human behaviour were listed as some of the causes of the fires at the markets.
The GNFS recommended that water hydrants, rewiring, fire posts, alleys, fire defence systems, communication facilities to call the Fire Service, among others, be made available at the markets to make the fight against market fires easy.
A number of fire outbreaks were recorded at various markets across the country in the first half of the year, notable among which were the Kantamanto, Makola Number Two, Makola Shopping Mall and the Kumasi Central markets, leading to loss of property and livelihood worth millions of cedis.
However, during a media tour of the Kantamanto Market in Accra on Wednesday, it was revealed that the traders had returned to the wooden structures which had been burnt by the fire.
Also, the market did not have water hydrants, fire posts, communication facilities and alleys as recommended by the service.
A number of cooking activities were also going on at the market, while electrical sockets were overloaded at some areas, while there were illegal connections.
The challenges
Briefing the media after the tour, the Greater Accra Fire Officer, Mr Kwame Kwarteng, said the service faced serious challenges because it did not receive the needed cooperation from the various stakeholders and the public.
For instance, he said, during the fire outbreak at Kantamanto, the GNFS had to go through difficult situations before it could access the area to fight the fire.
Therefore, after the fire, he said, the GNFS expected that the local authorities would ensure that proper structures and fire safety measures were put in place to avoid future occurrence.
Mr Kwarteng indicted that the market had a mix of explosive and non-explosive materials which posed a serious threat to lives and property there.
He said the public, on many occasions, blamed the GNFS for delays in getting to fire scenes, which was mostly due to the problem of inaccessibility.
He also expressed worry over encroachment on water hydrants by traders, making it very difficult to access water to fight fires.
Recommendations
Therefore, Mr Kwarteng urged local authorities to vacate the slum areas and ensure that proper structures were put up with safety measures adopted.
He said the markets were overage and needed to be redesigned and rewired to contain the pressure of the growing population and also have some facilities.
He called for cooperation between stakeholders and the GNFS to ensure fire safety, prevention and protection.
According to the service, the recommendations made to the assemblies were intended to reduce potential fire risk at the marketplaces.
The GNFS made some recommendations to assemblies a few months ago after investigations into market fires to ensure that the markets were safe from potential fire risks.
Congestion, overage wiring, illegal connections, cooking at the markets and negative human behaviour were listed as some of the causes of the fires at the markets.
The GNFS recommended that water hydrants, rewiring, fire posts, alleys, fire defence systems, communication facilities to call the Fire Service, among others, be made available at the markets to make the fight against market fires easy.
A number of fire outbreaks were recorded at various markets across the country in the first half of the year, notable among which were the Kantamanto, Makola Number Two, Makola Shopping Mall and the Kumasi Central markets, leading to loss of property and livelihood worth millions of cedis.
However, during a media tour of the Kantamanto Market in Accra on Wednesday, it was revealed that the traders had returned to the wooden structures which had been burnt by the fire.
Also, the market did not have water hydrants, fire posts, communication facilities and alleys as recommended by the service.
A number of cooking activities were also going on at the market, while electrical sockets were overloaded at some areas, while there were illegal connections.
The challenges
Briefing the media after the tour, the Greater Accra Fire Officer, Mr Kwame Kwarteng, said the service faced serious challenges because it did not receive the needed cooperation from the various stakeholders and the public.
For instance, he said, during the fire outbreak at Kantamanto, the GNFS had to go through difficult situations before it could access the area to fight the fire.
Therefore, after the fire, he said, the GNFS expected that the local authorities would ensure that proper structures and fire safety measures were put in place to avoid future occurrence.
Mr Kwarteng indicted that the market had a mix of explosive and non-explosive materials which posed a serious threat to lives and property there.
He said the public, on many occasions, blamed the GNFS for delays in getting to fire scenes, which was mostly due to the problem of inaccessibility.
He also expressed worry over encroachment on water hydrants by traders, making it very difficult to access water to fight fires.
Recommendations
Therefore, Mr Kwarteng urged local authorities to vacate the slum areas and ensure that proper structures were put up with safety measures adopted.
He said the markets were overage and needed to be redesigned and rewired to contain the pressure of the growing population and also have some facilities.
He called for cooperation between stakeholders and the GNFS to ensure fire safety, prevention and protection.
Road accidents, killing more than diseases, Daily Graphic
AT LEAST 26,621 lives were lost through road accidents from January 2000 to September 2013, while about 70, 000 people sustained various degrees of injury within the same period.
According to statistics made available by the National Road Safety Commission, 20,503 lives were lost between January 2000 and December 2010 in road accidents that left 63,384 people injured.
On monthly basis, an average of 170 people died and 500 sufferred injuries in the period of the 10years.
Also, in the last two years, about 4,579 lives were lost as a result of road accidents, leaving more than 6,000 people injured and causing some people permanent injuries.
From January to September this year, 1,539 people had perished, while 9,741 others were injured in 10,558 reported road crashes nationwide.
The figures mean an average of 171 deaths occurred and 1,082 were injured in 1,113 crashes involving 1,084 vehicles monthly in the last nine months.
“National disaster”
Speaking at the Greater Accra Regional Road Safety Commission Awards, the Executive Director of National Road Safety Commission, Mrs May Obiri–Yeboah, stated that the issue of road accidents had become a matter of health concern because it killed people even more than diseases.
She said aside the victims, road accidents also caused trauma to the families and dependants of those who perish because most of the victims happen to be breadwinners.
Mrs Obiri–Yeboah sressed on the the need for attitudinal change among drivers and all road users.
Traffic regulations
For his part, the Greater Accra Regional Manager of NRSC, Mr Daniel H. Wuaku,
described the rate of accidents as a “national disaster”, and asked those in the transport sub-sector to go the extra mile to protect the lives of the travelling public.
With few a weeks to Christmas, Mr Wuaku urged drivers to ensure that their vehicles were road worthy and in good condition.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, (ACP Retd), Victor Tandoh, who chaired the event, urged the authorities, to correct all road defects.
He also encouraged passengers to be watchful and vigilant and alert drivers of their wrongful behaviours.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Regional Police Commander, DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, said the police deployed more personnel on the highway, to ensure safety.
Osu Oxford Street Mall has back to business
The Osu Oxford Street Mall has bounced back to business after the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) had given the green light for the mall to operate.
The mall was busy on Friday afternoon when the Daily Graphic visited the facility.
Customers were seen trooping in to purchase various merchandise.
Background
The AMA closed down the mall last Monday because it said the management of the mall had failed to acquire an occupancy certificate.
A notice posted on the entrance to the mall read, “Notice of Closure: This Building has not been issued occupancy certificate. Please contact the Accra Metropolitan Assembly for the certificate.”
But as of yesterday the notice had been removed.
Customers and workers of the mall who had reported for work last Monday were prevented from getting in by a private security.
Tenants of the mall, including Shoprite and Samsung, posted on their doors notices that read: “The shop has been temporarily closed. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
During the closure of the building, the AMA and the consultants to the project, Multicad, inspected it to ascertain whether the structure met the standards set by the city authorities.
The 13-storey mall has 27 shops, including Shoprite. Other tenants include Unibank and Golden Dragon Casino.
The issues
The Assistant Facility Manager, Mr Festus Boakye, in an interview, said the closure of the building was not due to the occupancy certificate, as speculated in the media, but rather the scaffold which was in front of the building.
He explained that the AMA, on seeing the scaffold, said the building was not safe for public use and, therefore, directed that whatever work was going on should be completed before the mall was opened.
After deliberations, he said, the management of the building agreed with the AMA to remove the scaffold to ensure public safety, adding that the owners had obtained a temporary occupancy certificate, while a permanent certificate was still being processed.
The mall
The 13-storey shopping mall and hotel complex, built by the Ghana Libyan Arab Holding Limited (GLAHCO), was opened for business early this month.
GLAHCO is a joint-venture between the Libyan Arab African Investment Company (LAAICO) and the government of Ghana.
The complex has 5,580 metre square of retail space, 650 metre square of restaurants and food courts, with two underground floors of car park.
GLAHCO has leased a portion of the new shopping mall to Shoprite, a supermarket chain, which is currently competing with other supermarkets such as the Koala Shopping Centre and Lara Mart, also located along the Oxford Street.
The mall was busy on Friday afternoon when the Daily Graphic visited the facility.
Customers were seen trooping in to purchase various merchandise.
Background
The AMA closed down the mall last Monday because it said the management of the mall had failed to acquire an occupancy certificate.
A notice posted on the entrance to the mall read, “Notice of Closure: This Building has not been issued occupancy certificate. Please contact the Accra Metropolitan Assembly for the certificate.”
But as of yesterday the notice had been removed.
Customers and workers of the mall who had reported for work last Monday were prevented from getting in by a private security.
Tenants of the mall, including Shoprite and Samsung, posted on their doors notices that read: “The shop has been temporarily closed. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
During the closure of the building, the AMA and the consultants to the project, Multicad, inspected it to ascertain whether the structure met the standards set by the city authorities.
The 13-storey mall has 27 shops, including Shoprite. Other tenants include Unibank and Golden Dragon Casino.
The issues
The Assistant Facility Manager, Mr Festus Boakye, in an interview, said the closure of the building was not due to the occupancy certificate, as speculated in the media, but rather the scaffold which was in front of the building.
He explained that the AMA, on seeing the scaffold, said the building was not safe for public use and, therefore, directed that whatever work was going on should be completed before the mall was opened.
After deliberations, he said, the management of the building agreed with the AMA to remove the scaffold to ensure public safety, adding that the owners had obtained a temporary occupancy certificate, while a permanent certificate was still being processed.
The mall
The 13-storey shopping mall and hotel complex, built by the Ghana Libyan Arab Holding Limited (GLAHCO), was opened for business early this month.
GLAHCO is a joint-venture between the Libyan Arab African Investment Company (LAAICO) and the government of Ghana.
The complex has 5,580 metre square of retail space, 650 metre square of restaurants and food courts, with two underground floors of car park.
GLAHCO has leased a portion of the new shopping mall to Shoprite, a supermarket chain, which is currently competing with other supermarkets such as the Koala Shopping Centre and Lara Mart, also located along the Oxford Street.
Poor funding affects quality of laboratory services
The Ghana Association of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists has stated that small amount of the national health insurance tariff paid to hospitals and the delays involved in paying the tariff have led to poor funding of medical laboratories.
The situation has forced medical laboratory scientists to re-use medical test tubes, run laboratory tests without controls and split medical test strips into two with scissors in order to serve more patients at the expense of the quality of the test result.
The President the association, Mr Prince Sodoke Amuzu, stated this at a media encounter as apart of the activities marking this year’s World Laboratory Science Day.
This year’s event is scheduled to take place on April 15, 2013.
The media encounter was aimed at educating journalists on the role of the biomedical laboratory scientist in the health service.
Mr Amuzu said medical laboratory scientists owed society a duty to use biomedical laboratory science for the benefit of humanity to enhance healthcare delivery.
However, he said most medical laboratories in the country lacked funds and adequate supplies of medical laboratory equipment and reagents to enhance their work.
“Many hospitals run short of medical laboratory supplies regularly, leaving some practitioners in a dilemma and leading to attempts to economise consumables,” he said.
Mr Amuzu said hospital management and procurement teams did not always seek the inclusion of qualified biomedical laboratory scientists when taking decisions concerning the provision of quality healthcare reagents and equipment.
He indicated that laboratory services were poorly understood, for which reason management turned to poorly fund the service, leading to poor quality health care.
“Suppliers lack the assistance of qualified professionals in selecting and evaluating medical laboratory products. Products of questionable quality sell cheaper and so they normally get widely used in the country,” he noted.
Mr Amuzu added that the association had decided to dialogue with the National Health Insurance Authority for a review of the bundle and capitation modules as they related to the provision of medical laboratory services.
The situation has forced medical laboratory scientists to re-use medical test tubes, run laboratory tests without controls and split medical test strips into two with scissors in order to serve more patients at the expense of the quality of the test result.
The President the association, Mr Prince Sodoke Amuzu, stated this at a media encounter as apart of the activities marking this year’s World Laboratory Science Day.
This year’s event is scheduled to take place on April 15, 2013.
The media encounter was aimed at educating journalists on the role of the biomedical laboratory scientist in the health service.
Mr Amuzu said medical laboratory scientists owed society a duty to use biomedical laboratory science for the benefit of humanity to enhance healthcare delivery.
However, he said most medical laboratories in the country lacked funds and adequate supplies of medical laboratory equipment and reagents to enhance their work.
“Many hospitals run short of medical laboratory supplies regularly, leaving some practitioners in a dilemma and leading to attempts to economise consumables,” he said.
Mr Amuzu said hospital management and procurement teams did not always seek the inclusion of qualified biomedical laboratory scientists when taking decisions concerning the provision of quality healthcare reagents and equipment.
He indicated that laboratory services were poorly understood, for which reason management turned to poorly fund the service, leading to poor quality health care.
“Suppliers lack the assistance of qualified professionals in selecting and evaluating medical laboratory products. Products of questionable quality sell cheaper and so they normally get widely used in the country,” he noted.
Mr Amuzu added that the association had decided to dialogue with the National Health Insurance Authority for a review of the bundle and capitation modules as they related to the provision of medical laboratory services.
Ghana on the way to eradicate polio
GHANA is recording successes in its efforts to eradicate poliomyelitis.
The last polio outbreak in the country, which were all imported cases, was recorded in 2008.
The last indigenous case was recorded in 2003.
The Programme Manager of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Kwadwo Odei Antwi, said this during a monitoring exercise of the June 2013 Polio Vaccination Campaign by the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, in the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region.
“Globally polio cases have reduced by 99 per cent since 1988 from an estimated 350,000 cases to 223 cases in 2012” he said.
As of 2013, he said, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan were the countries that remained polio endemic.
Dr Antwi said 45,000 volunteers and 4,500 supervisors were trained for this month’s three-day exercise to vaccinate children under five years.
For her part, Ms Ayittey said the government was in the process of establishing district hospitals with ultra modern facilities that would give quality health care to Ghanaians.
