Day: March 27, 2024

Ms Abena Adubea Amoah, the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), has asked the Government to prioritise the provision of Family Planning (FP) commodities.

She said statistics from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) indicated that FP commodities available were not enough and that donors consistently provided more than 80 per cent of a larger portion of the country’s procurements, which was not sustainable.

The Executive Director said donors in recent times had also been calling for an increase in the 20 per cent quota the government provided, adding that as of the last count in 2018, Ghana had a deficit of about 1.6 million for family planning commodities, which needed to be addressed.

Ms Amoah made the call in an interview during a stakeholder meeting with the FP 2030 Director in Accra to review Ghana’s SMART advocacy document on FP (Family Planning) 2030 for a successful implementation.

The aim is to ensure that all the focal stakeholders work with the government and hold it a
ccountable to the commitment it has made towards FP 2030, which is to ensure that every woman and every girl, who needs family planning has access to commodities and services.

FP 2030 Ghana Commitment is a document that the government of Ghana has signed, and which looks at ensuring that women and girls have access to family planning commodities across the country.

FP 2030 is made up of government institutions, donors, civil society organisations, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), USAID and the youth focal points.

FP plays a critical role in shaping multiple dimensions of societal progress, including fertility management, poverty alleviation, gender equality, and women’s empowerment.

It plays a central role in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly targets 3.7 which aims to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, including family planning, information, and education, and 5.6 which aims to ensure universal access to sexual and repr
oductive health and reproductive rights, within Goals 3 and 5 respectively.

Ms Amoah said failure, therefore, to prioritise the provision of family planning commodities meant that some people would not be able to have access to FP services despite the gains made.

She said though the government was doing its best, there was more room for improvement, saying ‘ours is to ensure that the commitment Ghana has made, it works towards it.’

Mr Yusuf Nuhu, the Advocacy Accountability and Partnerships Manager, FP2030 Northwest and Central Africa Hub, said the meeting would ensure that the draft advocacy strategy developed sometime back was finalised to form part of the advocacy initiative that civil society and others would engage the government on and see how those commitments were fulfilled.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Dental Department of the Tema General Hospital, in collaboration with the Public Health Unit, has held a free dental screening and sensitisation exercise for the public in commemoration of World Oral Health Day.

The programme was to raise awareness of oral health and the need for regular visits to the dentist for a check to ensure early intervention and treatment.

The programme, attended by staff and clients of the hospital and the public, was sponsored by the Ghana Dentist Association and Colgate Palmolive Ghana.

Dr Kakra Bonsu Appiah, the Head of the Dental Department, said the exercise formed part of activities to mark the 2024 World Oral Day.

He explained that the facility undertook various activities on the day of the celebration, which was March 20, hence the need to have the screening on a different day.

More than 500 people were targeted for the exercise with the aim of educating them on the dangers associated with delays in seeking for dental treatment, while urging them to be agents of good
oral health in their communities and the country at large.

Speaking on the 2024 theme: ‘A Happy Mouth is a Happy Body,’ he said oral health had been one of the most neglected areas of medical practice, causing more tooth extractions than preventive dentistry in the Tema region.

He, therefore, recommended that every Ghanaian visited the dentist twice a year for check-up and that the National Health Insurance Scheme currently caters for dental treatment to make it affordable.

Ms Ellen Asubroni, a Dental Therapist, advised the participants to reduce their intake of sugary foods, especially children, to prevent tooth decay, stressing that it was very important to clean the mouth by brushing twice a day.

She said the mouth’s health affected the entire body, urging parents to be deliberate in keeping their children’s mouths clean.

Ms Beatrice Assem, a Dental Nurse, took participants through the appropriate brushing techniques and urged them to use toothpaste that contained fluoride to brush.

The participants
were given souvenirs, including toothpaste and toothbrushes, to help keep their mouths clean and safe.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of the World Health Organization’s Department for Social Determinants of Health, says Ghana should invest more on preventing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) rather than focusing solely on cures.

He stated that, while curative healthcare is important and necessary, it is prohibitively expensive and may be avoided if African governments invest in NCD prevention.

Dr Krug told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during the recently concluded Partnership for Healthy City Summit in Cape Town that NCD prevention has proven beneficial, with every dollar invested in preventive measures likely to yield seven times the results.

‘We need to address the causes of NCDs rather than wait until it is too long, we can act by increasing taxes on tobacco, reducing advertisement on processed and sugary drinks and working on providing healthy food options in schools as launch.’

Dr. Krug said NCDs and injuries are the largest and most challenging public health issues in Africa and around the world, but that w
ith basic measures, the world could achieve immense results.

He said that Africa had traditionally experienced infectious diseases but is now dealing with an increase in chronic ailments and injuries.

‘The rising rates of NCDs are costing a lot of money to society and lives, a lot of people are dying prematurely, and a lot of people need treatment for a very long time.’

