Day: April 1, 2024

The Advocating for Health (A4H) Project, a coalition of public health experts, has embarked on consultative process on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) tax implementation in Ghana.

It was on the theme: ‘Taxes Build Nations: Evidence-informed Health Taxes Save Lives.’

It was aimed at bringing together key stakeholders to discuss the science behind food-related health tax policies and the current state of implementation of Ghana’s Excise Duty Amendment Act 2023 (Act 1093/1108).

It was also to review international and the local evidence on the effectiveness of SSB taxes in reducing sugar consumption and improving public health, discuss challenges, opportunities, and strategies for the effective implementation of the policy in Ghana.

The Coalition comprised of University of Ghana Public Health School, Ghana Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance, Ghana Public Health Association, Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and civil society organisations.

Professor Kingsley K. Pereko, President of the Ghana Academy
of Nutrition and Dietetics, and facilitator of the workshop in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said processes for the review were initiated to look at the current state of implementing the policy in Ghana, logistical, technical, ethical, and strategic considerations.

He said the consumption of SSB has soared over the few decades, contributing significantly to the obesity epidemic, and linked to an increased risk of chronic conditions such as type two diabetes, heart diseases and dental problems.

Prof Pereko said taxing these beverages was also seen to reduce consumption, especially among high-risk groups such as children and low-income individuals.

He said the challenges persist, the evidence suggest that thoughtfully designed and implemented taxations can drive positive change in consumer behaviour, improve public health outcome and provides a sustainable source of revenue for health initiatives.

Dr Alex Kombat, Assistant Commissioner of the Ghana Revenue Authority who spoke on the SSB tax said i
t was the responsibility of Government to protect its citizenry against any health risks associated with consumption of harmful products.

‘One means of doing this is through imposition of health taxes on products that have negative public health impact, especially alcoholic beverages and SSBs,’ he said.

He stated that the implementation of the SSB tax as amended and backed by Excise Duty Amendment Act 2023 (Act 1108), started on April 15, 2023, and mentioned some of the challenges as low nationwide sensitization and food and beverages producers showing resistance to the tax.

Dr Kombat said the implementation of the SSB tax required total collaboration of all relevant stakeholders to ensure its effectiveness.

Mrs Irene Sam, a participant from the National Council of Parent Teachers Association told the GNA that; ‘We are really at the epidemic situation of too much consumption of SSB products.’

She said education on nutrition was key to solving SSB and called on the PTAs to ensure collaboration so that the
schools can have a policy.

Mr Abayomi Sarumi, Senior Programme Manager of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa from Nigeria, also told the GNA instituting taxes to control consumption of sugar sweetened beverages was an effective way to reduce the consumption of harmful, unhealth and non-nutrition drinks and other foods.

‘It’s also important to draw attention of the public to the dangers but more importantly to garner their support for government’s efforts to combat diseases through this means,’ he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Volta Regional Health Directorate has honoured hard working individuals and institutions that distinguished themselves last year, at its 2023 Regional Annual Performance Review conference.

Ten deserving individuals and four institutions that exemplified themselves received items and citations under the Ghana Health Service Excellence Awards Scheme.

Afadzato South District adjudged best performing District; South Tongu District Hospital, Sogakope won the best performing primary level Hospital; Gbi Wegbe Health Centre, Hohoe Municipal, was the best performing Health Centre while Kpomkpo CHPS Compound won the best performing CHPS Compound.

Recognition for the individual category was Dr Iris Adjah for the the Leadership Excellence Awards primary-level Hospital/Polyclinic.

Other leadership excellence awards went to Mr George Winlove Nyasembi, Health Centre; Ms Belinda Tuaa, CHPS compound; Mr Matthew Ayangba, District Health Directorate.

The Most Outstanding Staff for Regional Health Directorate went to Mr
Ignatius Aklikpe; Mr Jerome Kwaku Enyonam took that of Secondary-level Hospital with Mr Francis K. Agbenorlawodugah taking that of District Health Directorate.

Other winners included Ms Monica Akosua Manti for primary-level hospital/Polyclinic; Mr Osei Boateng Ibrahim for Health Centres and Ms Joyce Abena Prah for CHPS compound.

Dr Chrysantus Kubio, Volta Regional Director of Health said staff motivation remained paramount priority of management and would continue those tangent and congratulated winners for sterling performance.

