Sanya Serenity Coast Successfully Promotes Sanya City at the University of Cape Town
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Oct. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — On October 27th, The 2017-18 Clipper Round the World Yachting Race Sanya Committee representatives went to The University of Cape Town (UCT) and promoted Sanya City. Teachers and students at the International Academic Programmes of UCT came and listened to the promotion campaign. This included the legendary sailing journey of the world famous Yacht – Sanya Serenity Coast.
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/
At the beginning of the promotion a Sanya publicity film was showcased, giving the audience a nice introduction to Sanya. There was also a song called “Welcome to Sanya”, which was played – the song and film impressed the audience, and they were also able to view the tropical coastal scenery via the film. An “Oriental Hawaii” feel was generated with the audience members feeling excited and wanting to travel there.
A student from the International Acadmic Programme said, “Sanya is a very beautiful city, it definitely will be my preferred destination for traveling abroad. There are also duty-free shops, for me which will be a shopping paradise.”
After the introduction of Sanya, the Ambassador crew of Sanya, Law Feng, continued to share his own sailing story. “It is not an easy thing for twenty people to sail on a mighty sea with a 70-foot sailboat. The hull is often tilted more than 45 degrees, resistance to 10 meters high waves. ”
A video of the yacht passing through the Atlantic was then displayed. This shocked the audience, seeing the video of the yacht travelling through the waves – the audience were astounded and awed. Wayne, a teacher working at the International Academic Programmes heard that there would be a Sanya yacht open day, and excitedly asked about how to participate, and also said, “My son is 8 years old, I would like to take him to see the beautiful yacht from Sanya, China.”
Founded in 1829, the University of Cape Town is the oldest university in South Africa. The first case of a human heart transplant in the world was done by Prof Chrs Barnard of UCT. So far, two graduates have won the Nobel Prize.
The Sanya City Promotion Campaign will hope to bloom around the world, especially aimed at the younger generation and the young talents of the future.
Ghana should do more to fight rising stroke cases
Kumasi, A Neurologist at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Dr. Fred Stephen Sarfo, has called for the nation to make the fight against stroke and other non-communicable diseases an urgent priority
He said more should be done to efficiently manage stroke cases and save many from dying of the disease.
The referral facility, last year, saw in excess of 800 cases.
Dr. Sarfo, speaking at a public education forum held to mark this year’s world stroke day, indicated that 40 per cent of patients in the country ends up dying, with another 30 per cent returning home with paralysis.
Recognizing the risk factors of stroke was the theme chosen for this year’s event.
Dr. Sarfo complained about unavailability of drugs, the lack of vital equipment and absence of well-structured health systems to manage the disease.
These, he said, were to blame for the unacceptably high number of people dying from stroke.
He called for the establishment of stroke units and rehabilitation centres across the nation to give the needed care to patients.
Dr. Sarfo also spoke of the need to sensitize the people, especially those in their productive age, to be mindful of factors that could pre-dispose to the disease.
He mentioned some of these as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, stress, lack of physical exercises, smoking and excessive alcohol intake.
They should additionally go for regular check-ups and adopt healthy lifestyles to save themselves from getting stroke.
Stroke is not caused by witchcraft, it can be prevented by educating people on the risk factors to protect them and prevent death and disability.
Mrs. Gladys Ghansah, Principal Nursing Officer, appealed for strong support by way of the supply of equipment and space to properly handle stroke cases.
She announced that 233 out of the 369 patients admitted at the hospital between year 2014 and 2015, did not survive.
Earlier, the facility in partnership with Ernest Chemist, Menri Pharmacy, Medilab and Leo Medical and Beauty Supplies, organized free health screening for the public � to identify those with risk factors, offer advice and treatment.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Government committed to working with transparent Civil Service- President
Accra, Government is committed to working with the Civil Service, but would want to do so in an atmosphere of transparency and accountability from the Sector, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.
Acknowledging that the Civil Service was an essential component of governance architecture, he said government would partner strategically with the Service to enable it (government) implement its policies and programmes for the socio-economic transformation of the country.
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Tuesday when he swore into office an eight-member Civil Service Council at the Flag Staff House in Accra.
The Council is chaired by a retired Supreme Court Judge and nominee of the President, Justice Rose Constance Owusu.
The other members include Nana Kwasi Agyekum Dwamena, the Head of the Civil Service, Justice Henrietta Abban, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Mr Edwin Barnes, a retired senior Civil Servant, Mr Isaac Kwame Asiamah of the National Development Planning Commission, Mr. Isaac Bampoe Addo of the Civil Servants Association and Mrs Mary Emelda Amadu and Mr. Isaac Tetteh Adjovu, both nominees of the President to the Council.
Expressing confidence in the composition of the Council, President Akufo-Addo charged the members to confront and deal with corruption, bureaucratic procedures and partisanship in the Civil Service to ensure that it (Service) stays on an even keel to assist government realize its objectives.
He further admonished them to execute their duties in line with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and to ensure that the many challenges of the Civil Service was dealt with, adding that, they should at all times perform their duties devoid of partisanship and partiality.
The President reminded them that policies on which his government was elected into power were those of the people and therefore, all of us have to cooperate in making sure that that these policies are realized.
At all times, you should be guided by what is of the interest of the people and Ghanathat should be your consideration. Work without fear or favour to realize the public interest of the country, he told the Council.
He asked the Council to at all times, give him good and honest advise devoid of partisanship, to enable him to give strategic direction to the civil service in the ways it mobilizes and deploys its resources.