She promised to provide motorbikes for the 83 community health nurses in the district to help them travel the bad roads in rural communities.
The last polio outbreak in the country, which were all imported cases, was recorded in 2008.
The last indigenous case was recorded in 2003.
The Programme Manager of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Kwadwo Odei Antwi, said this during a monitoring exercise of the June 2013 Polio Vaccination Campaign by the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, in the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region.
“Globally polio cases have reduced by 99 per cent since 1988 from an estimated 350,000 cases to 223 cases in 2012” he said.
As of 2013, he said, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan were the countries that remained polio endemic.
Dr Antwi said 45,000 volunteers and 4,500 supervisors were trained for this month’s three-day exercise to vaccinate children under five years.
For her part, Ms Ayittey said the government was in the process of establishing district hospitals with ultra modern facilities that would give quality health care to Ghanaians.
She promised to provide motorbikes for the 83 community health nurses in the district to help them travel the bad roads in rural communities.
Medical fund for pensioners launched, Daily Graphic
A MEDICAL fund to cater for the health needs of members of the Ghana National Pensioners Association (NPA) has been launched.
The fund is intended to complement the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and provide funds for the health needs that are not covered by the NHIS.
Ageing makes pensioners vulnerable to all kinds of health conditions.
Speaking at the launch of the fund, the General Secretary of the NPA, Mr Edward Ameyibor, said members of the association would be levied an agreed amount monthly to generate revenue for the fund.
“Many pensioners suffer from sickness and diseases as a result of the work they retired from hence after retirement there are not enough funds to take care of their health,” Mr Ameyibor said.
The Pensioners Medical Fund, he said, could help the association to raise funds to cover the medical expenses of its members irrespective of the disease and the cost.
Mr Ameyibor explained that the initiative was not being sponsored by the government or the Social Security & National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
He said the fund would be administered by a special board that would invest the proceeds and take care of all other operations involved.
The medical fund for the NPA would start from next year after a gestation period of a year.
He called on pensioners who were not members of the NPA to join the association.
Mr Ameyibor urged members of the public and corporate bodies to support and donate to the Pensioners Medical Funds to help save pensioners.
The fund is intended to complement the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and provide funds for the health needs that are not covered by the NHIS.
Ageing makes pensioners vulnerable to all kinds of health conditions.
Speaking at the launch of the fund, the General Secretary of the NPA, Mr Edward Ameyibor, said members of the association would be levied an agreed amount monthly to generate revenue for the fund.
“Many pensioners suffer from sickness and diseases as a result of the work they retired from hence after retirement there are not enough funds to take care of their health,” Mr Ameyibor said.
The Pensioners Medical Fund, he said, could help the association to raise funds to cover the medical expenses of its members irrespective of the disease and the cost.
Mr Ameyibor explained that the initiative was not being sponsored by the government or the Social Security & National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
He said the fund would be administered by a special board that would invest the proceeds and take care of all other operations involved.
The medical fund for the NPA would start from next year after a gestation period of a year.
He called on pensioners who were not members of the NPA to join the association.
Mr Ameyibor urged members of the public and corporate bodies to support and donate to the Pensioners Medical Funds to help save pensioners.
‘Seek early diagnosis of sickle cell’ , Daily Graphic
Ghana joined the rest of the world to mark World Sickle Cell Day last Wednesday, with a call on the public to seek early diagnosis of sickle cell.
The day which is observed on June 19, every year, is to raise awareness for people to show affection to those who have the sickle cell disease and prevent the birth of more sickle cell patients where possible.
This year’s World Sickle Cell Day was on the theme: “Stop Stigmatisation, Know Your Status”.
Sickle Cell Disease is caused by the inheritance of two abnormal haemoglobin S. The presence of this abnormal state causes among other things, a sluggish flow of blood and its attendant effects.
Speaking at an event organised by the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation to mark the day, the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey encouraged early diagnosis to ensure that family and patient education was given to maintain good health at home and in the society.
“Early diagnosis allows health workers to educate parents about the special needs of the children and to begin preventive treatment before the children begin to develop complications of the disease” she stated.
She expressed gratitude and support for the work of the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation and commended Prof. Ohene-Frempong for initiating the Newborn Screening Project for sickle cell disease in Ghana .
In his address, Mr Obasanjo said more attention needed to be given to sickle cell because more than 80 per cent of those who suffered from the disease were Africans.
“It requires more attention because of the pain and suffering the victims go through and the timeliness” he said.
The President of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana, Professor Kwaku Ohene-Frempong said the disease contributes to about five per cent of under-five mortality rate in Africa, pointing to newborn screenings as key to sickle cell disease management, adding that children of sickle cell risked getting stroke.
He advised partners preparing to marry to check their sickle status before making babies to ensure that their children did not suffer from sickle cell.
Established in February 2013 by the Nigerian former president, Mr Olusegun Obasanjo, the Olusegun Obasanjo foundation supports organisations that address Africa’s most pressing problems.
The day which is observed on June 19, every year, is to raise awareness for people to show affection to those who have the sickle cell disease and prevent the birth of more sickle cell patients where possible.
This year’s World Sickle Cell Day was on the theme: “Stop Stigmatisation, Know Your Status”.
Sickle Cell Disease is caused by the inheritance of two abnormal haemoglobin S. The presence of this abnormal state causes among other things, a sluggish flow of blood and its attendant effects.
Speaking at an event organised by the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation to mark the day, the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey encouraged early diagnosis to ensure that family and patient education was given to maintain good health at home and in the society.
“Early diagnosis allows health workers to educate parents about the special needs of the children and to begin preventive treatment before the children begin to develop complications of the disease” she stated.
She expressed gratitude and support for the work of the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation and commended Prof. Ohene-Frempong for initiating the Newborn Screening Project for sickle cell disease in Ghana .
In his address, Mr Obasanjo said more attention needed to be given to sickle cell because more than 80 per cent of those who suffered from the disease were Africans.
“It requires more attention because of the pain and suffering the victims go through and the timeliness” he said.
The President of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana, Professor Kwaku Ohene-Frempong said the disease contributes to about five per cent of under-five mortality rate in Africa, pointing to newborn screenings as key to sickle cell disease management, adding that children of sickle cell risked getting stroke.
He advised partners preparing to marry to check their sickle status before making babies to ensure that their children did not suffer from sickle cell.
Established in February 2013 by the Nigerian former president, Mr Olusegun Obasanjo, the Olusegun Obasanjo foundation supports organisations that address Africa’s most pressing problems.
Achimota Hospital receives theatre equipment, Daily Graphic
MATERNAL health care delivery at the Achimota Hospital is expected to improve significantly since the hospital has received theatre equipment costing $70,00.
The equipment, which included an anaesthesia machine, operating table, patient monitors, radiant heat and diathermy machine, were funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Focus Region Health Project (FRHP).
The theatre equipment is for the facilitation of the modern maternal unit block at the Achimota Hospital which was completed in 2012 to increase access to maternal care and enhance quality maternal health care delivery.
At ceremony to hand over the equipment, the Medical Superintendent of the Achimota Hospital, Dr Mark M.K. Aglobitse, said the unit recorded 3,256 referral cases in 2011 and 2,278 in 2012, adding that “some of the cases referred outside could have been taken care of in the hospital if it had equipment”.
The absence of a theatre restrained the hospital from performing emergency and minor surgeries.
Some of the cases which could have been taken care of by the hospital, he said, included anaemia, epilepsy and long birth interval.
Dr Aglobitse also stated that the hospital procured 30 per cent of the items needed as well and added that it was also collaborating with the FRHP to construct an incinerator costing GHø40, 000 for the hospital.
He thanked the FRHP and USAID and expressed the hope that the cooperation between the two bodies would continue.
The Chief Party of the FRHP, Dr Edward Bonku, noted that the theatre facilities could help the hospital to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on Maternal Health.
He added that the equipment was part of the four-year development plan by the FRHP to support healthcare delivery in the country.
The whole programme, according to him, was being implemented at the cost of $ 40 million and funded by the USAID, and the goal was to address maternal- related issues, malaria, HIV, nutrition in children and family planning, among others
The equipment, which included an anaesthesia machine, operating table, patient monitors, radiant heat and diathermy machine, were funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Focus Region Health Project (FRHP).
The theatre equipment is for the facilitation of the modern maternal unit block at the Achimota Hospital which was completed in 2012 to increase access to maternal care and enhance quality maternal health care delivery.
At ceremony to hand over the equipment, the Medical Superintendent of the Achimota Hospital, Dr Mark M.K. Aglobitse, said the unit recorded 3,256 referral cases in 2011 and 2,278 in 2012, adding that “some of the cases referred outside could have been taken care of in the hospital if it had equipment”.
The absence of a theatre restrained the hospital from performing emergency and minor surgeries.
Some of the cases which could have been taken care of by the hospital, he said, included anaemia, epilepsy and long birth interval.
Dr Aglobitse also stated that the hospital procured 30 per cent of the items needed as well and added that it was also collaborating with the FRHP to construct an incinerator costing GHø40, 000 for the hospital.
He thanked the FRHP and USAID and expressed the hope that the cooperation between the two bodies would continue.
The Chief Party of the FRHP, Dr Edward Bonku, noted that the theatre facilities could help the hospital to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on Maternal Health.
He added that the equipment was part of the four-year development plan by the FRHP to support healthcare delivery in the country.
The whole programme, according to him, was being implemented at the cost of $ 40 million and funded by the USAID, and the goal was to address maternal- related issues, malaria, HIV, nutrition in children and family planning, among others
Micronutrient deficiency: Major public health problem, Daily Graphic
HEALTH experts have explained that micronutrient deficiency is a major public health problem that affect the health and growth and development of particularly women and children. The three commonest micronutrient deficiencies belong to iron, iodine and vitamin A.
Poor nutrition, low intake of vitamin A-rich foods and infectious diseases such as diarrhea and measles are the most common cause of vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Infants, young children and pregnant women especially in low-income countries are more susceptible to VAD. In addition because breast milk is a good source of vitamin A, encouraging breast feeding is an important strategy to prevent VAD in infants.
Speaking at the Ghana Coalition of Civil Society Organisation for Scaling Up Nutrition (GHACCSSUN) members and stakeholders consultation on the National Nutrition Policy dialogue in Accra, the Director of the Nutrition Department Ghana Health Service, Mrs Wilhelmina Okwabi explained that Vitamin “A” deficiency was 70 per cent in children under five while iodine deficiency was 40 per cent in school aged children.
National Nutrition Policy
The National Nutrition Policy, which is yet to be validated and endorsed by parliament, will serve as a guide to help the government to ensure optimal nutrition of all people living in the country and also promote child survival and enhance capacity for economic growth and development.
Mrs Okwabi added that Iron deficiency coupled with the high incidence of malaria led to very high prevalence of anaemia, especially among women, representing 59 per cent and children 57 per cent.
At birth, she said, close to 11 per cent of children weighed less than 2,500g, adding that the 2011 Ghana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey indicated that nearly one in every four children (23 per cent) was moderately or severely stunted and seven per cent were severely stunted (too short for age).
She noted that there was also a high prevalence of over weight and obesity, which was related to the increasing incidence of diet-related non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular diseases.
She underscored the need to properly address the issue of low nutritional status of women and children in the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and the Central regions since they recorded poor nutrition status.
Outlining the way forward, she called for co-ordination and harmonisation among the relevant officials including Government Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and non-governmental institutions.
Adequate funding and human capacity, she mentioned, were also some relevant areas that could lead to the improvement of the nutrition status of the people of Ghana.
Access to services
In addition, access to services such as healthcare, potable water, sanitation, social protection and agricultural extension could also lead to the improvement in one’s nutritional status.
In her presentation, the United Nations Reach facilitator, Mrs Victoria Wise, said exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, Improvement in maternal nutrition, supplementary feeding support for smallholder farmers and increase micronutrient intake were some of the key issues to nutritional values.
According to the Co-ordinator of GHACCSSUN, Nana Ayim Poakwah, the National Nutrition Policy would seek to address some of the strategic challenges by coming up with strategies which would increase both financial and human resources in all sectors for improved nutrition.
He urged the various representatives of the civil society organisations to embark on the necessary advocacy and campaign activities adding that monitoring the exercise across the country would ensure that the policy was fully implemented.
Poor nutrition, low intake of vitamin A-rich foods and infectious diseases such as diarrhea and measles are the most common cause of vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Infants, young children and pregnant women especially in low-income countries are more susceptible to VAD. In addition because breast milk is a good source of vitamin A, encouraging breast feeding is an important strategy to prevent VAD in infants.
Speaking at the Ghana Coalition of Civil Society Organisation for Scaling Up Nutrition (GHACCSSUN) members and stakeholders consultation on the National Nutrition Policy dialogue in Accra, the Director of the Nutrition Department Ghana Health Service, Mrs Wilhelmina Okwabi explained that Vitamin “A” deficiency was 70 per cent in children under five while iodine deficiency was 40 per cent in school aged children.
National Nutrition Policy
The National Nutrition Policy, which is yet to be validated and endorsed by parliament, will serve as a guide to help the government to ensure optimal nutrition of all people living in the country and also promote child survival and enhance capacity for economic growth and development.
Mrs Okwabi added that Iron deficiency coupled with the high incidence of malaria led to very high prevalence of anaemia, especially among women, representing 59 per cent and children 57 per cent.
At birth, she said, close to 11 per cent of children weighed less than 2,500g, adding that the 2011 Ghana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey indicated that nearly one in every four children (23 per cent) was moderately or severely stunted and seven per cent were severely stunted (too short for age).
She noted that there was also a high prevalence of over weight and obesity, which was related to the increasing incidence of diet-related non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular diseases.
She underscored the need to properly address the issue of low nutritional status of women and children in the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and the Central regions since they recorded poor nutrition status.
Outlining the way forward, she called for co-ordination and harmonisation among the relevant officials including Government Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and non-governmental institutions.
