April 22, 2022

GHS launches second special COVID-19 vaccination campaign

Somanya, The Ghana Health Service has launched a second special COVID-19 vaccination campaign to whip up the public interest in taking the vaccines.

The campaign, which started on April 21 will end on Monday April 25 using strategic approaches including outreach points at hard-to-reach areas and mobile clinics at vantage points throughout the country.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director-General, GHS indicated that the key objective of the special campaign was to escalate approaches to reach out to over two million people by the end of the campaign.

He said Ghana had targeted to vaccinate about 20 million people by close of June 2022 to achieve a herd immunity as a country.

About 6,000 health vaccination teams have been deployed throughout the country to undertake the special campaign exercise.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye reiterated that all the five covid-19 vaccines approved by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) have proven to be effective against complications and fatalities from the disease.

“The vaccination has been a potent tool in fighting the COVID-19 and that has resulted in the easing of the restrictions, however, we are not out of the woods yet,” the Direction-General noted.

He urged the public especially those who have not received any of the vaccines to do so in their own interest and that of the country.

Dr Winfred Ofosu, Eastern Regional Director of Health, said studies of other pandemics have shown that “there were periods of remission where the disease goes down and resurfaces aggressively,” and warned that there was the risk of the disease resurfacing.

“That is why we must not relax on our collective efforts in ensuring that each and every one within the eligibility bracket takes the vaccine alongside observing the Protocols where necessary.”

From January of this year, the Eastern Region has not recorded any case and has no active cases in any of the health facility across region.

He added his voice on the need to use this period to do the needful by vaccinating to ensure herd immunity should the disease resurfaced.

Source: Ghana News Agency

April 22, 2022

COVID-19: 400,000 people to be vaccinated in Ashanti Region

Kumasi, The Ashanti Regional Health Directorate has begun another round of COVID-19 vaccination exercise in all the 43 districts in the Region.

The five-days exercise, which began on April 21, is seeking to vaccinate 400,000 people who have never been vaccinated or are yet to complete the vaccination series.

Dr. Emmanuel Tinkorang, the Regional Director of Health Services, told a press briefing in Kumasi that all persons, especially 15 years and above, and pregnant women were eligible to take the jab.

Giving a breakdown of the number of people being targeted in the various districts, Dr Tinkorang said the Directorate was targeting schools, corporate institutions, religious groups as well as keep fit clubs at their appointed locations at no cost to them.

He said the region in the last three weeks had not recorded any new case of the virus adding that currently, cumulative case count stood at 22,299 with 389 deaths.

Dr. Tinkorang said vaccinating the population against the viral disease was critical to the fight against the pandemic and encouraged the public to take advantage of the vaccination exercise.

In Ashanti Region, he said only 30 per cent of the target population were fully vaccinated, adding that “we need to ensure that at least 70 per cent of the target population were fully vaccinated to achieve herd immunity to reduce the risk of surge in the event of importation into our country and region.”

He cautioned the public to continue wearing the face mask even though it was not mandatory, and encouraged the public to exercise good judgement and observe the safety protocols, especially in situations where the risk of disease transmission was significant.

They should avoid crowded places, observe physical distancing and personal hygiene in situations where crowding cannot be avoided.

DrTinkorang encouraged employers and event organizers to ensure safety of their workers and customers by maintaining hygiene standards with minimal inconveniences for all.

He encouraged the public to access the health facilities when the need arises and avoid delays, saying that “the facilities were safe and the risk of getting infected was more than four times lower compared with the community.”

Dr Tinkorang admonished the public to walk into the wellness clinics for routine health screening including blood pressure measurement and health counselling.

Source: Ghana News Agency

April 22, 2022

GHS to organise door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination in WR

Takoradi, The Ghana Health Service, under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, is to move into communities in the Western Region to vaccinate an estimated 149,000 persons against COVID-19.

The five-day exercise, dubbed, “Better Late Than Never”, would cover pregnant women, children above 15 years as well as Muslims who may going through the fasting period.

Dr Gifty Amugi, Public Health Director of the Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service, told a press conference in Takoradi that the exercise would be targeting door-to-door, homes, religious and recreational gatherings as well as schools.

She assured that the vaccine was safe, saying, “The vaccines are generally safe and efficacious to protect you against the COVID-19 virus.”

The regional statistics show that 26.3 percent of the fully vaccinated had received the booster doses and 43.9 percent received at least a dose.

The figures according to the Public Director implied that 56.1 percent were yet to receive a dose and the need to enhance regional protection against the COVID-19 virus.

The Vaccine has the ability to protect you against the virus and ward off any catastrophic effects of current and emerging variants of the virus, she indicated.

Source: Ghana News Agency

April 22, 2022

Communities urged to safeguard the health of students

Tamale, Communities, especially those around Senior High Schools (SHS) have been urged to be keen on safeguarding the health of the students by keeping their surroundings clean.

Mr Suleman Yakubu, Northern Regional Director of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate, who made the call, urged members of the public to desist from defecating on school compounds, because it posed health implications to the lives of students.

He made the call at the launching of the second inter-SHS Open Defecation Free (ODF) League Table in Tamale.

