Campaign Against Child-Killer Diseases

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Category: Youth News

Created on Wednesday, 18 March 2009 00:00

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Campaign Against Child-Killer Diseases

By Sandra Nyamekye  

TO further accelerate efforts in the country to improve maternal health care and reduce childhood killer diseases, another National Integrated campaign has been launched in Accra.

The campaign will focus not only on children below five years but also on breast-feeding mothers who have given birth within the past eight weeks.

The services to be provided include: Polio vaccine for children from birth to five years,  vitamin A supplementation for children between  the ages of six months and five years, deworming for children from two to five years and vitamin A supplementation for women within eight weeks after delivery.

The Maternal and Child Health Campaign is on the theme: “Healthy Mothers and Children make  a Better Ghana”.

Launching it, the Deputy Minister of Health, Gladys Ashitey said for the country to reduce maternal mortality and childhood diseases, its health workers must implement known and tested interventions.

She explained known and tested interventions to included polio immunisation, food supplementation and prevention against endemic disease’s such as malaria.

“It is important for us as a nation to realise that even though we have and continue to invest  in recamping our health systems, we still have a long way to go to make it respond to the needs of every family living in Ghana”, Mrs Ashitey said.

She noted that campaigns such as maternal and child health, only serve to overcome some  of the inherent challenges and obstacles that make it difficult for health personnel to reach out to those who for one reason or the other are not able to take up services within the routine system.

“It is for this reason that the Ministry of Health views these annual campaigns as key strategies for improving access to basic health services”, Mrs  Ashitey stated.

The Deputy Minister called on Ghanaians to collectively involve themselves in the fight against childhood diseases and maternal mortality, saying  “the task of reducing deaths among children and pregnant women is not limited to health workers alone but to all of us”.

“It is important for us to see these campaigns not as events but a well thought out process of increasing access and improving our chances of meeting the MDGs come 2015”, she said.

Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF representative to Ghana, observed that inadequate access to basic health services continues to pose challenges to the survival of the Ghanaian mother and child.

According to her, recent estimates suggested a stagnating trend of under-five mortality rate and a deteriorating maternal mortality ratio.

She said the campaign forms part of effort to complement the existing strategies towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goal four and five (MDG4&5).

Newtimesonline

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Asthma Attack Birthday Boy Dies Opening Gifts

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Category: Youth News

Created on Thursday, 05 February 2009 00:00

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Asthma Attack Birthday Boy Dies Opening Gifts

A boy of 12 died in his father's arms after suffering an asthma attack while opening his birthday presents.

By Martin Glazier-Macrae

Martin Glazier-Macrae collapsed after unwrapping a Lego set from his father, Duncan.

The youngster suffered an asthma attack, which triggered heart failure.

The tragedy happened just moments after he got out of bed on his 12th birthday and rushed downstairs to see if he had any gifts.

His father and aunt had clubbed together to by him the giant Lego set. Martin first complained about feeling faint after getting out of bed but then appeared to recover. He was about to open his presents and cards when he suffered a further attack and collapsed. Mr Macrae tried to revive his only child as he waited for paramedics at his home in Hathershaw, Greater Manchester, on Monday.

The ambulance crew took him to the Royal Oldham Hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Martin's aunt, Kathleen Macrae, said: 'We can't speak too highly of the paramedics and hospital staff but Duncan knew in his heart that Martin had died when he held him in his arms.'

She said the boy, whose mother Angela died when he was just three, and his father were 'inseparable'.
'Duncan was an HGV driver but gave up work to bring up Martin. There was no dividing line between them,' she added.

An inquest is expected to be opened and adjourned into the death. 'The case has been passed to the coroner,' said Greater Manchester Police. Died in father's arms: Martin Glazier-Macrae was feeling poorly before attack

Reserach by Marian and Magdalene
YouthReporters
JusticeGhana

Credit UK METRO Newspaper

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Child Soldiers fight in Bawku

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Category: Youth News

Created on Saturday, 14 March 2009 00:00

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Child Soldiers fight in Bawku

{sidebar id=10 align=right}Warring factions in the protracted Bawku conflict are said to be recruiting child fighters to fortify their positions. The children are being used by their parents and warmongers to attack perceived opponents either to kill or maim them.