Adequate funding and human capacity, she mentioned, were also some relevant areas that could lead to the improvement of the nutrition status of the people of Ghana.
Access to services
In addition, access to services such as healthcare, potable water, sanitation, social protection and agricultural extension could also lead to the improvement in one’s nutritional status.
In her presentation, the United Nations Reach facilitator, Mrs Victoria Wise, said exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, Improvement in maternal nutrition, supplementary feeding support for smallholder farmers and increase micronutrient intake were some of the key issues to nutritional values.
According to the Co-ordinator of GHACCSSUN, Nana Ayim Poakwah, the National Nutrition Policy would seek to address some of the strategic challenges by coming up with strategies which would increase both financial and human resources in all sectors for improved nutrition.
He urged the various representatives of the civil society organisations to embark on the necessary advocacy and campaign activities adding that monitoring the exercise across the country would ensure that the policy was fully implemented.
AIDS Research Conference underway in Accra, Daily Graphic
THE 2013 National HIV and AIDS Research Conference (NHARCON) to assess the current HIV situation in the country has opened in Accra.
The four-day conference which is on the theme: “Utilising Strategic Information for an Effective National Response, is organised by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), in collaboration with its partners.
Participants in the conference would also use the platform to evaluate recent scientific developments, lessons learnt and discuss ways to improve the national HIV and AIDS response.
Background to the conference
Ghana is one of five countries in sub-Saharan Africa whose HIV prevalence declined by more than 52 per cent between 2001 and 2010 among young people aged between 15-24, according to a UNAIDS 2011 report. The national HIV prevalence declined from 3.6 per cent in 2003 to 1.37 per cent in 2013. Prevalence among sex workers had reduced from 35 per cent in 2006 to 11 per cent in 2011.
HIV infection estimates currently show that in 2012, 235,982 persons were living with HIV, 27,734 being children. An estimated 7,138 new infections were recorded as well as 11,655 AIDS deaths and 852 new child infections in the same year.
In the area of treatment, there had been an increase in Persons living with HIV, who received anti-retroviral medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV from 50 per cent coverage in 2011 to 70 per cent in 2012.
Director-General of GAC
Speaking at the opening ceremony last Tuesday, the Director-General of GAC, Dr Angela El-Adas, said the country’s quest to reach zero new infections, zero AIDS related deaths and zero discrimination by 2015, was attainable.
“Unfortunately, we will experience a reversal of the current trends if we do not keep HIV high on our National Development Agenda,” Dr El-Adas cautioned.
She, therefore, called for accelerated national efforts to tackle the difficult areas of the pandemic.
Country Progress
The United Nations AIDS Country Co-ordinator, Mr Girmay Haile, commended the country for having made progress in reducing the incidence of HIV infections, discrimination and AIDS-related deaths.
In his address, the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Mr Paul Victor Obeng, commended the commission and its stakeholders for the success story achieved.
He noted that the country had not only made progress in the prevalence indicator but also in the area of treatment and prevention interventions.
The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, encouraged the exploration of traditional herbal medicines in the search for interventions for HIV and AIDS.
The four-day conference which is on the theme: “Utilising Strategic Information for an Effective National Response, is organised by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), in collaboration with its partners.
Participants in the conference would also use the platform to evaluate recent scientific developments, lessons learnt and discuss ways to improve the national HIV and AIDS response.
Background to the conference
Ghana is one of five countries in sub-Saharan Africa whose HIV prevalence declined by more than 52 per cent between 2001 and 2010 among young people aged between 15-24, according to a UNAIDS 2011 report. The national HIV prevalence declined from 3.6 per cent in 2003 to 1.37 per cent in 2013. Prevalence among sex workers had reduced from 35 per cent in 2006 to 11 per cent in 2011.
HIV infection estimates currently show that in 2012, 235,982 persons were living with HIV, 27,734 being children. An estimated 7,138 new infections were recorded as well as 11,655 AIDS deaths and 852 new child infections in the same year.
In the area of treatment, there had been an increase in Persons living with HIV, who received anti-retroviral medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV from 50 per cent coverage in 2011 to 70 per cent in 2012.
Director-General of GAC
Speaking at the opening ceremony last Tuesday, the Director-General of GAC, Dr Angela El-Adas, said the country’s quest to reach zero new infections, zero AIDS related deaths and zero discrimination by 2015, was attainable.
“Unfortunately, we will experience a reversal of the current trends if we do not keep HIV high on our National Development Agenda,” Dr El-Adas cautioned.
She, therefore, called for accelerated national efforts to tackle the difficult areas of the pandemic.
Country Progress
The United Nations AIDS Country Co-ordinator, Mr Girmay Haile, commended the country for having made progress in reducing the incidence of HIV infections, discrimination and AIDS-related deaths.
In his address, the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Mr Paul Victor Obeng, commended the commission and its stakeholders for the success story achieved.
He noted that the country had not only made progress in the prevalence indicator but also in the area of treatment and prevention interventions.
The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, encouraged the exploration of traditional herbal medicines in the search for interventions for HIV and AIDS.
Health agencies sign contract with Ministry, Daily Graphic
The Ministry of Health and its agencies have signed performance contracts which would serve as the basis for assessing their performance.
By their respective contracts, the agencies have committed themselves to achieving specific targets.
The contract would also guide them in the implementation of their goals to feed into the national health sector goals.
Nineteen heads of the health sector agencies including the Ghana Health Services, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), the Food and Drugs Board, signed the agreement in Accra on Wednesday.
The performance contract is a new concept adopted at all levels of government and its agencies to promote transparency, accountability and good governance.
The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, said the contract would be assessed on a number of deliverables including the programmes, projects and management of the agencies.
Highlighting management, she called on the agencies to check the bloated payroll, adopt measures to avoid wastage and improve productivity of the health workforce.
She stated that the health sector played a sensitive role in the socio-economic development of the country and could, therefore, not be neglected.
For that reason, she said the sector received the chunk of the government’s budget, which should be accounted for.
She added that agencies which would be able to achieve their target would be rewarded.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NHIA, Mr Sylvester Mensah, in his remarks said the performance contract should be reviewed regularly to help them achieve the needed results.
By their respective contracts, the agencies have committed themselves to achieving specific targets.
The contract would also guide them in the implementation of their goals to feed into the national health sector goals.
Nineteen heads of the health sector agencies including the Ghana Health Services, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), the Food and Drugs Board, signed the agreement in Accra on Wednesday.
The performance contract is a new concept adopted at all levels of government and its agencies to promote transparency, accountability and good governance.
The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, said the contract would be assessed on a number of deliverables including the programmes, projects and management of the agencies.
Highlighting management, she called on the agencies to check the bloated payroll, adopt measures to avoid wastage and improve productivity of the health workforce.
She stated that the health sector played a sensitive role in the socio-economic development of the country and could, therefore, not be neglected.
For that reason, she said the sector received the chunk of the government’s budget, which should be accounted for.
She added that agencies which would be able to achieve their target would be rewarded.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NHIA, Mr Sylvester Mensah, in his remarks said the performance contract should be reviewed regularly to help them achieve the needed results.
‘Unhealthy lifestyles cause heart diseases’, Daily Graphic
LIFESTYLES such as the eating of fatty foods and smoking have been found to be increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) among Ghanaians, the National Cardiothoracic Centre has said.
According to the centre, more than eight per cent of adults in Ghana are currently hypertensive and diabetic as a result of the increased adoption of unhealthy lifestyles.
The Director of the National Cardiothoracic Centre, Dr Lawrence A. Sereboe, said data available pointed to the fact that lifestyles which increased the risk of CVDs, such as eating of fatty foods and smoking, were increasing at an alarming rate in the country.
Briefing journalists after a health walk through the principal streets of Accra to mark this year’s World Heart Day on Saturday, Dr Sereboe advised people to increase physical activity and take more healthy diets with lots of vegetables and fruits.
Oily and fatty foods, salt and sugar and smoking must be avoided, he advised.
The event was jointly organised by the Heart Federation, Ghana Health Services, Ghana Heart Foundation, World Health Organisation and the National Cardiothoracic Centre to create awareness on the importance of preventing and controlling CVDs through healthy lifestyles.
A free health screening exercise was also organised by the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) to mark the occasion.
World Heart Day
The World Heart Day was created in 2000 by the World Heart Federation to educate people about CVDs.
CVDs and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each year, and the numbers keep rising.
According to the World Heart Federation, by 2030, it is expected that 23 million people will die from CVDs annually.
This year’s theme laid emphasis on the prevention and control of CVDs, with a focus on women and children.
Dr Sereboe said CVDs, which included heart disease, diabetes and stroke, claim more lives than malaria, cancer and HIV and AIDS.
To prevent exposure to risk factors, he said, there is the need for regular blood pressure check-ups since high blood pressure, otherwise known as the ‘silent killer,’ is one of the causes of CVDs.
Disease of Women
According to Dr Sereboe, heart disease was the number one killer among women around the world, adding that more than 8.6 million of them die of CVD each year.
“The risk of dying or becoming seriously unwell due to heart disease and stroke is also largely under-estimated in women,” he said.
He stressed that women with diabetes were at a higher risk of dying from CVDs than men.
“CVD risk can begin before birth, during foetal development, and increases further during childhood with exposure to unhealthy diet,” he noted.
High blood pressure during pregnancy, he said, could also result in increased risk in CVD after giving birth.
Dr Sereboe called for the protection of children against heart diseases and stroke which, he said, could be done by ensuring that they lived healthy lives in their formative years.
Ms Joyce Dongortey, a radio presenter popularly known as Akumaa Mama Zimbi, who is the brand ambassador for this years’ World Heart Day, urged women to ensure that their families were healthy and free from oily and fatty foods.
As the ones responsible for the home, she said, women needed to teach their children to adopt healthy lifestyles.
According to the centre, more than eight per cent of adults in Ghana are currently hypertensive and diabetic as a result of the increased adoption of unhealthy lifestyles.
The Director of the National Cardiothoracic Centre, Dr Lawrence A. Sereboe, said data available pointed to the fact that lifestyles which increased the risk of CVDs, such as eating of fatty foods and smoking, were increasing at an alarming rate in the country.
Briefing journalists after a health walk through the principal streets of Accra to mark this year’s World Heart Day on Saturday, Dr Sereboe advised people to increase physical activity and take more healthy diets with lots of vegetables and fruits.
Oily and fatty foods, salt and sugar and smoking must be avoided, he advised.
The event was jointly organised by the Heart Federation, Ghana Health Services, Ghana Heart Foundation, World Health Organisation and the National Cardiothoracic Centre to create awareness on the importance of preventing and controlling CVDs through healthy lifestyles.
A free health screening exercise was also organised by the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) to mark the occasion.
World Heart Day
The World Heart Day was created in 2000 by the World Heart Federation to educate people about CVDs.
CVDs and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each year, and the numbers keep rising.
According to the World Heart Federation, by 2030, it is expected that 23 million people will die from CVDs annually.
This year’s theme laid emphasis on the prevention and control of CVDs, with a focus on women and children.
Dr Sereboe said CVDs, which included heart disease, diabetes and stroke, claim more lives than malaria, cancer and HIV and AIDS.
To prevent exposure to risk factors, he said, there is the need for regular blood pressure check-ups since high blood pressure, otherwise known as the ‘silent killer,’ is one of the causes of CVDs.
Disease of Women
According to Dr Sereboe, heart disease was the number one killer among women around the world, adding that more than 8.6 million of them die of CVD each year.
“The risk of dying or becoming seriously unwell due to heart disease and stroke is also largely under-estimated in women,” he said.
He stressed that women with diabetes were at a higher risk of dying from CVDs than men.
“CVD risk can begin before birth, during foetal development, and increases further during childhood with exposure to unhealthy diet,” he noted.
High blood pressure during pregnancy, he said, could also result in increased risk in CVD after giving birth.
Dr Sereboe called for the protection of children against heart diseases and stroke which, he said, could be done by ensuring that they lived healthy lives in their formative years.
Ms Joyce Dongortey, a radio presenter popularly known as Akumaa Mama Zimbi, who is the brand ambassador for this years’ World Heart Day, urged women to ensure that their families were healthy and free from oily and fatty foods.
As the ones responsible for the home, she said, women needed to teach their children to adopt healthy lifestyles.
Vets call for national rabies vaccination, Daily Graphic
THE Ghana Veterinary Medical Association (GVMA) has called for a nationwide vaccination to reduce the incidents of rabies in the country.
According to the association, the country is an endemic area for rabies and, therefore, asked the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to act swiftly by undertaking a free and compulsory nationwide vaccination to control it.
Statistics by the GVMA indicates that 25 people died after being bitten by rabies-infested dogs between January 2009 and July 2011. The Veterinary Service Department has recorded 67 cases this year.
Also, in the 2011 report of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, dog bites ranked third after road accidents and assaults. The hospital recorded 100 dog bites in 2009 and 255 in 2010 but the figure dropped to 217 in 2011.
Rabies is a highly fatal viral disease of humans and all other warm-blooded animals. The virus is present in the saliva of the infected animal and is generally transmitted when the victim is bitten by a diseased animal, most commonly dogs and cats.
At a ceremony to mark the World Rabies Day in Accra which falls on September 28, the President of GVMA, Dr Osei Agyemang Bonsu, stated that the disease was preventable if dogs were vaccinated regularly.
The World Rabies day
The World Rabies Day which falls on September 28, was set aside by the World Animal Health Organization (OIE), African Union Inter- African Bureau for Animals Resources (AU-IBAR) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
The day is also celebrated to create awareness of the disease.
Dr Bonsu indicated that the last time a nationwide campaign was held was between 1977 and 1981.
He said because of lack of funds, the country had not conducted any survey on the disease, which also made it difficult for health officials to get real figures, data and prevalence rates.
For his part, the Director of Veterinary Service Department, Dr Philip Salia, said some countries had implemented vigilant control measures to address and reduce the risk of infection.
Some of the measures include surveillance and reporting of suspected cases of rabies in animals; vaccination programmes for domestic animals; research into disease dynamics; vaccines and effective delivery mechanisms for target populations.
