Day: September 26, 2021

Accra, Sept.26, GNA – The Ghana Health Service (GHS) said evidence locally and internationally shows that vaccination against the Covid-19 accounts for the steady decline in positive cases.

Additionally, improving adherence to Covid-19 safety and enforcement protocols also contributed significantly to the decline.

Ghana has recorded 128 positive cases of COVID-19 this September, 273 in August and 500 in July, this year.

The GHS said as at September 23, 2021, there were 3,578 active cases, 1,147 deaths, 122,000 recoveries and 126,803 cumulative positive cases after 1.7 million tests.

At a media briefing in Accra on Sunday to update the public on COVID-19 cases, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General of GHS, said the Service had so far inoculated 1.6 million Ghanaians, with 89 percent of the vaccines coming from AstraZeneca, 10 percent from Johnson & Johnson, and one per cent from Sputnik V.

He called for aggressive deployment of COVID-19 vaccines across the 16 regions, especially in market places, lorry parks, churches and mosques.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the country had received nearly five million doses of the AstraZeneca Covishield from India, 21,000 doses of Sputnik V, 450,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson, and 1.2 million of Moderna vaccines.

Achieving herd immunity against

the Covid-19 had been government’s primary goal to halt the spread of the disease, he said.

President Akufo-Addo, in February this year, announced that although his administration sought to vaccinate the entire population, he aimed to vaccinate 20 million of the populace by the end of the year.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Koforidua,– The construction of the 160-bed capacity Eastern Regional Hospital is progressing steadily, contrary to some reports that suggest that the project has been stalled, Mr Seth Acheampong, the Regional Minister has said.

Mr Acheampong said the project was being constructed in phases and that the method of designing and construction of a regional hospital took some time.

He said this when Mr Kojo Oppng-Nkrumah, Information Minister, met with journalists in the region in Koforidua as part of a duty tour.

He called on the media to seek information on all government projects to enable them to inform the public adequately.

The Information Minister said the government’s intention was to put the economy on the right path for sustainable development after the huge damage caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the government had introduced the Obatanpa Care Programme to inject over 100 billion cedis into the economy to support the private sector and entrepreneurs to create job opportunities.

He said government’s plan of vaccinating over 20 million people of the population was working according to plan with the receipt of vaccines from different sources, and called on the media to continue to hyping on the need for keeping to COVID-19 protocols to reduce its spread.

“As of now, about 1.3 million Ghanaian people have received at least the first shot of the vaccine and the government is hopeful that our target of 20 million would be achieved by the end of the year,” he said.

Mr Oppong-Nkrumah charged the media as the fourth estate of the realm to help the government by highlighting issues of security and terrorism as they posed threat to the sovereign integrity of the country.

He noted that the West African sub-region was highly dominated with terrorist activities but said the government’s systems were alert, adding, it was imperative for the media to play their role professionally to support.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Tema,- The Kaysens Gaisie Limited has organized blood donation exercise at Tema Community one for its staff and the public to help stock the National Blood Service to save lives.

Madam Helena Gaisie Stephens, Chief Executive Officer of Kaysens Gaisie Limited said it was essential to have enough blood stored since pregnant women, accident victims, and malaria patients would always require blood/

She said the company had actively supported the donation of blood since 2017 adding that, “this is the ninth time we are organizing blood donation exercise and every donation exercise, a minimum of 100 pints of blood are collected”.

Mr Stephen Kweku Danso, Blood Programme Officer of the National Blood Service said blood played a vital role in the human system saying, blood transports oxygen to other parts of the body and without it, respiration would not take place.

He said the safest and sustainable way to donate blood was through voluntary donation adding that the COVID-19 had had a negative impact on the number of people who donate to support the blood bank and urged Ghanaians to donate on regular basis to help save lives.

He commended Kaysens Gaisie for their enormous contribution in saving lives through blood donation and charged all cooperate organization, faith-based organization as well as the public to visit health facilities and donate blood voluntarily.

Maame Kwaaba Stephens, Brand Ambassador, National Blood Service Ghana, said people were not able to donate blood during the COVID-19 lockdown, which had resulted in the shortage of blood in various hospital’s blood banks.

She explained that it was not painful donating blood as people have speculated and appealed to the public to donate since there were a lot of benefits to derive from it.

KOG Eyecare Optical Centre supported the programme with free eye screening for the donors.