It was organised by the Northern Regional Coordinating Council, Northern Regional Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate, and the Regional Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee on Sanitation with support from UNICEF and Catholic Relief Services.

The inter-SHS ODF League Table assessed the best water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices at all the 39 public SHSs in the region and communities.?

After the assessment, Saint Charles SHS was first, followed by Sang Community Day SHS whilst Al-Maktoum SHS came third, and Presby SHS was fourth out of the four schools assessed.

Mr Yakubu said schools had huge roles to play in sanitation issues but indicated however that most of them were faced with indiscriminate littering by community members.?

Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, said the inter-SHS ODF League Table was instituted for students to embrace cleanliness before leaving school.

Alhaji Saibu said it would further create healthy competition among schools to improve sanitation in the schools and in the region.?

Dr Peter Attafuah, Northern Regional Director of Education said the ODF League Table would compel SHSs to be hygiene conscious.?

He said the League Table did not seek to emphasise position but rather a way to motivate schools, who were beneath the list, to do more regarding WASH.

He entreated school authorities to meet with community leaders to build a school-community relation to cajole them to stop littering school compounds.

Source: Ghana News Agency

April 22, 2022

Let’s invest in mental health-Researcher

Kintampo (BE/R), Mr Kenneth A. AE-Ngibise, a Research Fellow, Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC), has called on government to pay significant attention to mental health, invest in it and incorporate it into primary healthcare.

He said research conducted suggested that mental health had been neglected from the top for years and contributed to the barriers in implementing the Mental Health Act 2012 (Act 846).

The aim of the Act is to promote the rights and quality treatment of persons with mental disorders and funding of mental health services, among others.

The barriers, he said, included under-funding, adding that: “Mental health is supposed to be free and so doesn’t generate income. So why will government invest in something that will not bring back money? That has been a challenge that needs to be tackled.”

Mr AE-Ngibise said the KHRC was conducting a study to ascertain how much the nation lost both socially and economically to paying little and no attention to mental health.

He also underscored the need to build modules and encompass conventional health care with traditional and faith-based organisational healings.

“Many people will first go to traditional healers before they go to medical doctors for mental health. This is because they say they have gone there, and it worked for them. We, therefore, need to find how to work collaboratively with them.

“Some faith-based organisations do well by trying to counsel suspected mentally troubled persons and refer them to psychiatric health personnel when they detect any physical illness and sometimes invite the health personnel to their prayer camps to administer drugs,” he added.

The Research Fellow said mental health was quite common, especially depression, but could, however, be diagnosed only after being sustained for two weeks.

“A lot of people have mental illnesses such as depression, which is common but they don’t know they have those. When you get to work and feel you aren’t okay, productivity comes down, and it also affects everyone around you at work, and even at home and in society at large.”

Mr AE-Ngibise bemoaned the stigma that mental health patients were subjected to, explaining that, victims failed to go to public places and even outside their homes for the fear of the disgrace.

“Because of stigma, people don’t even come out of their homes. For example, if I want a woman to marry, I may not go to marry one from a home which has mental patients because I may believe its genetic. It indeed affects society and people don’t want to get close to such people,” he stated.

He mentioned work pressure, relationship and marital challenges, and poverty as some of the key contributors to depression.

The Kintampo Health Research Centre, located in the middlebelt of Ghana in the Bono East region, is one of three field research centres of the Research and Development Division of Ghana Health Service established in 1994.?

It provides a platform for research into diseases that are of public health importance nationally, and shares results of findings with appropriate sectors of the health ministry and internationally, and gives recommendations for policy direction.

Source: Ghana News Agency

April 22, 2022

Development of a country rests on strong early childhood education-Dr Nyarko

Apire (Ash), Dr Kingsley Nyarko, Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, says the development of a country rests on a strong early childhood education delivery made available to all children.

He said building a strong educational foundation at the kindergarten level prepared children adequately for the primary and all other levels of education, hence, the need to pay particular attention to it.

Dr Nyarko was addressing residents of Apire, during a sod-cutting ceremony to commence the construction of a state-of-the-art two-unit kindergarten classroom block for the community in the Kwadaso Municipality.

The project, which is expected to be completed within six months, was being funded by the MP through his share of the Common Fund, at a cost of GH¢400,000.00.

It had been awarded to Nana Banahene Company Limited, a local contractor in the Kwadaso Municipality.

The kindergarten block, when completed, would have an office for the headteacher, kitchen, sleeping room, washrooms, as well as changing rooms and a fenced wall.

Dr Nyarko highlighted the importance of education, saying the government was doing everything possible to ensure all children of school-going age in the country accessed quality education.

The MP advised parents to keep firm eyes on their children and wards for them to become responsible citizens in the future.

He appealed to the people of Kwadaso to rally behind him to bring the needed development to the area.

The MP called on the contractor working on the project to do a good work to ensure durability.

Mrs Mavis Ofosu Boateng, the Kwadaso Municipal Director of Education commended the MP for his continuous assistance towards improving the education in the area.

“Dr Nyarko is doing extremely well to enhance effective teaching and learning, particularly in schools at deprived communities.