Others are rabies control programmes including population control and vaccination programmes for stray animals.
Children are mostly the victims
Dr Salia also said that the country was marking the day with a sensitisation programme nationwide for pupils in the basic schools.
“Schoolchildren are the most vulnerable when it comes to dog bite cases and rabies. They come into contact with stray dogs frequently” he stated.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), out of the 55,000 people who die of rabies each year, about 30 to 60 per cent of them were children under the age 15.
How to deal with dog bites
As first aid, people who are bitten by dogs are advised to wash the surface of the wound with soap and water after which they should seek medical care.
The veterinary authorities in the area should also be informed to observe and examine the suspected rabid dogs and cats.
Rabid dog bites could kill a person within three months. However, the best prevention and protection is the regular vaccination of the dogs who are “human companions”.
According to the association, the country is an endemic area for rabies and, therefore, asked the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to act swiftly by undertaking a free and compulsory nationwide vaccination to control it.
Statistics by the GVMA indicates that 25 people died after being bitten by rabies-infested dogs between January 2009 and July 2011. The Veterinary Service Department has recorded 67 cases this year.
Also, in the 2011 report of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, dog bites ranked third after road accidents and assaults. The hospital recorded 100 dog bites in 2009 and 255 in 2010 but the figure dropped to 217 in 2011.
Rabies is a highly fatal viral disease of humans and all other warm-blooded animals. The virus is present in the saliva of the infected animal and is generally transmitted when the victim is bitten by a diseased animal, most commonly dogs and cats.
At a ceremony to mark the World Rabies Day in Accra which falls on September 28, the President of GVMA, Dr Osei Agyemang Bonsu, stated that the disease was preventable if dogs were vaccinated regularly.
The World Rabies day
The World Rabies Day which falls on September 28, was set aside by the World Animal Health Organization (OIE), African Union Inter- African Bureau for Animals Resources (AU-IBAR) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
The day is also celebrated to create awareness of the disease.
Dr Bonsu indicated that the last time a nationwide campaign was held was between 1977 and 1981.
He said because of lack of funds, the country had not conducted any survey on the disease, which also made it difficult for health officials to get real figures, data and prevalence rates.
For his part, the Director of Veterinary Service Department, Dr Philip Salia, said some countries had implemented vigilant control measures to address and reduce the risk of infection.
Some of the measures include surveillance and reporting of suspected cases of rabies in animals; vaccination programmes for domestic animals; research into disease dynamics; vaccines and effective delivery mechanisms for target populations.
Others are rabies control programmes including population control and vaccination programmes for stray animals.
Children are mostly the victims
Dr Salia also said that the country was marking the day with a sensitisation programme nationwide for pupils in the basic schools.
“Schoolchildren are the most vulnerable when it comes to dog bite cases and rabies. They come into contact with stray dogs frequently” he stated.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), out of the 55,000 people who die of rabies each year, about 30 to 60 per cent of them were children under the age 15.
How to deal with dog bites
As first aid, people who are bitten by dogs are advised to wash the surface of the wound with soap and water after which they should seek medical care.
The veterinary authorities in the area should also be informed to observe and examine the suspected rabid dogs and cats.
Rabid dog bites could kill a person within three months. However, the best prevention and protection is the regular vaccination of the dogs who are “human companions”.
KBTH junior nurses demonstrate , Daily Graphic
Junior nurses at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra yesterday staged a demonstration against management of the hospital for the non-payment of their salaries and allowances for 21 months.
Wearing red bands and chanting songs, the over 600 aggrieved nurses marched in front of the hospital’s administration block.
In a petition presented to the acting Chief Executive of KBTH, Reverend Albert O. Botchway, the nurses said they had not been paid their salaries or allowances since they were employed, a development which they described in their petition as “our painful situation”.
“Expectedly we have reached our limits and we cannot stretch further; to stretch further means to break harder beyond repairs,” they stated in the petition.
They, therefore, called for a memorandum of understanding to be signed between them and management, spelling out the timelines for the payment of their arrears.
“We want them to sign an MOU with us because we cannot continue to work with all these uncertainties. We have petitioned various key stakeholders including the President and Speaker of Parliament but we have not had any response,” Mr Abdul Salam Mohammed, a leader of the aggrieved nurses, said.
A nurse who did not want to be named told the Daily Graphic that each of them was owned between GH29, 000 and GH35,000 in arrears.
Management response
However, at an emergency meeting among the executive of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA), the management of KBTH and leaders of the agitated group of nurses, the Korle-Bu management said cheques had been issued for their September salary.
Rev Botchway said management would consult the government and other stakeholders to discuss the payment of the arrears, having paid the September salary with part of the hospital’s Internally Generated Funds, upon a government directive.
Though no agreement was documented, the President of the GRNA, Mr Kweku Asare-Krobea, appealed to his colleagues to accept management’s proposal to be given a month for it to finalise negotiations for the payment of the arrears.
Nurses react
Some of the nurses said they would not resume work until their full salaries and allowances had been paid because the one month’s salary paid to them was a pittance.
“I have a baby to take care of, but I leave her home every day to come to work and at the end of the month I go home without any salary, the situation is now unbearable,” one of them said.
Wearing red bands and chanting songs, the over 600 aggrieved nurses marched in front of the hospital’s administration block.
In a petition presented to the acting Chief Executive of KBTH, Reverend Albert O. Botchway, the nurses said they had not been paid their salaries or allowances since they were employed, a development which they described in their petition as “our painful situation”.
“Expectedly we have reached our limits and we cannot stretch further; to stretch further means to break harder beyond repairs,” they stated in the petition.
They, therefore, called for a memorandum of understanding to be signed between them and management, spelling out the timelines for the payment of their arrears.
“We want them to sign an MOU with us because we cannot continue to work with all these uncertainties. We have petitioned various key stakeholders including the President and Speaker of Parliament but we have not had any response,” Mr Abdul Salam Mohammed, a leader of the aggrieved nurses, said.
A nurse who did not want to be named told the Daily Graphic that each of them was owned between GH29, 000 and GH35,000 in arrears.
Management response
However, at an emergency meeting among the executive of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA), the management of KBTH and leaders of the agitated group of nurses, the Korle-Bu management said cheques had been issued for their September salary.
Rev Botchway said management would consult the government and other stakeholders to discuss the payment of the arrears, having paid the September salary with part of the hospital’s Internally Generated Funds, upon a government directive.
Though no agreement was documented, the President of the GRNA, Mr Kweku Asare-Krobea, appealed to his colleagues to accept management’s proposal to be given a month for it to finalise negotiations for the payment of the arrears.
Nurses react
Some of the nurses said they would not resume work until their full salaries and allowances had been paid because the one month’s salary paid to them was a pittance.
“I have a baby to take care of, but I leave her home every day to come to work and at the end of the month I go home without any salary, the situation is now unbearable,” one of them said.
Have confidence in healthcare system - Sherry Ayittey , Daily Graphic
The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, has asked Ghanaians to have confidence in the country’s health system and stop travelling abroad for the treatment of illnesses that can be treated locally.
She said the government’s programme to refurbish and re-equip the three teaching hospitals to enhance healthcare delivery was on course.
Already, she said, some modern facilities had been installed at those hospitals, while some of their departments had been refurbished.
The three teaching hospitals are the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi and the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH).
Taking her turn at the meet-the-press series in Accra yesterday, Ms Ayittey said the hospitals were being equipped with modern diagnostic machines which could detect diseases and all kinds of ailments.
The re-equipping of the teaching hospitals, she stated, was essential, since they served as referral hospitals for the northern, central and southern parts of the country.
Projects
Giving details on some ongoing projects in the hospitals, Ms Ayittey said the Dental Department of KBTH has being refitted with eight new dental treatment units.
Already, new X-ray machines had been installed, she said.
The Children’s Theatre, which was closed down for about eight years, had been expanded and re-equipped to give children the needed care, she said, adding that the ward for stroke patients (Ward K) has also been refurbished and equipped.
On KATH, Ms Ayittey said the hospital had undergone a facelift in terms of infrastructure development and the provision of modern equipment.
She listed some new equipment installed at the hospital as mammography machines at the Radiology Department, a refrigerator and centrifuge machine at the newly created blood bank, as well as new machines for dialysis.
Others are the Datex Ohmeda Anesthetic machine, a sysmex hematology analyser machine, defibrillator and prefusor machines, new institutional clinical services, among many others.
The TTH, the minister said, had also witnessed renovation, expansion and re-equipping.
That, she said, included the installation of a state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, CT scan machines, digital X-ray machines and the construction of a new four-storey building linking the existing hospital structure.
With an ultrasound facility in a van and other mobile health facilities, Ms Ayittey said, the TTH had occasionally organised outreach programmes in the three northern regions which had helped to take medical treatment to the rural areas.
Midwives
The Health Minister said efforts were being made to train more midwives because about 40 per cent of those at post would go on retirement in the next 10 years.
She announced that her outfit was collaborating with the African Union to get certification from the World Health Organisation for local industries to manufacture drugs for the international market.
Ms Ayittey advised the public to avoid self medication and purchase certified drugs from accredited pharmacies.
Salaries
Touching on the salaries of medical personnel, she said the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) was negotiating the salaries of doctors, while junior nurses were being taken care of by their respective hospitals.
She added that an exercise was underway to clean the payroll of all ‘ghost’ names in the health sector.
She said the government’s programme to refurbish and re-equip the three teaching hospitals to enhance healthcare delivery was on course.
Already, she said, some modern facilities had been installed at those hospitals, while some of their departments had been refurbished.
The three teaching hospitals are the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi and the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH).
Taking her turn at the meet-the-press series in Accra yesterday, Ms Ayittey said the hospitals were being equipped with modern diagnostic machines which could detect diseases and all kinds of ailments.
The re-equipping of the teaching hospitals, she stated, was essential, since they served as referral hospitals for the northern, central and southern parts of the country.
Projects
Giving details on some ongoing projects in the hospitals, Ms Ayittey said the Dental Department of KBTH has being refitted with eight new dental treatment units.
Already, new X-ray machines had been installed, she said.
The Children’s Theatre, which was closed down for about eight years, had been expanded and re-equipped to give children the needed care, she said, adding that the ward for stroke patients (Ward K) has also been refurbished and equipped.
On KATH, Ms Ayittey said the hospital had undergone a facelift in terms of infrastructure development and the provision of modern equipment.
She listed some new equipment installed at the hospital as mammography machines at the Radiology Department, a refrigerator and centrifuge machine at the newly created blood bank, as well as new machines for dialysis.
Others are the Datex Ohmeda Anesthetic machine, a sysmex hematology analyser machine, defibrillator and prefusor machines, new institutional clinical services, among many others.
The TTH, the minister said, had also witnessed renovation, expansion and re-equipping.
That, she said, included the installation of a state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, CT scan machines, digital X-ray machines and the construction of a new four-storey building linking the existing hospital structure.
With an ultrasound facility in a van and other mobile health facilities, Ms Ayittey said, the TTH had occasionally organised outreach programmes in the three northern regions which had helped to take medical treatment to the rural areas.
Midwives
The Health Minister said efforts were being made to train more midwives because about 40 per cent of those at post would go on retirement in the next 10 years.
She announced that her outfit was collaborating with the African Union to get certification from the World Health Organisation for local industries to manufacture drugs for the international market.
Ms Ayittey advised the public to avoid self medication and purchase certified drugs from accredited pharmacies.
Salaries
Touching on the salaries of medical personnel, she said the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) was negotiating the salaries of doctors, while junior nurses were being taken care of by their respective hospitals.
She added that an exercise was underway to clean the payroll of all ‘ghost’ names in the health sector.
Accra hospitals hold peer review exercise, Daily Graphic
THE Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate has organised a peer review exercise to monitor and assess the health care systems and services in some hospitals in the region.
The programme is to help determine whether the hospitals are adhering to the tenets of the health care delivery, as espoused in the principles and standard of the Ghana Health Service.
Among the checklist are the physical structures, environment, the care and services, quality improvement initiatives and staff occupational health and safety issues of the hospital.
The hospitals include the Achimota Hospital, Mamprobi Hospital, Tema General Hospital and Amansaman Hospital.
At a ceremony to review the La General Hospital, the Deputy Director of Clinical Care, Mrs Sarah Amissah-Bamfo, explained that the peer review exercise was to ensure continuous quality improvement in activities in the various hospitals.
She added that the monitors were made up of laboratory scientists, doctors, accountants and pharmacists, among others, from the various hospitals.
More than 70 per cent scores, she said, was expected as the pass mark. She added that so far there had been satisfactory results from the already reviewed hospitals.
For instance, she said the Achimota Hospital scored more that 90 per cent, while the Mamprobi hospital also scored about 80 per cent after their assessment
She said stakeholders were still working hard to ensure that the best three hospitals with the highest scores were awarded.
Giving the hospital report in 2012, the Acting Medical Superintendent, Dr Anfu Okine, said the hospital received a total of 75,211 OPD cases while there were 10,118 admissions.
A total of 4479 deliveries, she said, were recorded at the maternity department, of which 1132 were by caesarian section. There were 11 maternal deaths.
This year, she said they had recorded six maternal deaths.
Touching on the achievement of the hospital, Dr Okine said a new patient washroom and incinerator had been constructed while there had also been a reduction of maternal mortality by 50 per cent. An anaesthesia machine and other operating beds have also been acquired.
Mentioning some of the challenges of the hospital, she said the OPD, maternity and children wards were congested and added that there was inadequate infrastructure.
Despite all the challenges, she said, the hospitals scored above 75 per cent last year, which was satisfactory. He expressed the hope that they would meet the standard set by the Ghana Health service this time round.
The programme is to help determine whether the hospitals are adhering to the tenets of the health care delivery, as espoused in the principles and standard of the Ghana Health Service.
Among the checklist are the physical structures, environment, the care and services, quality improvement initiatives and staff occupational health and safety issues of the hospital.
The hospitals include the Achimota Hospital, Mamprobi Hospital, Tema General Hospital and Amansaman Hospital.