Dr. Krug urged governments to set aside funds from their national budgets to fund NCD preventive programmes, to reduce investment and care while investing more in prevention.

With NCDs responsible for 80 per cent of deaths all over the world, he said ‘now the WHO sees pockets of progress, clearly the world knows what to be done and that is encouraging.’

‘Today more than half of the people in world already live in cities and by 2050, it will be two thirds of the world’s population, which means, we cannot ignore health in city planning, we need to make sure to invest in NCD prevention,’ he said.

On March 26, 2024, the Ugandan government, i
n its attempt to ‘tame the rising burden of lifestyle disease’ in the country, directed all civil servants to spend two hours each week undertaking physical activity to be fit and healthy.

The directive was shared in a letter to government agencies from the head of public service, Lucy Nakyobe, who stated that the sessions would ‘help save the lives of staff and reduce the disease burden’.

Lusaka, Zambia, is establishing a policy to enforce bike lanes on major routes around the city as part of its commitment to safe and active mobility under the Partnership for Healthy Cities initiative.

Bangkok, Thailand, has also completed a series of urban design modifications focused on upgrading walkways and bicycle paths in the Bamrung Mueang district to encourage people to walk more frequently.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Nursing and Midwives Council (N and MC) Governing Board has suspended the implementation of the newly approved fees and charges pending a review.

The decision follows discussions with the relevant stakeholders regarding concerns over the announcement of the new fees.

The N and MC recently increased the cost of foreign verification from Ghc550.00 to Ghc3,000, a 445.45 per cent increment.

A statement issued by the 15th Governing Board Chairperson, Mrs Isabella Naana Akyaa Asante, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the Council had halted the implementation of the new fees and reverted to the previous fee structure of Ghc550.00.

It said the Council remained dedicated to upholding the highest standards of training and practice of the profession for the benefit of the public.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Damien Punguyire, the Upper West Regional Director of Health Service, has said the region recorded 19 maternal deaths in 2023 as against 16 in 2022.

The proportion of deliveries supervised by qualified health workers also declined from 73 per cent in 2022 to 71 per cent in 2023.

Dr Punguyire announced this in Wa at the opening of the 2023 Annual Regional Health Sector Performance Review Meeting of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on the theme: ‘Embracing the Networks of Practice Approach to improve health outcomes in the Upper West Region’.

Members of the Regional Health Committee, development partners, Municipal and District Chief Executives, Directors of Health, Principals of Health Training Institutions and traditional leaders among others attended.

Mr Punguyire explained that institutional neonatal mortality in the region dropped from about six per 1000 live births in 2022 to five per1000 live births in 2023, while still birth rate declined from 11 per 1000 births in 2022 to about seven per 1000 birt
hs in 2023.

Anemia among pregnant women at 36 weeks remained a big challenge for the region as it increased from 39.8 per cent in 2022 to 44.2 per cent in 2023.

The proportion of Out-Patients Department (OPD) cases attributable to malaria reduced from 29.4 per cent in 2022 to 27.5 per cent in 2023.

Malaria admissions also reduced from about 7,900 cases in 2022 to 6,800 in 2023, and deaths due to malaria significantly reduced from 18 in 2022 to six in 2023.

509 Tuberculosis (TB) cases were detected in the region in 2023 compared to 479 in 2022, with 79 and 69 percentage proportions of the cases, respectively, cured in those years.

He said the country’s vision of achieving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) of ensuring access to high-quality health services, irrespective of one’s ability to pay at the point of use, was anchored on building a resilient health system at all levels.

That was more critical at the sub-district level, which was the focal point of the implementation of many health interventions
and policies.

‘However, the sub-district health system (health centres) has been found to be the weakest link in the overall health system in Ghana, with strong CHPS (Community-based Health Planning and Services) at the base,’ Mr Punguyire.

To address this weakness, the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health had proposed to develop networks of practice among sub-district health facilities to improve service delivery and in the process, upgrade health centres into model ones, he said.

Mr Eric Boateng Frimpong, the Director of Internal Audit, who read a speech on behalf of the Director General of the GHS, said Primary Health Care (PHC) remained core to the Service’s agenda of providing comprehensive healthcare to the public.

The country could achieve UHC if it had a good PHC system, hence improving the PHC system was an important venture to the Service, he said.

Mr Frimpong observed that the GHS had achieved a reduction in still birth and institutional neonatal mortality rates over the past five y
ears.

There was a downward trend in still birth rates per 1000 live births, decreasing from 12.6 in 2019 to 10.2 in 2023.

Similarly, there was a reduction in institutional neonatal mortality rate per 100,000 live births from 7.8 in 2019 to 5.1 in 2023.

Prof. Juventus Ziem, the founding Dean of the School of Medical Sciences, CK Tedam University, who chaired the event, said the review meeting was an opportunity for actors to assess the sectors to improve service delivery.

Source: Ghana News Agency