“Once they are donating to save people’s lives, we deemed it necessary to screen them to know their eye status and if there is any medication, we could give them,” Mr Eric Owusu Gyimah, CEO of KOG Eyecare stated.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Tema,– Ms Linda Appiah-Kubi, Principal Community Health Nurse at Tema Manhean has advised Ghanaians especially the aged to avoid eating late to prevent them contracting diseases.

Mrs. Appiah-Kubi said it was important to take breakfast in the morning between 0700 hours and 1000 hours. Breakfast must not be taken anytime one feels like having it since gives strength and boosts the immune system.

“The time to eat is very important and have to be consistent. Some people actually or habitually don’t take breakfast in the morning rather they take it in the mid-afternoon,” this is not a good practice, she said.

Mrs Appiah-Kubi said this at a programme organised by the National Youth Authority (NYA) in Tema Metropolitan Assembly for members of the ‘Adikanfo Kuw’ Society in Tema on how the elderly can manage their health to prolong their lifespan.

She said denying to eat appropriately was not a healthy form to reduce weight and urged people who think they are obese to consult health practitioners for the proper method to reduce weight if the need be.

The Principal Community Health nurse explained that as one advanced in age, the bones became weaker, “so it is very easy to contract diseases like diabetes and blood pressure so you should not create room for that”.

She explained that supper has to be taken at least by 1600 hours for the aged; but if it becomes necessary to eat 1900 hours, one must be conscious of the type of food to eat.

“If you eat late in the evening one must wait for about three hours before going to bed to enable the food to digest, she advised.

Madam Micheline Osei-Tutu, Acting Director NYA, TMA, emphasised the need to seek for expert’s advice on what to eat and at what particular time to prevent contracting diseases.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra,– The Environmental Health Officers of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) have marked the 2021 World Environmental Health Day with a call on the assemblies to put environmental health issues first on their agenda.

It was on the theme: “Prioritising Environmental Health for Healthier Communities in Global Recovery.”

The United Nations General Assembly in 2011 declared 26th September as a day to promote and increase awareness of Environmental Health Practitioners and to project their roles and duties to humanity.

Professor Edward Wiafe, the Dean of School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Environment and Sustainable Development, who made the call, said the time to prioritise environmental health was now to make the nation healthier.

“As much as the Day is being celebrated on 26th September, 2021 while the new chief executives of the assemblies are being confirmed, I appeal to them to put environmental health issues first on their scale of preference,” he said.

Prof Wiafe said there was the need for government, policy makers and development agents to understand the impact of good environmental health on development and factor same in policy planning.

“Again, there is the need to re-look at the management and governance of human settlements to strengthen resilience and preparedness, and support local recovery,” Prof Wiafe said.

He recommended that the assemblies should marshal the required political will to ensure communities became more safe, resilient and sustainable with the appropriate technological measures.

He called for the promotion of urban forestry by incorporating trees in the design and development of cities.

“This will promote carbon sequestration, reduce temperature, and prevent soil sealing, while enhancing soil infiltration, which reduces flooding,” he said.

Prof Wiafe said because of unhealthy environment 12 million people around the world died every year, and that could be prevented.

Environmental pollutants could cause health problems like respiratory and heart diseases and some types of cancers, he said.

“It has been postulated that people with low income are more likely to live in polluted areas and have unsafe drinking water and more so children and pregnant women are at higher risk of health problems related to pollution,” he said.

Prof Wiafe said the work of environmental health officers must be accorded much respect as they exposed themselves to hazards at the expense of their health, adding that their hard work prevented the COVID-19 from having greater impact on the country.

Madam Florence Kuukyi, the Director of the AMA Public Health Department, said environmental health practitioners ensured a safe, hygienic, and healthy environment for human habitation.

“These practitioners, in their field of work, have a high knowledge of tradition; they are familiar with the risks and know how to get the ‘message’ across to the public. They think globally and act locally, probably because pollution has no respect for political boundary,” she said.

Madam Kuukyi said the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated the vital role that environmental health practitioners played worldwide and called on the government, civil society and non-governmental organisations, religious bodies, and opinion leaders to prioritise environmental health in their activities.

“It should be noted that with proper environmental health practices the public is prevented from contracting communicable diseases such as typhoid and cholera,” she said.

Source: Ghana News Agency