At a ceremony to review the La General Hospital, the Deputy Director of Clinical Care, Mrs Sarah Amissah-Bamfo, explained that the peer review exercise was to ensure continuous quality improvement in activities in the various hospitals.
She added that the monitors were made up of laboratory scientists, doctors, accountants and pharmacists, among others, from the various hospitals.
More than 70 per cent scores, she said, was expected as the pass mark. She added that so far there had been satisfactory results from the already reviewed hospitals.
For instance, she said the Achimota Hospital scored more that 90 per cent, while the Mamprobi hospital also scored about 80 per cent after their assessment
She said stakeholders were still working hard to ensure that the best three hospitals with the highest scores were awarded.
Giving the hospital report in 2012, the Acting Medical Superintendent, Dr Anfu Okine, said the hospital received a total of 75,211 OPD cases while there were 10,118 admissions.
A total of 4479 deliveries, she said, were recorded at the maternity department, of which 1132 were by caesarian section. There were 11 maternal deaths.
This year, she said they had recorded six maternal deaths.
Touching on the achievement of the hospital, Dr Okine said a new patient washroom and incinerator had been constructed while there had also been a reduction of maternal mortality by 50 per cent. An anaesthesia machine and other operating beds have also been acquired.
Mentioning some of the challenges of the hospital, she said the OPD, maternity and children wards were congested and added that there was inadequate infrastructure.
Despite all the challenges, she said, the hospitals scored above 75 per cent last year, which was satisfactory. He expressed the hope that they would meet the standard set by the Ghana Health service this time round.
National Lottery Authority donates equipment to Korle Bu , Daily Graphic
THE National Lottery Authority (NLA) has donated two power drill machines worth £33,800 to the accident centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
The power drill machine is an essential equipment for surgeries on accident patients.
Brigadier General Martin Ahiaglo, Director General of NLA, who presented the machines to the hospital authorities last Thursday, said the donation was in response to an appeal made by the hospital to the NLA.
He said the accident centre was the biggest in Ghana with a huge patient burden which in most cases required intensive care or immediate surgery.
“What could be more frustrating than to feel incapacitated not by lack of knowledge but by the lack of adequate resources to save lives”, he asked.
The acting Head of the Accident Unit, Dr Michael Segbefia, said the unit had two electronic drills which were not enough.
According to him, an average of 20,000 accident casualties are recorded nationwide yearly, a third of which are recorded at the KBTH.
The acting Chief Executive Officer of KBTH, Reverend Albert Botchwey, who received the equipment, expressed gratitude to the authority saying that it would go a long way to support health care delivery in the hospital.
He urged other corporate bodies to emulate the gesture by the NLA to save lives.
The power drill machine is an essential equipment for surgeries on accident patients.
Brigadier General Martin Ahiaglo, Director General of NLA, who presented the machines to the hospital authorities last Thursday, said the donation was in response to an appeal made by the hospital to the NLA.
He said the accident centre was the biggest in Ghana with a huge patient burden which in most cases required intensive care or immediate surgery.
“What could be more frustrating than to feel incapacitated not by lack of knowledge but by the lack of adequate resources to save lives”, he asked.
The acting Head of the Accident Unit, Dr Michael Segbefia, said the unit had two electronic drills which were not enough.
According to him, an average of 20,000 accident casualties are recorded nationwide yearly, a third of which are recorded at the KBTH.
The acting Chief Executive Officer of KBTH, Reverend Albert Botchwey, who received the equipment, expressed gratitude to the authority saying that it would go a long way to support health care delivery in the hospital.
He urged other corporate bodies to emulate the gesture by the NLA to save lives.
Winneba Trauma /Specialist Hospital underutilised, Daily Graphic
The Trauma and Specialist Hospital built in Winneba to take care of the general health needs of the people is being underutilised, a year after its inauguration.
The facility, which was built at a cost of 18 million Euro by the Government of Ghana, with support from The Netherlands Government, was meant particularly to cater for accident victims on the Accra-Cape Coast-Takoradi road.
A year after its inauguration, very few patients patronise the fully equipped modern facility.
The 120-bed hospital was initially intended to be a district hospital but was later redesigned into a specialist hospital.
From January to October this year, the Outpatient Department (OPD) had recorded 28,909 clients, out of which 1,868 were admitted at the hospital.
Municipal Hospital
Ironically, the Winneba Municipal Hospital, which was established in 1929 and lacks most of the facilities at the Trauma Centre, is heavily patronised by the people.
The former, which was partly destroyed by fire in May this year, seems to be the preference of the people, as it records an average of about 4,000 OPD clients every month.
During a visit to the two facilities last Friday to ascertain how they are utilised, the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, considered that the two hospitals must be integrated to ensure their effective use.
She further suggested that the Municipal Hospital be used as an outpatient centre, while the Trauma and Specialist Hospital was used for special and emergency cases.
To expatiate the integration process, she said a committee would immediately be set up by the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to oversee to the process.
The challenges
Touching on human resource, which was identified as one major problem facing the two hospitals, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira, said authorities in the health sector were working to ensure that medical officers were deployed to the various hospitals across the country.
The Medical Director of the Trauma and Specialist Hospital, Dr Richard S. Anongura, said the human resource was inadequate to provide the health care needed and that had resulted in the poor attendance at the hospital.
He added that the hospital needed an accreditation from the National Health Insurance Scheme as a secondary referral facility.
MOH organises free health screening for scrap dealers, Daily Graphic
Scrap dealers at Agbogbloshie in Accra have benefited from a free health screening exercise organised by the Ministry of Health.
More than 40 medical doctors, specialists and nurses from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ridge Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and Koforidua Regional Hospital attended to the scrap dealers with the help of eight mobile clinic vans.
The beneficiaries underwent dental, eye, ear, nose and throat examinations, among others.
Health officials also offered free medication and educated the scrap dealers on the importance of living healthily.
There are about 80,000 squatters including children and women plying their trade in scrap metals at Agbogbloshie.
The scrap business exposes them, especially the children, to electronic waste which is harmful to their health.
According to a recent study by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, children at Agbogbloshie and other parts of the country, aged below seven, who are exposed to electronic waste, are likely to develop deficiencies such as low intelligence quotient (IQ), shorter attention span, learning disabilities, impaired physical growth and audio-visual impairment as a result of high lead blood levels.
Addressing the beneficiaries at the screening, the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, stated that despite the fact that scrap business was lucrative, it was necessary for the dealers to check their health frequently.
She called on the parents at Agbogbloshie not to involve their children in the scrap business but rather send them to school to secure a better future for them.
Intended to show care to the people of Agbogbloshie, the minister said the health outreach programmes would continue with more advocacy and sensitisation programmes in the community.
On behalf of the scrap dealers, the General Secretary of the Greater Accra Scrap Dealers Association, Mr Mohammed Ali, said most of the dealers were ignorant of the side effects of the business. He therefore called for intensified education drive.
He expressed gratitude to the ministry for its initiative, adding that most people did not have the financial means to visit hospitals.
More than 40 medical doctors, specialists and nurses from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ridge Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and Koforidua Regional Hospital attended to the scrap dealers with the help of eight mobile clinic vans.
The beneficiaries underwent dental, eye, ear, nose and throat examinations, among others.
Health officials also offered free medication and educated the scrap dealers on the importance of living healthily.
There are about 80,000 squatters including children and women plying their trade in scrap metals at Agbogbloshie.
The scrap business exposes them, especially the children, to electronic waste which is harmful to their health.
According to a recent study by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, children at Agbogbloshie and other parts of the country, aged below seven, who are exposed to electronic waste, are likely to develop deficiencies such as low intelligence quotient (IQ), shorter attention span, learning disabilities, impaired physical growth and audio-visual impairment as a result of high lead blood levels.
Addressing the beneficiaries at the screening, the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, stated that despite the fact that scrap business was lucrative, it was necessary for the dealers to check their health frequently.
She called on the parents at Agbogbloshie not to involve their children in the scrap business but rather send them to school to secure a better future for them.
Intended to show care to the people of Agbogbloshie, the minister said the health outreach programmes would continue with more advocacy and sensitisation programmes in the community.
On behalf of the scrap dealers, the General Secretary of the Greater Accra Scrap Dealers Association, Mr Mohammed Ali, said most of the dealers were ignorant of the side effects of the business. He therefore called for intensified education drive.
He expressed gratitude to the ministry for its initiative, adding that most people did not have the financial means to visit hospitals.
Nurses to be sanctioned
NURSES and midwives who display poor attitude towards patients will be sanctioned by health authorities, the Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer, Mr George Kumi Kyeremeh, has warned.
He said nurses and midwives who exhibited poor attitudes would be suspended, while those found to have seriously breached their code of conduct would have their licences withdrawn.
Mr Kyeremeh noted that the attitude of some nurses and midwives had become a major challenge in the healthcare delivery service and also sunk the image of the profession.
“We cannot allow the few bad lot to continue to drag the name of the noble profession in the mud. It must stop. Enough is enough,” he stated.
Consequently, he said, the authorities, including the Ghana Health Service, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, nurses and midwives associations, were going to apply the code of conduct and sanction any member who went contrary to it.
The conference
Mr Kyeremeh was speaking at the opening ceremony of a three-day Senior Nursing and Midwifery Managers Conference in Accra last Tuesday on the theme, “Compassionate health care: The role of the nurse and midwifery manager”.
The conference is an annual event intended to review the mandate of nurses and midwives, identify gaps and explore innovative ways to improve on their services.
There is an increasing public outcry against some nurses who exhibit poor attitudes towards clients and patients at health facilities.
Consequently, this year’s conference sought to address the eroding compassion of nurses and midwives in the country.
According to Mr Kyeremeh, the quality of health care was a right for the people, hence the attitude by the nurses and midwives was no longer going to be tolerated.
Urgent solutions
In his address, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Tia Sugri, said there was an urgent need for leadership to identify the root causes of the erosion of compassion among nurses and midwives to address the problem.
“Compassionate health care is the root and life wire for nursing and midwifery practice. It is rather unfortunate that such an important ingredient is gradually being eroded from your practice, making care mechanical and devoid of human touch,” he stated.
He charged all health facilities to re-engineer their patient information systems to ensure that a 24-hour call centre was instituted for clients and patients to register their complaints.
Dr Sugri added that staff identification in the various hospitals should be enforced so that staff could be identified by their names.
Commendation
However, he commended the nurses and midwives for their sacrifices in rendering quality service, especially in the remotest parts of the country, in the midst of the challenges.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Ebenezer Appiah- Denkyira, urged the nurses and midwives to revive the passion and compassion of the profession.
He said nurses and midwives who exhibited poor attitudes would be suspended, while those found to have seriously breached their code of conduct would have their licences withdrawn.
Mr Kyeremeh noted that the attitude of some nurses and midwives had become a major challenge in the healthcare delivery service and also sunk the image of the profession.
“We cannot allow the few bad lot to continue to drag the name of the noble profession in the mud. It must stop. Enough is enough,” he stated.
Consequently, he said, the authorities, including the Ghana Health Service, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, nurses and midwives associations, were going to apply the code of conduct and sanction any member who went contrary to it.
The conference
Mr Kyeremeh was speaking at the opening ceremony of a three-day Senior Nursing and Midwifery Managers Conference in Accra last Tuesday on the theme, “Compassionate health care: The role of the nurse and midwifery manager”.
The conference is an annual event intended to review the mandate of nurses and midwives, identify gaps and explore innovative ways to improve on their services.
There is an increasing public outcry against some nurses who exhibit poor attitudes towards clients and patients at health facilities.
Consequently, this year’s conference sought to address the eroding compassion of nurses and midwives in the country.
According to Mr Kyeremeh, the quality of health care was a right for the people, hence the attitude by the nurses and midwives was no longer going to be tolerated.
Urgent solutions
In his address, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Tia Sugri, said there was an urgent need for leadership to identify the root causes of the erosion of compassion among nurses and midwives to address the problem.
“Compassionate health care is the root and life wire for nursing and midwifery practice. It is rather unfortunate that such an important ingredient is gradually being eroded from your practice, making care mechanical and devoid of human touch,” he stated.
He charged all health facilities to re-engineer their patient information systems to ensure that a 24-hour call centre was instituted for clients and patients to register their complaints.
Dr Sugri added that staff identification in the various hospitals should be enforced so that staff could be identified by their names.
Commendation
However, he commended the nurses and midwives for their sacrifices in rendering quality service, especially in the remotest parts of the country, in the midst of the challenges.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Ebenezer Appiah- Denkyira, urged the nurses and midwives to revive the passion and compassion of the profession.
Govt, FAO sign agricultural agreements, Daily Graphic
The government and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) yesterday signed two agreements to develop reliable data for the agricultural sector and to commercialise the cassava sector.
Under the agreement, the FAO is to provide $372,000 to support the preparatory work for the census of the agricultural sector to provide reliable data to help plan and implement policies in the country.
The agreement also seeks to commercialise the cassava sector through value chain approach.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Humado, and the acting Government Statistician, Dr Philomena Nyarko, signed for the government of Ghana while the FAO Country Representative, Dr Lamourdia Thiombiano, initialled for the FAO.
Projects
The census of the agricultural sector, which would be in four phases, will span five years.
The FAO will support the first phase, which includes strengthening capacity, building technical and operational tools, and preparing administrative and technical aspects for the census.
The cassava project is expected to address the challenges constraining the development of the sector.
The project would also boost the production of cassava and link producers and processors to larger markets for high quality and profitable products.
Objectives
According to Dr Thiombiano, the FAO would support the Ghana Statistical Service to develop a detailed national project for the census of the agricultural sector with a corresponding strategy for the implementation.
Mr Humado said, Ghana produced 15 million tonnes of cassava per annum, hence there was need to make use of the excess cassava and add value to create employment and improve on the incomes of farmers.
In her address, Dr Nyarko said the census of the agricultural sector was necessary for the provision of data for planning of the development of the country and the rural economy, as well as monitoring of development initiatives.
She said the cost for the agriculture census project was $20 million. Therefore, development partners and other sponsors should assist to ensure that the project was successful.