These children were said to have been found trying to stone a woman to death but the woman was saved by security agents. On another occasion, some children were alleged to have been found with an adult who was trying to give them some petrol to ostensibly torch the homes of their opponents.

These revelations were made by Commanding Officer of the Airborne Force Detachment of the Ghana Armed Forces, Lt. Col. Isaac Awuah- Mantey, while he was briefing Vice President John Mahama who was on an official visit to Bawku in the Upper West region to evaluate the situation on the ground and find a lasting solution to the conflict in the area.

The Vice President was last week directed by President John Evans Atta Mills to visit Bawku and try to resolve the impasse between the warring factions.

The Vice President was accompanied by Cletus Avorka, Minister of the Interior; Mahama Ayariga, Presidential Spokesperson, both of whom are incidentally from the area; Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister; and Baffoe Bonney, Special Advisor to the Vice President.

The rest were Deputy Commissioner of Police Patrick Timbillah, Director of Police Operations at the Police Headquarters; Brigadier-General Joseph Adinkra, Commander of the Northern Command; and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Alhaji Hamidu, Upper East Regional Police Commander.

The delegation met with the two factions in the conflict in an effort to resolve the impasse.

Renewed violence erupted in the Bawku area on Sunday March I, during a festival where sporadic gunshots rang through the night, resulting in the death of nine people as confirmed by the military.

According to Lt. Col. Awuah-Mantey, another dimension to the conflict was the attack on women and children, many of whom had been killed.

He mentioned the rivalry between supporters of the two most prominent parties in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as one of the causes of the conflict.

Lt. Col. Awuah-Mantey alleged that it was perceived that the Kusasis were NDC sympathizers while the Mamprusis sympathized with the NPP. The Commander noted that at the height of the conflict, some people were arrested with sophisticated weapons including four AK 47 rifles, 03 machine guns and one single- ' barrelled gun.

He said about nine people had been killed so far with many people injured and houses burnt, while the security agents had arrested about 41 people for questioning.

Lt. Col. Awuah-Mantey was however not happy with the way the arrested persons were set free• or given bail by the courts.

He told the Vice President that after risking their lives to arrest some of the suspects, the courts easily gave them bail and these miscreants found their way back to town, walking on the streets of Bawku with their heads held high.

This development, according to him, was demoralising to the men and officers on the ground and also compounded the lawlessness in the area.

He suggested to the Vice President to seriously look at the manner in which such persons were released by the courts.

Lt. Col. Awuah-Mantey also informed the entourage that many of the young people lacked basic education and were therefore susceptible to corruption and prone to crime.

Suggesting solutions, the Commanding Officer said the leadership of the feuding parties should be made to smoke the peace pipe and compelled to sign an undertaking not to foment trouble.

He appealed to Mr. Mahama to help the security agents with some logistics such as toilet facilities since those available were not enough for the over 450 men on the ground.

ACP Alhaji Hamidu for his part noted that 'some of the vehicles, especially the armoured cars, had broken down.

In his reaction, Vice President Mahama commended the security agents for their sacrifices to the cause of the nation and promised to immediately tackle their logistical problems.

He was not pleased with the situation on the ground, particularly when the new administration had barely settled down and needed human resources for the total development of the nation.

Mr. Mahama reminded the security personnel of the existence of the rule of law which did not allow the arbitrary use of powers. He however promised to carry their concerns to the Chief Justice with regard to the situation where suspects always found their way back to the streets.

He warned trouble makers in the area to give peace a chance or risk being jailed.

He also cautioned troublemakers who hid behind political parties to foment trouble, saying no party would allow any of their members to commit crime in the name of politics.

The Vice President later addressed the personnel of the security services and encouraged them not to give up on the cause of peace.

Credit Daily Guide

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