Justice Rose Constance Owusu assured the President that the Council would carry out its mandate with diligence and abide by the Oaths that they have taken.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Wassa East District NHIS embarks on community registration to attract more clients
Daboase (WR), – The management of the Wassa East National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has re-strategized to increase its clients.
Mr Robert Koompon, the Scheme Manager who made this known to the GNA in an interview at Daboase, said his outfit has decided to move to the communities to register the people instead of waiting for the clients.
According to him the communities under the district were very far from the district capital Daboase and as a result, most people due to proximity and to reduce transportation cost would either go to Twifo Praso or Elmina where they could easily access.
“To help stem the situation we have decided to move to the communities to save our clients from having to travel very long distances to be registered, he said.
Mr Koompon said it was the wish of the scheme to register a lot more people but that the scheme was confronted with a lot of challenges including inadequate machines to register people and other very important logistics.
He also mentioned the lack of internet connectivity as another challenge, stressing that only 12 out of the 232 communities in the District had connectivity thereby making it difficult to do biometric registration for people living in such areas.
He said most of the communities were far from the Daboase office and clients therefore found it very difficult to move to the office do their registration.
Mr Koompon said to ensure the smooth operations of the scheme in the District it was important for the provision of Satellite disc in communities that had no internet connectivity.
He appealed to the Member of Parliament for the area Mr Isaac Adjei Mensah to help the Scheme acquire more machines, noting that the District has only three machines for the exercise, which he described as woefully inadequate.
The District Scheme Manager said despite the challenges a total of 20,047 clients made of 8,597 new registrants and 11,450 renewals were recorded during the period under review.
According to him 679,546.99 was paid as claims as of September this year.
Source: Ghana News Agency
TB remains leading infectious killer, political commitment needed to stem disease
Hohoe (V/R), Global efforts to combat Tuberculosis (TB) have saved an estimated 53 million lives since 2000 and reduced the TB mortality rate by 37 percent, according to the Global TB Report 2017 released by the World Health Organization (WHO) Monday.
Despite these achievements, TB remains the top infectious killer in 2016. TB is also the main cause of deaths related to antimicrobial resistance and the leading killer of people with HIV.
A release copied to the Ghana News Agency said progress in many countries is stalling and it is not fast enough to reach global targets or close persistent gaps in TB care and prevention.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, said “While the world has committed to ending the TB epidemic by 2030, actions and investments don’t match the political rhetoric. We need a dynamic, global, multisectoral approach.”
“The good news is that we finally have two great opportunities to move forward. The first WHO Global Ministerial Conference to end TB in Moscow in 2017, followed by the first UN General Assembly high-level meeting on TB in 2018. These will build momentum, get different sectors engaged, and accelerate our efforts to make TB history.
High global burden of disease and death in 2016
In 2016, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide, 10 percent of which were people living with HIV. Seven countries accounted for 64 percent of the total burden, with India bearing the brunt, followed by Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and South Africa.
An estimated 1.7 million people died from TB, including nearly 400 000 people who were co-infected with HIV. This is a drop by 4 percent compared to 2015.
Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat. WHO estimates that there were 600 000 new cases with resistance to rifampicin – the most effective first-line drug, of which 490 000 had MDR-TB.
Almost half of these cases were in India, China and the Russian Federation.
“The sheer numbers of deaths and suffering speak for themselves – we are not accelerating fast enough,” said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Global TB Programme.
“Prompt action towards universal health coverage and social protection, as well as breakthroughs in research and innovations – will be critical to enable access to patient-centred care of the highest standards for all, especially the poorest, most disadvantaged people everywhere.
Persistent gaps in care and financing
Tackling the epidemic requires action to close gaps in care and financing. It also requires progress in a particular subset of high TB burden countries.
Underreporting and under-diagnosis of TB cases continues to be a challenge, especially in countries with large unregulated private sectors and weak health systems.
It said of the estimated 10.4 million new cases, only 6.3 million were detected and officially notified in 2016, leaving a gap of 4.1 million. India, Indonesia and Nigeria accounted for almost half of this global gap.
Again, only one in five MDR-TB cases were started on treatment. India and China accounted for 39 percent of the global gap. Treatment success remains low, at 54 percent globally.
Of the almost half a million reported cases of HIV-associated TB, 15 percent were not on antiretroviral therapy (ART) as recommended by WHO. Most of the gaps related to HIV-associated TB were in the WHO African Region.
TB preventive treatment is expanding in two priority risk groups – people living with HIV and children under 5. However, most people eligible for TB preventive treatment are not accessing it.
For TB care and prevention, investments in low and middle-income countries fall almost US$ 2.3 billion short of the US$ 9.2 billion needed in 2017.
In addition, at least an extra US$ 1.2 billion per year is required to accelerate the development of new vaccines, diagnostics, and medicines.
Shortfalls in TB funding are one of the main reasons why progress is not fast enough to be on track to reach the end TB targets, said Dr Katherine Floyd, Coordinator of WHO’s Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at the Global TB Programme.
We have a double challenge. More domestic funding is needed in middle-income countries, and more international donor support is needed to support low-income countries.
Political commitment and multisectoral action
Ending the TB epidemic requires action beyond the health sector to address the risk factors and determinants of the disease. For the first time the Global TB Report presents results from a new multisectoral monitoring framework that identifies linkages with the TB epidemic across seven Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Analysis of the latest status of the indicators for the 30 high TB burden countries show that most will be challenged to reach SDG targets.
In order to increase multisectoral action, plans to galvanize all sectors and secure attention at the highest levels have resulted in the WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era, in Moscow, 16-17 November 2017.
This will be followed by the very first UN General Assembly high-level meeting on TB in 2018, which will seek commitment from Heads of State.
Source: Ghana News Agency