According to Dr Nyarko, farm holdings, types of crops, volumes of product produced, livestock and fisheries were some of the indicators for the census.
From the second week of January 2014, she said, institutional structures for the implementation of the census of the agricultural sector would be inaugurated.
Under the agreement, the FAO is to provide $372,000 to support the preparatory work for the census of the agricultural sector to provide reliable data to help plan and implement policies in the country.
The agreement also seeks to commercialise the cassava sector through value chain approach.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Humado, and the acting Government Statistician, Dr Philomena Nyarko, signed for the government of Ghana while the FAO Country Representative, Dr Lamourdia Thiombiano, initialled for the FAO.
Projects
The census of the agricultural sector, which would be in four phases, will span five years.
The FAO will support the first phase, which includes strengthening capacity, building technical and operational tools, and preparing administrative and technical aspects for the census.
The cassava project is expected to address the challenges constraining the development of the sector.
The project would also boost the production of cassava and link producers and processors to larger markets for high quality and profitable products.
Objectives
According to Dr Thiombiano, the FAO would support the Ghana Statistical Service to develop a detailed national project for the census of the agricultural sector with a corresponding strategy for the implementation.
Mr Humado said, Ghana produced 15 million tonnes of cassava per annum, hence there was need to make use of the excess cassava and add value to create employment and improve on the incomes of farmers.
In her address, Dr Nyarko said the census of the agricultural sector was necessary for the provision of data for planning of the development of the country and the rural economy, as well as monitoring of development initiatives.
She said the cost for the agriculture census project was $20 million. Therefore, development partners and other sponsors should assist to ensure that the project was successful.
According to Dr Nyarko, farm holdings, types of crops, volumes of product produced, livestock and fisheries were some of the indicators for the census.
From the second week of January 2014, she said, institutional structures for the implementation of the census of the agricultural sector would be inaugurated.
The Electricity tariffs: can we pay?, Daily Graphic
On Wednesday September 25, this year, the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced upward adjustments of 78.9 per cent in electricity and 52 per cent for water after considering proposals by service providers.
The increments fell short of the 166 per cent and 112 per cent requested by the electricity and water providers respectively.
Since the announcement, organised labour as well as individuals have expressed varied opinions about the impact of such hikes on their incomes and their lives generally. Industrial concerns have expressed their reservations about the increment because of the possible effect on their businesses.
Following the action by the PURC, organised labour conveyed a marathon meeting to discuss the implications of the hikes for workers. At the end of its meeting, the Trade Union Congress kicked against the new tariffs which took effect from October 1, 2013. The TUC and other bodies such as the Ghana Medical Association described the new tariffs as outrageous. They also expressed worry about the quality of service delivery to consumers prior to the adjustments.
The TUC was of the view that the approach to utility price management was unfair to the people of Ghana and a demonstration of selfishness on the part of the government.
Therefore, the TUC called on government to stop the implementation of the charges, as workers might not be able to afford the increase, considering the low increase in salaries of a paltry 10 per cent, which took effect before the announcement of tariffs.
To give more meaning to its position on the upward tariff adjustment, organised labour gave a 10-day ultimatum beginning on October 8, 2013 to the government and the PURC to review the tariffs downward otherwise ‘aluta.’
Apparently worried by the position of labour and concerned about the already volatile situation on the labour front, President John Dramani Mahama appealed to the TUC and other labour unions to exercise restraint while an established technical committee reviewed the impact of tariffs hikes on workers.
Responding to the appeal by the President, the TUC softened its position on Monday, a day before the expiry of the ultimatum. The TUC took into consideration the impact of its intended strike on public sector productivity.
Rather, organised labour decided to ask its members to wear red arm bands and raise red flags at their various workplaces to express their grievances, particularly at the time when the PURC did not seem to bow to the demands of the workers.
While the agitation surrounding the tariff hikes appears to be subsiding, the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, has muddied the waters with his recent comment that if critics of the recent electricity tariff hikes believed the tariffs were too high for them to pay, they could try using candles.
During an interview on Citi Fm, Mr Buah said that electricity was not going to be free water flowing since it was expected to be expensive in the future; therefore, Ghanaians must face reality and accept it.
“Electricity is no more going to be some free water flowing. It is expensive; it is going to be expensive going into the future and the reality is that we must begin to understand that,” he stated.
In view of the negative reactions triggered by his comments, the Minister of Energy has eaten the humble pie. He quickly apologised, saying that he did not mean to insult the intelligence of Ghanaians by attempting to instruct them not to use electricity if tariffs were rising.
He said his words were pieces of advice to Ghanaians for the adoption of prudent use of electricity, such as turning on lights and other gadgets only when they were needed. That, in his view, could go a long way to cut down on the price of electricity.
Even before October ends for consumers to receive their bills reflecting the new tariffs, some consumers of electricity are expressing concerns about the metering of their consumption since the introduction of the new tariff.
There are claims that with the new adjustment, purchases of GH¢10 and GH¢20 units no longer read on their meters but the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has explained that following the adjustment, which took effect on October 1, 2013, any new purchases of electricity units will have to be debited to the accounts of consumers.
The ECG said the current challenges of consumers on the prepayment metering system was because they were paying retrospective charges in line with the implementation of the new tariff.
A number of customers on the prepaid system have complained of challenges after purchasing credits and loading their meters.
For some customers who bought credit up to GH¢20, their meters read zero after they had loaded the amount on the meters.
A customer who resides at Avenor, a suburb of Accra, Abeku Mensah Junior, told the Daily Graphic that he bought GH¢10 worth of credit for his prepaid meter “and it lasted for only an hour...the meter went off without any bonus... Previously, I used GH¢10 for almost a month. It has happened to me for almost three times after the increment. This is serious.”
The increments fell short of the 166 per cent and 112 per cent requested by the electricity and water providers respectively.
Since the announcement, organised labour as well as individuals have expressed varied opinions about the impact of such hikes on their incomes and their lives generally. Industrial concerns have expressed their reservations about the increment because of the possible effect on their businesses.
Following the action by the PURC, organised labour conveyed a marathon meeting to discuss the implications of the hikes for workers. At the end of its meeting, the Trade Union Congress kicked against the new tariffs which took effect from October 1, 2013. The TUC and other bodies such as the Ghana Medical Association described the new tariffs as outrageous. They also expressed worry about the quality of service delivery to consumers prior to the adjustments.
The TUC was of the view that the approach to utility price management was unfair to the people of Ghana and a demonstration of selfishness on the part of the government.
Therefore, the TUC called on government to stop the implementation of the charges, as workers might not be able to afford the increase, considering the low increase in salaries of a paltry 10 per cent, which took effect before the announcement of tariffs.
To give more meaning to its position on the upward tariff adjustment, organised labour gave a 10-day ultimatum beginning on October 8, 2013 to the government and the PURC to review the tariffs downward otherwise ‘aluta.’
Apparently worried by the position of labour and concerned about the already volatile situation on the labour front, President John Dramani Mahama appealed to the TUC and other labour unions to exercise restraint while an established technical committee reviewed the impact of tariffs hikes on workers.
Responding to the appeal by the President, the TUC softened its position on Monday, a day before the expiry of the ultimatum. The TUC took into consideration the impact of its intended strike on public sector productivity.
Rather, organised labour decided to ask its members to wear red arm bands and raise red flags at their various workplaces to express their grievances, particularly at the time when the PURC did not seem to bow to the demands of the workers.
While the agitation surrounding the tariff hikes appears to be subsiding, the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, has muddied the waters with his recent comment that if critics of the recent electricity tariff hikes believed the tariffs were too high for them to pay, they could try using candles.
During an interview on Citi Fm, Mr Buah said that electricity was not going to be free water flowing since it was expected to be expensive in the future; therefore, Ghanaians must face reality and accept it.
“Electricity is no more going to be some free water flowing. It is expensive; it is going to be expensive going into the future and the reality is that we must begin to understand that,” he stated.
In view of the negative reactions triggered by his comments, the Minister of Energy has eaten the humble pie. He quickly apologised, saying that he did not mean to insult the intelligence of Ghanaians by attempting to instruct them not to use electricity if tariffs were rising.
He said his words were pieces of advice to Ghanaians for the adoption of prudent use of electricity, such as turning on lights and other gadgets only when they were needed. That, in his view, could go a long way to cut down on the price of electricity.
Even before October ends for consumers to receive their bills reflecting the new tariffs, some consumers of electricity are expressing concerns about the metering of their consumption since the introduction of the new tariff.
There are claims that with the new adjustment, purchases of GH¢10 and GH¢20 units no longer read on their meters but the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has explained that following the adjustment, which took effect on October 1, 2013, any new purchases of electricity units will have to be debited to the accounts of consumers.
The ECG said the current challenges of consumers on the prepayment metering system was because they were paying retrospective charges in line with the implementation of the new tariff.
A number of customers on the prepaid system have complained of challenges after purchasing credits and loading their meters.
For some customers who bought credit up to GH¢20, their meters read zero after they had loaded the amount on the meters.
A customer who resides at Avenor, a suburb of Accra, Abeku Mensah Junior, told the Daily Graphic that he bought GH¢10 worth of credit for his prepaid meter “and it lasted for only an hour...the meter went off without any bonus... Previously, I used GH¢10 for almost a month. It has happened to me for almost three times after the increment. This is serious.”
First Lady launches project on HIV, breast and cervical cancer, Daily Graphic
The First Lady, Mrs Lordina Dramani Mahama, has called on women to go for regular check-ups for early detection and prevention of HIV and AIDS, breast and cervical cancer.
“Every woman must check her breast for lumps each month. If you find a lump, see a doctor immediately, and every woman must be examined by a doctor or a nurse to make sure that her cervix is normal” she stated.
She described these diseases as serious health problems which needed to be properly addressed to avoid implications on the economic development of the country.
The OAFLA project
Launching the Organisation of African Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) project at Koforidua, Mrs Mahama stated that the wellbeing and reproductive health of women and the prevention of HIV among children must be a priority for African countries.
The event brought together chiefs, queens, politicians, religious leaders and health personnel and civil society organisations in the Eastern Region.
The First Lady, as part of the project, will spearhead the mobilisation of Ghanaians, educate communities and advocate more attention and resources to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, breast and cervical cancers in Ghana.
The initiative, being implemented on a pilot basis in the Eastern, Brong Ahafo and the Northern regions, is also targeted at empowering women to take charge of their reproductive health needs by creating awareness, providing prevention education as well as screening outreaches for breast and cervical cancer to improve the quality of life of women.
The residents Of Oyoko in the New Juaben municipality in the Eastern Region were screened for HIV, syphilis, cervical and breast cancer, and other medical conditions.
HIV/AIDS
The First Lady stated that the transmission of HIV from mothers to their infants contributed substantially to global morbidity and mortality for children under-five years of age.
“The prevention of mother to child transmission is the key to a generation free of HIV”, she stated.
Mrs Mahama pointed out that fortunately prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV could be accomplished by effective, accessible and scalable interventions within the existing maternal and child health services which were available in health facilities.
“Without diagnosis and treatment, about 30 per cent of HIV-infected pregnant women will transmit HIV to their children”, she lamented.
Mrs Mahama therefore appealed to municipal and district chief executives as well as political and opinion leaders to help enact and effectively implement laws that would protect the sexual and reproductive rights of women.
“Let us use our political influence to draw together resources to improve health and well-being of our women”, she appealed, and challenged opinion leaders to also help mobilise resources towards the attainment of an HIV free society.
The Minister of Health, Mrs Sherry Ayittey, stated that over 2,300 new HIV infections were averted in children in 2012 through the PMTCT, quoting the National HIV Prevalence and AIDS Estate Report.
She added: “There has been increased treatment coverage for persons living with HIV, and currently 70 per cent of those in need of anti-retroviral drugs are receiving medication.”
The Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr Angela El-Adas, commended the OAFLA project team for selecting and implementing the initiative in the Eastern Region, which continued to record the highest HIV prevalence rate of
“Every woman must check her breast for lumps each month. If you find a lump, see a doctor immediately, and every woman must be examined by a doctor or a nurse to make sure that her cervix is normal” she stated.
She described these diseases as serious health problems which needed to be properly addressed to avoid implications on the economic development of the country.
The OAFLA project
Launching the Organisation of African Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) project at Koforidua, Mrs Mahama stated that the wellbeing and reproductive health of women and the prevention of HIV among children must be a priority for African countries.
The event brought together chiefs, queens, politicians, religious leaders and health personnel and civil society organisations in the Eastern Region.
The First Lady, as part of the project, will spearhead the mobilisation of Ghanaians, educate communities and advocate more attention and resources to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, breast and cervical cancers in Ghana.
The initiative, being implemented on a pilot basis in the Eastern, Brong Ahafo and the Northern regions, is also targeted at empowering women to take charge of their reproductive health needs by creating awareness, providing prevention education as well as screening outreaches for breast and cervical cancer to improve the quality of life of women.
The residents Of Oyoko in the New Juaben municipality in the Eastern Region were screened for HIV, syphilis, cervical and breast cancer, and other medical conditions.
HIV/AIDS
The First Lady stated that the transmission of HIV from mothers to their infants contributed substantially to global morbidity and mortality for children under-five years of age.
“The prevention of mother to child transmission is the key to a generation free of HIV”, she stated.
Mrs Mahama pointed out that fortunately prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV could be accomplished by effective, accessible and scalable interventions within the existing maternal and child health services which were available in health facilities.
“Without diagnosis and treatment, about 30 per cent of HIV-infected pregnant women will transmit HIV to their children”, she lamented.
Mrs Mahama therefore appealed to municipal and district chief executives as well as political and opinion leaders to help enact and effectively implement laws that would protect the sexual and reproductive rights of women.
“Let us use our political influence to draw together resources to improve health and well-being of our women”, she appealed, and challenged opinion leaders to also help mobilise resources towards the attainment of an HIV free society.
The Minister of Health, Mrs Sherry Ayittey, stated that over 2,300 new HIV infections were averted in children in 2012 through the PMTCT, quoting the National HIV Prevalence and AIDS Estate Report.