He said the Region has many accomplishments to showcase in the year under review and was optimistic the awardees at the regional level would show visibility and emerge victorious at the national contest.

The Regional Director indicated that South Tongu Hospital, Sogakope, and the Volta Regional Hospital, Hohoe had emerged as the best primary-level hospital and second best ranked amongst its peers at the maiden national GHS Excellence Awards in 2022 and heightening the stakes for t
he region.

The two-day conference in Ho, was under the theme, ‘Strengthening the Primary Healthcare System for Improved Access to Quality Health Service Delivery: The Role of Networks of Practice (NoPs).’

Dr Kubio said it sought to consolidate and build on the benefits of strengthened stakeholder engagement and involvement in the implementation of primary health policies.

He noted that the NoPs were initially piloted in South Dayi, South Tongu and later Afadzato South and Hohoe Municipal with the overall goal to increase access and to quality essential healthcare for all by 2030.

He said there was significant augmentation of staff capacity and encouraged collaboration among facilities at Afadzato South and Hohoe through improved technical and operational support.

Dr Kubio encouraged members of staff to redouble efforts at customer satisfaction as their mandate required of them in the face of challenging working conditions.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Central Regional Referral Hospital (Trauma and Specialist Hospital, Winneba), recorded 21 deliveries during Easter.

Ms Louisa Larson, a Midwife on duty at the maternity ward of the hospital, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that three males and one female were delivered on Thursday March 28, six males and two females on Good Friday, two males and five females on Holy Saturday and on Easter, two females were also delivered.

According to her out of the total delivery of 21 recorded, 18 of the babies were delivered through caesarian session, made up of 11 females and seven males, while three males were normal deliveries.

She stated that the mothers and their babies who went through normal deliveries had since been discharged while the 18 babies and the mothers are still on admission.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The operationalisation of ongoing hospital projects in the Ashanti Region will significantly improve the maternal mortality situation, Dr Emmanuel Tinkorang, the Regional Director of Health Services, has said.

The region currently had no intermediary as all emergency obstetric complications were seen at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) with most of the referrals coming in too late, he noted.

‘When we are able to get the Afari Military Hospital and the Regional Hospital at Sewua completed, we are going to have an additional 790 beds to support women so that they can have better access to emergency obstetric care,’ he told stakeholders at the 2023 annual performance review meeting in Kumasi.

The institutional maternal mortality in the region increased from 134 per 100,000 live births in 2022 to 167 per 100,000 live births in 2023 with Postpartum Hemorrhage and complications of pregnancy-induced hypertension being some of the major causes.

Also seeing a marginal increase was the stillbirth rate, whi
ch increased from 11.0 per 1,000 live births in 2022 to 11.1 per 1,000 live births during the year under review.

Institutional Neonatal Mortality, however, improved significantly from eight per 1,000 live births in 2022 to five per 1,000 live births in 2023.

Dr. Tinkorang said the region with a population of about 5.6 million, was too huge to rely solely on KATH for such emergencies, underlying the limited health infrastructure there.

‘We are looking forward to the operationalisation of all the ongoing hospital projects and you can see for the past five years the Government is doing its best to increase the number of hospitals in the region,’ Dr Tinkorang noted.

The Regional Hospital, he said, was only left with the construction of the access road and called on the Government to expedite work to improve healthcare delivery.

He said the ongoing projects were very dear to the Ashanti Region because, without them, it would be difficult to control maternal mortality as most of the existing facilities were in
capable of addressing those issues.

Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, Director of Public Health at Ghana Health Service (GHS), said Ghana had less than seven years to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and asked what could be done differently to achieve the target.

‘As a country, we are still at two per cent coverage and that is not good enough. Can we achieve eight per cent over the next three years? That is the challenge we are confronted with,’ he said.

He reminded staff of the Service and all stakeholders that deliberate efforts must be made to be able to achieve the target by 2030.

He expressed concern over staff attrition across the country, adding that the GHS was working closely with the Ministry of Health to fill the gaps while taking steps to ensure better conditions of service for those who took up appointments in less endowed areas.

‘I shall take this opportunity to remind facility managers to put in mechanisms to rotate staff so that those who pick up appointments in these hard-to-reach areas
are not left there forever.’

The meeting, attended by stakeholders drawn from all 43 districts of the region, was on the theme: ‘Accelerating Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage: Strengthening Primary Health Care through Network of Practice.’

Source: Ghana News Agency