“His interest in education remained unparalleled and we must support him to achieve his vision for the people,” she said.

She assured that her outfit would cooperate with the contractor to finish the job on schedule.

Abusuapanin Alexander Kwabena Agyei, who spoke on behalf of the Chief of Apire, expressed appreciation to the MP and assured that the people in the community would support to ensure the project was completed within time.

Source: Ghana News Agency

April 22, 2022

Niger Parliament Votes in Favor of Foreign Troop Presence

NIAMEY, NIGER — Members of Niger’s parliament on Friday voted in favor of allowing the deployment of foreign forces fighting jihadists in the impoverished Sahel nation.

After several hours of debate, the MPs voted 131-31 for the proposal.

Some activists had been campaigning against the presence of foreign troops, branding them as occupiers who would threaten national sovereignty. The outcome of the vote was in little doubt, however, with the parliament in Niamey dominated by allies of President Mohamed Bazoum.

In its battle against al-Qaida and Islamic State-linked jihadists, Niger has the support of several Western countries, including the United States and France, which have military bases in the capital and the Agadez region in the north.

“Entering into new partnerships in no way calls into question our sovereignty over the national territory,” said Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou.

The agreed-upon text “unequivocally indicates the openness of our country to conclude alliances” against jihadists, he said.

Niger “is practically surrounded by armed terrorist groups,” the head of government said.

He also referred to the ongoing withdrawal of the French anti-jihadist Barkhane force and the smaller Takuba force of European special forces from neighboring Mali.

Two jihadi insurgencies

The prime minister opened the door to increased collaboration with France, in particular.

According to the government document handed to MPs and seen by AFP, the current situation requires Niger and other countries to commit to “an effective fight against terrorism, in the framework of bilateral or multilateral cooperation, either current or in the future.”

“The special forces of friendly countries will be deployed … [and] installed on the territories of members of ECOWAS [Economic Community of West African States] facing the threat.”

These include Benin, Ghana, Niger and Ivory Coast, the document stated.

U.S. and French special forces are already operational in Niger, which has declared itself ready to host more. But their possible deployment in the other countries has not been officially mentioned previously.

According to the document, in Niger, “which already houses foreign troops’ bases, new sites will be set up nearer the theaters of operation” in Mali, where multiple jihadi groups operate.

“The locations and operational methods” of these forces will be discussed with Niger’s military hierarchy, it stated.

There was opposition to the parliamentary vote on Friday, but it failed to carry the day.

“We cannot give the government a blank check,” said opposition parliamentarian Soumana Sanda, while another mentioned “gray areas.”

France is reconfiguring its anti-jihadi forces in the Sahel after its relationship with Mali broke down following a military coup in August 2020.

Germany, which runs a logistics outpost in Niamey, has set up a center close to the border with Mali to train Nigerien special forces. Italy and Canada are also involved in special forces training.

The poorest country in the world according to the benchmark U.N. Human Development Index, Niger is facing two jihadi insurgencies. One is unfurling in the southwest of the country, coming from neighboring Mali, while the other is in the southeast, from Nigeria.

Criticism of the presence of foreign forces prompted Bazoum to announce in February that he would ask parliament to agree on any new “arrangements” with foreign partners to tackle the jihadists.

Source: Voice of America

April 22, 2022

Historic parliamentary win motivates me for re-election-Hohoe NPP Chairman

Hohoe (V/R), Mr Anthony Kondobrey, Hohoe Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the party’s win of 2020 Parliamentary Seat has motivated him to seek re-election.

He said winning the seat for the first time in almost three decades under his stewardship showed that he deserved another term.

Mr Kondobrey speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after submitting his nomination forms at the party office, disclosed that his Constituency Organiser also became the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Hohoe.

He said there was the need for the three pillars of the party structure, thus the Constituency Chairman, the Member of Parliament and the MCE to work in tandem for the development of the constituency and welfare of party patriots.

Mr Kondobrey noted that the seat that was won was like a tree planted which needed to be nurtured to bear fruits for the benefit of the party and the nation.

He said he also filed to contest the position because he did just the first four-year term and felt that the party was doing so much for the constituency and keeping faith with the grassroots.

Mr Kondobrey noted that the grassroots felt marginalised in the run to the 2020 general elections, which was not a deliberate action but a strategy to bring on board other party members and people to help the Party win the seat and not aimed at neglecting the grassroots.

He urged them to exercise patience since the Party was still looking for how their requests and demands do not be in vain.

Mr Kondobrey said he would work closely with the party structures to harness the gains of the Party to benefit all members.

He gave the assurance that there would be at least one opportunity at every polling station for patriots to realise that he had come to do something for the Party.

Mr Kondobrey said he would ensure that the grassroots were united before he is retained to become formidable for the Party’s plans of “breaking the 8”.

He said he would build a new office complex which would be his historic monument to leave behind for the Party as a result of winning the parliamentary seat.

Mr Kondobrey said the land was already acquired with feasibility studies completed adding that within the next four years, the Party would move from the rented apartment to its own permanent site.

The NPP will hold constituency elections to elect new officers from April 28 to May 2, this year.

Source: Ghana News Agency