She added: “There has been increased treatment coverage for persons living with HIV, and currently 70 per cent of those in need of anti-retroviral drugs are receiving medication.”
The Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr Angela El-Adas, commended the OAFLA project team for selecting and implementing the initiative in the Eastern Region, which continued to record the highest HIV prevalence rate of
Implement LI on the Disability Act-- First Lady, Daily Graphic
The First lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has added her voice to calls to implement the Legislative Instrument on the Disability Act 715, passed five years ago.
According to Mrs Mahama, the lack of understanding by society has largely affected the efforts by the persons with disability to push their equality agenda.
However, she said, “we must not create a system of exclusion and erect barriers to their participation in the society of which they are rightfully a part”.
The First Lady was speaking at the first Speech and Prize Giving Day of the Akropong School of the Blind in the Eastern Region last Saturday.
“As society strives to ensure equality, any disadvantaged group must be heard with its own voice as well as lead in the achievement of its own freedom” she noted.
She emphasised that employers and society generally continued to remain doubtful of the potentials of the blind and other persons with disability, despite efforts to express their aspiration to participate fully in society in terms of equality with others.
The Blind
Touching on the blind, Mrs Mahama urged Ghanaians not to doubt their potentials and capabilities but rather facilitate their movement and easy access to premises.
She called for constructive publicity for the achievement of the blind and persons with other forms of disability.
This, she said, would help society change its attitude and approach to the problems of persons with disability.
Appeal
The Headmistress of the school, Ms Mahela Narh, appealed for the students of the school to be supported to enter the School of Law to pursue their ambition of becoming lawyers.
She disclosed that many of them had been denied entry to the School of Law.
She further urged government and corporate bodies to help renovate some of the structures in the school, particularly the teachers bungalows, which were in a deplorable state.
In addition, she appealed for grants and scholarship for the teachers to further their education and also participate in exchange programmes outside the country to enhance their skills.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mrs Helen Adjoa Ntoso, commended the management of the school for the immense achievement and progress made over the years.
The Chief Executive Officer of UT Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, who chaired the ceremony, called on corporate bodies to invest in the underprivileged in the society.
According to Mrs Mahama, the lack of understanding by society has largely affected the efforts by the persons with disability to push their equality agenda.
However, she said, “we must not create a system of exclusion and erect barriers to their participation in the society of which they are rightfully a part”.
The First Lady was speaking at the first Speech and Prize Giving Day of the Akropong School of the Blind in the Eastern Region last Saturday.
“As society strives to ensure equality, any disadvantaged group must be heard with its own voice as well as lead in the achievement of its own freedom” she noted.
She emphasised that employers and society generally continued to remain doubtful of the potentials of the blind and other persons with disability, despite efforts to express their aspiration to participate fully in society in terms of equality with others.
The Blind
Touching on the blind, Mrs Mahama urged Ghanaians not to doubt their potentials and capabilities but rather facilitate their movement and easy access to premises.
She called for constructive publicity for the achievement of the blind and persons with other forms of disability.
This, she said, would help society change its attitude and approach to the problems of persons with disability.
Appeal
The Headmistress of the school, Ms Mahela Narh, appealed for the students of the school to be supported to enter the School of Law to pursue their ambition of becoming lawyers.
She disclosed that many of them had been denied entry to the School of Law.
She further urged government and corporate bodies to help renovate some of the structures in the school, particularly the teachers bungalows, which were in a deplorable state.
In addition, she appealed for grants and scholarship for the teachers to further their education and also participate in exchange programmes outside the country to enhance their skills.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mrs Helen Adjoa Ntoso, commended the management of the school for the immense achievement and progress made over the years.
The Chief Executive Officer of UT Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, who chaired the ceremony, called on corporate bodies to invest in the underprivileged in the society.
Constance Swaniker: Excellent creative arts designer, Daily Graphic
“I've got a woman's ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks off and leaves it,” Margaret Thatcher.
Inspired by nature, forms, shapes and lines, Ms Constance Elizabeth Swaniker, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Accent and Arts Company Limited, uses creative arts to capture and translate the essence of various themes by using wood, wrought iron, metal, glass and other materials.
Over the years, she has excelled in the sculpture, furniture and wrought iron industry; building gates, furniture, balustrades, burglar-proof metal bars, accents, garden décor and hand-painted wrought iron chandeliers, among many others.
Having ventured into a male-dominated sector, Ms Swaniker works with a team of 40 men made up of welders, sprayers, carpenters and artisans.
She produces traditional and contemporary designs to meet the needs of home owners, architects, interior designers and construction professionals and her finished products can be found in reputable hotels, restaurants, offices and homes, including the African Regent Hotel.
Very passionate about what she does, she is not bothered when people call her names like super woman, which most men prefer to call her by. “Most people get disappointed when I appear as the leader of the company because I am a woman,” she said.
When this reporter asked how she was able to cope with all these confrontations, she said, “I am always on top of issues and well informed about the work I am doing. I do not easily get intimidated, so with all the confidence and toughness I go all out.”
“Being the leader of about 40 men means I have to be smart and tough at all times so that they do not take me for granted. By doing that I am always on top of issues concerning the job,” she added.
She said sometimes she had to come to the level of the understanding of her workers to promote good team work.
How it started
Growing up together with three siblings who were good at Science and Mathematics, Ms Swaniker’s interest was different as she was interested in Creative Arts. Though it was challenging for her, her mother encouraged her to pursue her interest.
After completing her ‘A’ level at the Accra Academy Senior High School, Ms Swaniker proceeded to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where she had her degree in sculpture.
“While at KNUST, I was working with some local carpentry shops during vacations and even when school reopens. So I gained five years practical work experience by the time I completed the university,” she stated.
With the experience and motivation from her family, she decided to pursue her dream by going into entrepreneurship immediately after school.
“I completed in 1999 and by May 2000, I had registered my business,” she said.
She recalled starting work from her backyard and after sometime, when she realised the business was growing, she had to look for a bigger apartment.
“Funds were raised from a loan I secured from my mother and with the little money I had raised from selling fountains, I built a shed and that marked the beginning of the journey of Accents and Art to date,” she said.
She recalled some unpleasant experience as the company was growing and added that those experiences provided her with opportunities to help the business grow.
Highlighting on some of the industrial challenges, Ms Swaniker mentioned the lack of government recognition and the importation of foreign goods.
“The importation of foreign goods poses a big challenge to us because we have to compete with them. Government can help us by creating an enabling environment to promote our locally manufactured goods in the country,” she said.
Family and Challenges
The 40-year-old single mother has two sons who currently live with their grandmother in Botswana.
“Combining work and family chores was very challenging, so I sent them to my mother,” she said.
Born to the late Mr Francis Swaniker and Mrs Edna Swaniker in Accra, she left to Botswana where some of her family members reside (at the age of seven) and returned to Ghana at age 18. She is the second of four children born to the couple and she had her basic education in Botswana.
Achievements and aspirations
Ms Swaniker has achieved and won a reputable image for herself and her company.
In addition to being one of the nominees of the Vlisco Be Your Dream Promotion in which Vlisco celebrated women who had lived their dreams, she was also honoured and recognised by Unilever Idea Trophy in 2012 and nominated the Best Entrepreneur in small and medium scale enterprise (SME) in 2010. She also won the Network Journal from the New York Achievement in 2010 and the Investor Excellence Award in 2007, among others.
“My greatest achievement would be to see the youth and women engaging and tapping into the Creative Arts Industry,” she said.
In pursuit of her dream, Ms Swaniker has established the Accent and Art Vocational Training School. It is intended to add value and skills to students’ education.
She has already trained over 100 students from the universities and polytechnics. They understudy her during internship.
Advice to women and parents
“The Creative Arts Industry has a lot of potentials which could be tapped, especially for the youth who complain of no job opportunity,” she said.
She has, therefore, charged students to pursue courses in technical and vocational courses, adding that parents should also encourage their children who have an interest and are willing to pursue their dreams in the vocational and technical courses skills to do so.
Ms Swaniker urged young women to work hard wherever they found themselves, saying that with determination to overcome every challenge, women should not be intimidated by their gender disparities but should rather take advantage of their feminine potentials and work hard towards their goals.
“Young woman should not stay in abusive relationships because of money but should rather find something to do for themselves and earn a living,” she advised.
Inspired by nature, forms, shapes and lines, Ms Constance Elizabeth Swaniker, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Accent and Arts Company Limited, uses creative arts to capture and translate the essence of various themes by using wood, wrought iron, metal, glass and other materials.
Over the years, she has excelled in the sculpture, furniture and wrought iron industry; building gates, furniture, balustrades, burglar-proof metal bars, accents, garden décor and hand-painted wrought iron chandeliers, among many others.
Having ventured into a male-dominated sector, Ms Swaniker works with a team of 40 men made up of welders, sprayers, carpenters and artisans.
She produces traditional and contemporary designs to meet the needs of home owners, architects, interior designers and construction professionals and her finished products can be found in reputable hotels, restaurants, offices and homes, including the African Regent Hotel.
Very passionate about what she does, she is not bothered when people call her names like super woman, which most men prefer to call her by. “Most people get disappointed when I appear as the leader of the company because I am a woman,” she said.
When this reporter asked how she was able to cope with all these confrontations, she said, “I am always on top of issues and well informed about the work I am doing. I do not easily get intimidated, so with all the confidence and toughness I go all out.”
“Being the leader of about 40 men means I have to be smart and tough at all times so that they do not take me for granted. By doing that I am always on top of issues concerning the job,” she added.
She said sometimes she had to come to the level of the understanding of her workers to promote good team work.
How it started
Growing up together with three siblings who were good at Science and Mathematics, Ms Swaniker’s interest was different as she was interested in Creative Arts. Though it was challenging for her, her mother encouraged her to pursue her interest.
After completing her ‘A’ level at the Accra Academy Senior High School, Ms Swaniker proceeded to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where she had her degree in sculpture.
“While at KNUST, I was working with some local carpentry shops during vacations and even when school reopens. So I gained five years practical work experience by the time I completed the university,” she stated.
With the experience and motivation from her family, she decided to pursue her dream by going into entrepreneurship immediately after school.
“I completed in 1999 and by May 2000, I had registered my business,” she said.
She recalled starting work from her backyard and after sometime, when she realised the business was growing, she had to look for a bigger apartment.
“Funds were raised from a loan I secured from my mother and with the little money I had raised from selling fountains, I built a shed and that marked the beginning of the journey of Accents and Art to date,” she said.
She recalled some unpleasant experience as the company was growing and added that those experiences provided her with opportunities to help the business grow.
Highlighting on some of the industrial challenges, Ms Swaniker mentioned the lack of government recognition and the importation of foreign goods.
“The importation of foreign goods poses a big challenge to us because we have to compete with them. Government can help us by creating an enabling environment to promote our locally manufactured goods in the country,” she said.
Family and Challenges
The 40-year-old single mother has two sons who currently live with their grandmother in Botswana.
“Combining work and family chores was very challenging, so I sent them to my mother,” she said.
Born to the late Mr Francis Swaniker and Mrs Edna Swaniker in Accra, she left to Botswana where some of her family members reside (at the age of seven) and returned to Ghana at age 18. She is the second of four children born to the couple and she had her basic education in Botswana.
Achievements and aspirations
Ms Swaniker has achieved and won a reputable image for herself and her company.
In addition to being one of the nominees of the Vlisco Be Your Dream Promotion in which Vlisco celebrated women who had lived their dreams, she was also honoured and recognised by Unilever Idea Trophy in 2012 and nominated the Best Entrepreneur in small and medium scale enterprise (SME) in 2010. She also won the Network Journal from the New York Achievement in 2010 and the Investor Excellence Award in 2007, among others.
“My greatest achievement would be to see the youth and women engaging and tapping into the Creative Arts Industry,” she said.
In pursuit of her dream, Ms Swaniker has established the Accent and Art Vocational Training School. It is intended to add value and skills to students’ education.
She has already trained over 100 students from the universities and polytechnics. They understudy her during internship.
Advice to women and parents
“The Creative Arts Industry has a lot of potentials which could be tapped, especially for the youth who complain of no job opportunity,” she said.
She has, therefore, charged students to pursue courses in technical and vocational courses, adding that parents should also encourage their children who have an interest and are willing to pursue their dreams in the vocational and technical courses skills to do so.
Ms Swaniker urged young women to work hard wherever they found themselves, saying that with determination to overcome every challenge, women should not be intimidated by their gender disparities but should rather take advantage of their feminine potentials and work hard towards their goals.
“Young woman should not stay in abusive relationships because of money but should rather find something to do for themselves and earn a living,” she advised.
‘Strengthen Guidance, Counseling Unit’
THE Guidance and Counselling Coordinator of the Accra Metro Directorate of Education, Ms Sylvia Aboagye, has called for the establishment of counselling units in schools to strengthen the guidance and counselling section of the Ghana Education Service (GES).
Currently, she said, most of the counsellors in the schools were teachers who had combined teaching with counselling sections without any recognised office.
She made the statement on the sideline of a day’s workshop organised for Guidance and Counselling Coordinators in the Accra Metropolis.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana Education Service in collaboration with the Virginia State University and LAWA Ghana with sponsorship from the United State Department to highlight on some of the challenges that children face.
Ms Aboagye explained that students had challenges hence the need for specialised counsellors in the schools, stressing that counselling was a sacrificial job and that counsellors also had challenges.
Counselling for parents
Ms Aboagye said most parents did not have time to monitor the activities of their children and left them at the mercy of their peers.
That, she said, paved the way for children to engage in sexual exploitations which jeopardised their future.
She explained that most children did not report sexual abuse against them because of the threat and stigma attached to it.
As counsellors, she urged them to nurture children to be assertive to give them the confidence to voice out their problems for the required assistance.
A participant in the workshop, Mrs Rose Kissi, also told the Daily Graphic that if a desk was established, it would make the section more efficient and effective for the students to confide in counsellors and added that the setting up of counselling units would make the task more respectable to gain the recognition and acceptance of parents and guardians.
She added that combining teaching with counselling was tedious because both duties demanded attention.
In her address, the Coordinator of LAWA, Mrs Barbara Ayesu, stressed that parents also needed counselling in order to help in the upbringing of their children.
“Most parents give out their children for child trafficking without even knowing its consequences”, she said.
Out of ignorance and poverty, she stated that some parents gave out their children to friends and relatives to help in their upbringing without monitoring their upkeep.
With counselling, she said, the parents could learn to cater for their children even with the little they had to keep their eyes on them.
So far, Mrs Ayesu said LAWA had rescued more than 353 children from 2010 to 2012 who had been enrolled in school.
“We have been able to track some parents and supported most of them with training and capital to assist the upkeep of their children”, she said.
LAWA Ghana is a nine-member group of women lawyers who aim at mounting sustained public education on women and children’s rights.
Currently, she said, most of the counsellors in the schools were teachers who had combined teaching with counselling sections without any recognised office.
She made the statement on the sideline of a day’s workshop organised for Guidance and Counselling Coordinators in the Accra Metropolis.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana Education Service in collaboration with the Virginia State University and LAWA Ghana with sponsorship from the United State Department to highlight on some of the challenges that children face.
Ms Aboagye explained that students had challenges hence the need for specialised counsellors in the schools, stressing that counselling was a sacrificial job and that counsellors also had challenges.
Counselling for parents
Ms Aboagye said most parents did not have time to monitor the activities of their children and left them at the mercy of their peers.
That, she said, paved the way for children to engage in sexual exploitations which jeopardised their future.
She explained that most children did not report sexual abuse against them because of the threat and stigma attached to it.
As counsellors, she urged them to nurture children to be assertive to give them the confidence to voice out their problems for the required assistance.
A participant in the workshop, Mrs Rose Kissi, also told the Daily Graphic that if a desk was established, it would make the section more efficient and effective for the students to confide in counsellors and added that the setting up of counselling units would make the task more respectable to gain the recognition and acceptance of parents and guardians.
She added that combining teaching with counselling was tedious because both duties demanded attention.
In her address, the Coordinator of LAWA, Mrs Barbara Ayesu, stressed that parents also needed counselling in order to help in the upbringing of their children.
“Most parents give out their children for child trafficking without even knowing its consequences”, she said.
Out of ignorance and poverty, she stated that some parents gave out their children to friends and relatives to help in their upbringing without monitoring their upkeep.
With counselling, she said, the parents could learn to cater for their children even with the little they had to keep their eyes on them.
So far, Mrs Ayesu said LAWA had rescued more than 353 children from 2010 to 2012 who had been enrolled in school.
“We have been able to track some parents and supported most of them with training and capital to assist the upkeep of their children”, she said.
LAWA Ghana is a nine-member group of women lawyers who aim at mounting sustained public education on women and children’s rights.
In search of beauty, Daily Graphic
In search of beauty, many women and even some men have turned to the use of the wide range of creams, soaps and other bleaching products which contain highly concentrated chemicals such as hydroquinone, steroid, mercury and other chemicals.
The crave for bleaching, whitening or toning as it may be called of the black skin is on the rise because celebrities and other prominent people who serve as role models to many people have been the ambassadors of some of these bleaching agents. Also, the heavy media advertisement intended to entice viewers has won the heart of many people attracting them to use a variety of bleaching products.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines bleaching as the intentional alteration of one's natural skin colour to one relatively if not substantially, lighter in colour through the use of chemical skin lightening agents either manufactured, homemade or a combination of the two.
Producers of bleaching products are making millions of dollars by flooding markets especiallyin Africa with variety of creams such as skin toners, carrot light, lightening shampoos, soaps among others.
In an interview, a Health and Beauty Therapist, Madam Nikki Boa-Amponsem, said the issue of bleaching had become more complex and a psychological issue because people who bleach show that they are not happy with the colour of their skin. That, she said, also meant the situation was no more related to the use of cosmetics.
Touching on the variety of bleaching agents, she said although there were common creams that were easily identified for bleaching, others did not have any inscription on them yet the use of such products bleached the skin without the knowledge of the user.
Another process to fade off the black skin, she said, was the oral way which entailed taking drugs which ware meant to cure diseases.
“The manufacturers of some of these drugs have realised that some ingredients such as steroid contained in drugs were agents of bleaching, therefore they are now manufacturing those drugs for bleaching” she explained.
That, she said, had serious implications not only on the skin but on some organs including the kidney and vital human organs because they were manufactured to cure particular diseases.
Madam Boa-Amponsem, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of 2nd Image School, explained that when the drug gets into the body and there was no disease to work on then it turns to work on the organs.
That, she described, as very dangerous to a person’s health. Others, she said, also used machines to facilitate the process of bleaching.
How bleaching products work on the skin
The melanocytes cell produced the black pigment melanin which gives the skin the colour, absorbs and protects the harmful ultraviolet rays which are produced naturally.
Persons with black skin, in a tropical area such as Ghana, needs an amount of pigment melanin to absorb and protect the skin from the sun rays because the sun rays are not filtered.
The use of all sorts of creams, soaps and other products that have high concentration of steroid, hydroquinone, mercury and other chemicals persistent by people fight and prevent the pigment melanin from multiplying and performing its task of absorbing and protecting the skin from harmful ultraviolet rays.
The pigment melanin begins to deteriorate gradually and the skin begins to look pale and gives way to the light and white skin. That is how bleaching takes place on the skin.
The excessive ultraviolet rays now gets into the skin paving the way for skin cancer, premature aging by wrinkling and thinning of skin and other skin blemishes.
Benefits of the black skin
In the article “Skin bleaching - is it pleasing in the eyes of the Lord” written by Professor Badu Akosa, a Pathologist, explained that, there were six skin types ranging from the very sensitive which burns easily and never tan to the insensitive, never burns and is deeply pigmented.
“The sun rays may be beneficial in producing Vitamin D which is very necessary in the body’s use of calcium and ensures the strength of our bones but more importantly, the rays are dangerous”, he said
He explained that the ultraviolet rays in a sensitive skin type causes premature ageing evident by wrinkling, caused by the destruction of the elastic fibres which maintains the integrity of the skin, thinning of the skin and white patches from increased keratin.
“Ghana’s geographical position as the country closest to the real centre of the world means the sun rays are almost perpendicular to the earth surface unlike other countries beyond latitude 30N or S where the rays are oblique” he said.
According to him, the sun rays in areas such as the Europe, Russia and Canada were not as harsh as that of Ghana because the sun rays had been filtered by the cloud, thick layers, smog and fog, adding that “These areas are best suited to the fair skinned races” he stated.
Reasons for bleaching
Discrimination against the black skin, especially during the era of apartheid and colonialism still persists, making some black skinned people feel inferior. Consequently, black people all over the world currently, including those in the West Indians, Latinos, Asians and African American have all turned to bleaching.
This has led to the definition of beauty of a woman in Africa as the one who is fair, therefore most African men prefer the light skinned to the black skinned woman.
A sociological study by Evelyn Nakano Glenn, a professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a NYTimes.com post on skin whitening., says “…It is not as if dark-skinned women are imagining a bias. Among African-Americans and also Latinos, there was a clear connection between skin colour and socioeconomic status. It’s not some fantasy. There is prejudice against dark-skinned people, especially women in the so-called marriage market” she said.
When asked why she would want to be fair, 26-year –old Nanayaa said “I want to look attractive and also get the opportunities other fair ladies are getting”.
This is what 18-year-old Belinda Anane also had to say when asked the same question.
“People who tone their skin look prettier and their skin alone attract great opportunities for them”
Is bleaching reversible?
Many would ask if the journey to the fair world could be reversed. The answer is yes and no.
According to Madam Boa- Amponsem, “one can only reverse a bleaching skin depending on how deep the damage was to the skin”.
“When the skin is badly damaged then it would be very difficult to reverse” she stated.
“However, it could be reversed but would take a very long time and it was also not likely for the person to get the natural skin as it used be” she said.
She added that bleaching can damage some places on the body permanently and could not be changed.
Bleaching among pregnant women
When asked if there were any effects of bleaching on pregnant women, Madam Boa-Amponsam stressed that bleaching during pregnancy could have serious implications on the fetus leading to deformity of the baby.
She said bleaching was not recommended and was no way good for the skin.
“Bleaching in the first place should not be started at all for any reason whatsoever” she advised.
But to those who want to stop, she recommended a makeup as cover-up so that they could go through the process without being seen.
Society, she urged, should encourage people who wanted to stop bleaching rather than criticise them.
The crave for bleaching, whitening or toning as it may be called of the black skin is on the rise because celebrities and other prominent people who serve as role models to many people have been the ambassadors of some of these bleaching agents. Also, the heavy media advertisement intended to entice viewers has won the heart of many people attracting them to use a variety of bleaching products.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines bleaching as the intentional alteration of one's natural skin colour to one relatively if not substantially, lighter in colour through the use of chemical skin lightening agents either manufactured, homemade or a combination of the two.
Producers of bleaching products are making millions of dollars by flooding markets especiallyin Africa with variety of creams such as skin toners, carrot light, lightening shampoos, soaps among others.
In an interview, a Health and Beauty Therapist, Madam Nikki Boa-Amponsem, said the issue of bleaching had become more complex and a psychological issue because people who bleach show that they are not happy with the colour of their skin. That, she said, also meant the situation was no more related to the use of cosmetics.
Touching on the variety of bleaching agents, she said although there were common creams that were easily identified for bleaching, others did not have any inscription on them yet the use of such products bleached the skin without the knowledge of the user.
Another process to fade off the black skin, she said, was the oral way which entailed taking drugs which ware meant to cure diseases.
“The manufacturers of some of these drugs have realised that some ingredients such as steroid contained in drugs were agents of bleaching, therefore they are now manufacturing those drugs for bleaching” she explained.
That, she said, had serious implications not only on the skin but on some organs including the kidney and vital human organs because they were manufactured to cure particular diseases.
Madam Boa-Amponsem, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of 2nd Image School, explained that when the drug gets into the body and there was no disease to work on then it turns to work on the organs.
That, she described, as very dangerous to a person’s health. Others, she said, also used machines to facilitate the process of bleaching.
How bleaching products work on the skin
The melanocytes cell produced the black pigment melanin which gives the skin the colour, absorbs and protects the harmful ultraviolet rays which are produced naturally.
Persons with black skin, in a tropical area such as Ghana, needs an amount of pigment melanin to absorb and protect the skin from the sun rays because the sun rays are not filtered.
The use of all sorts of creams, soaps and other products that have high concentration of steroid, hydroquinone, mercury and other chemicals persistent by people fight and prevent the pigment melanin from multiplying and performing its task of absorbing and protecting the skin from harmful ultraviolet rays.
The pigment melanin begins to deteriorate gradually and the skin begins to look pale and gives way to the light and white skin. That is how bleaching takes place on the skin.
The excessive ultraviolet rays now gets into the skin paving the way for skin cancer, premature aging by wrinkling and thinning of skin and other skin blemishes.
Benefits of the black skin
In the article “Skin bleaching - is it pleasing in the eyes of the Lord” written by Professor Badu Akosa, a Pathologist, explained that, there were six skin types ranging from the very sensitive which burns easily and never tan to the insensitive, never burns and is deeply pigmented.
“The sun rays may be beneficial in producing Vitamin D which is very necessary in the body’s use of calcium and ensures the strength of our bones but more importantly, the rays are dangerous”, he said
He explained that the ultraviolet rays in a sensitive skin type causes premature ageing evident by wrinkling, caused by the destruction of the elastic fibres which maintains the integrity of the skin, thinning of the skin and white patches from increased keratin.
“Ghana’s geographical position as the country closest to the real centre of the world means the sun rays are almost perpendicular to the earth surface unlike other countries beyond latitude 30N or S where the rays are oblique” he said.
According to him, the sun rays in areas such as the Europe, Russia and Canada were not as harsh as that of Ghana because the sun rays had been filtered by the cloud, thick layers, smog and fog, adding that “These areas are best suited to the fair skinned races” he stated.
Reasons for bleaching
Discrimination against the black skin, especially during the era of apartheid and colonialism still persists, making some black skinned people feel inferior. Consequently, black people all over the world currently, including those in the West Indians, Latinos, Asians and African American have all turned to bleaching.
This has led to the definition of beauty of a woman in Africa as the one who is fair, therefore most African men prefer the light skinned to the black skinned woman.
A sociological study by Evelyn Nakano Glenn, a professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a NYTimes.com post on skin whitening., says “…It is not as if dark-skinned women are imagining a bias. Among African-Americans and also Latinos, there was a clear connection between skin colour and socioeconomic status. It’s not some fantasy. There is prejudice against dark-skinned people, especially women in the so-called marriage market” she said.
When asked why she would want to be fair, 26-year –old Nanayaa said “I want to look attractive and also get the opportunities other fair ladies are getting”.
This is what 18-year-old Belinda Anane also had to say when asked the same question.
“People who tone their skin look prettier and their skin alone attract great opportunities for them”
Is bleaching reversible?
Many would ask if the journey to the fair world could be reversed. The answer is yes and no.
According to Madam Boa- Amponsem, “one can only reverse a bleaching skin depending on how deep the damage was to the skin”.
“When the skin is badly damaged then it would be very difficult to reverse” she stated.
“However, it could be reversed but would take a very long time and it was also not likely for the person to get the natural skin as it used be” she said.
She added that bleaching can damage some places on the body permanently and could not be changed.
Bleaching among pregnant women
When asked if there were any effects of bleaching on pregnant women, Madam Boa-Amponsam stressed that bleaching during pregnancy could have serious implications on the fetus leading to deformity of the baby.
She said bleaching was not recommended and was no way good for the skin.
“Bleaching in the first place should not be started at all for any reason whatsoever” she advised.
But to those who want to stop, she recommended a makeup as cover-up so that they could go through the process without being seen.
Society, she urged, should encourage people who wanted to stop bleaching rather than criticise them.
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