ZABZUGU/TATALE TO ENDORSE MILLS - Presiding Member

(Daily Graphic, Oct 26, 2011, Page 13)

THE Presiding Member of the Zabzugu/Tatale district of the Northern Region, Ms Mary Tagba has stated that the people of the Zabzugu/Tatale district are prepared to give Prof John E. A. Mills a second term for responding to the needs of the people.

According to her, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government had instituted a number of development projects in the area, including the inauguration of a state-of-the-art poly clinic.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Ms Tagba said the creation of the Tatale/Sangule district was the icing on the cake and that, by so doing, the people had reposed confidence in the ability of the NDC to deliver on its development mandate.

“We called on the government to give us a new district and the government responded accordingly. For us, this is an indication that this government is a listening one,” she said.

Ms Tagba said the creation of the Tatale/Sangule district would go a long way to promote economic activities in the area and create job opportunities for the people.

She said the separation of Zabzugu and Tatale into two districts would attract more development funds for the two areas and serve as a catalyst for the transformation of those areas.

The PM said the Zabzugu/Tatale area benefited from a number of development projects anytime the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was in power.

She cited the construction of the Sabari Brigde, which crosses River Oti, and the establishment of two secondary schools in Zabzugu and Tatale under the Rawlings regime.

She also mentioned the recent inauguration of a state-of-the-art poly clinic in Tatale by the Vice President, Mr John Dramani Mahama as another project that had been undertaken by the NDC government.

“Just as Oliver Twist asked for more, we too would still urge the government to do more for Zabzugu, Tatale and surrounding communities,” she stated.

“We urge the government to allocate funds for infrastructural development in the areas of health, education and roads,” she added.

Ms Tagba reminded the government that the road linking Yendi to Tatale links further to the Togo border and therefore deserved to be in a good condition to facilitate movement and trade along that corridor.

She also urged non-governmental organisations to extend their development programmes to the area.

“Many of our farmers are smallholder farmers and need assistance to go into commercial farming. We have a lot of women who are into income generating activities, like trading in shea nuts and foodstuffs, and they need financial assistance to upscale their businesses.

“We would also welcome any organisation that would be willing to give more training to our youth in employable skills,” she added.

HEALTH AUTHORITIES INTENSIFY EDUCATION ON FAMILY PLANNING

(Daily Graphic, Oct 25, 2011, Page 11)

PUBLIC health authorities in the Northern Region have doubled their efforts to reach out to men on the need to accept the practice of family planning in order to manage their families effectively.

Statistics available estimate that the practice of Family Planning in the region was 26 per cent in 2008, 28.8 per cent in 2009 and 24.3 per cent in 2010.

These statistics, according to the health authorities, are uninspiring and reiterate the need to strengthen public health campaigns in the various communities so as to deepen the understanding, acceptance and practice of family planning.

The health authorities also noted that it is crucial to get more men to accept the concept of family planning, because it is the refusal of the men, who are decision makers, which was contributing to this lack of progress.

In line with this, the Northern Regional Health Directorate organised a durbar on family planning in Dalun in the Tolon/Kumbungu district to sensitise the inhabitants of the area, particularly the men folk, on the importance of family planning.

The durbar formed part of the region’s celebration of the annual ‘Contraceptive Week’, which is used to raise awareness about the types, uses and importance of contraceptives.

A Deputy Director of Nursing Services (DDNS) in charge of Public Health, Madam Margaret Nmini implored the men to get involved by accessing information on family planning and help their partners to make better choices.

She said family planning would help a man to manage his family because he would be able to decide when he is economically and psychologically prepared to have another child.

Madam Margaret said statistics collated by the public health unit indicated that in 2008, a total of 5,764 men in the region had accepted and were practicing family planning, whiles in 2009, the figure rose to 10,717 men.

“In 2010, we recorded a decline in the number, from over 10,000 to a little over 8,500, which is an indication that less number of men had accepted and were practicing family planning in that year. We are working towards increasing the number by the end of this year,” she stated.

The public health nurse deplored the low funding for family planning activities, noting that in spite of its numerous health and socio-economic benefits, family planning had been relegated.

She said the availability of reliable contraceptives to persons, irrespective of location or income status, was a vital step to boosting the practice of family planning.

According to the Director of Health Services for the Tolon/Kumbungu district, Hajia Awabu Sophia Mahama, her area was selected for the durbar because of the low numbers of families that were practicing family planning.

“It is clear that we need to do more sensitisation and outreach to ensure that the message gets down well to the people,” she stated.

Hajia Awabu mentioned that one of the reasons why many communities continued to reject family planning was due to the misconception about family planning.

She said many of the local people understood family planning to mean reducing the number of births.

“Certainly, many of the people would not comprehend why they should be asked not to have many children as they desired, especially when they grew up in large families.

“Rather, we need to be telling them that family planning means spacing the frequency of births so as to ensure that you have more control over your family’s size and also improve the health of the children and that of their mothers,” she noted.

Some of the men in Dalun told the Daily Graphic that they needed more education to understand family planning before deciding to opt for it.

“I cannot allow my wife to practice something I know little about and it is new to us. We know having many children can bring problems, but we value them,” remarked Afa Issah, a middle-aged man who has already given birth to four.

DR AFOKO, A UROLOGIST COMMITTED TO THE NORTH

 (Daily Graphic, Oct 21, 2011, page 23)

EVERY year, the headlines of national dailies read: “Doctors refuse postings to the north.” And the excuse that is repeatedly given by these professionals is that the north is under-developed.

However, for Dr Akis Afoko, a physician-trained urologist, it is rather in deprived communities that the services of doctors are more crucial.

This explains why he accepted to work in the north and has since then remained committed to rendering his services to a population of about 4 million.

Dr Afoko joined the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) in… and by so doing, became the first and only urologist to have accepted to serve in a hospital in northern Ghana.

Although, many people know very little about urologists, their relevance in the medical field is so crucial.

According to Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopaedia, urologists are physicians who have specialised in diagnosing, treating and managing patients with urological disorders.

These disorders, it notes, comprise medical conditions that affect the penis, kidneys, prostrate, adrenal glands, urinary bladder, urethra and testes, among others.

Wikipedia further notes that urology is one of the most competitive specialties in the medical field and the world can boast of only a limited number of them.

One can therefore understand why in 2005, the tragic death of three surgical urologists in Ghana was likened to a national disaster.

The TTH would therefore be considering itself lucky to have a urologist in its fold.

Apart from being a consultant urologist at the TTH, Dr Afoko also works as a senior lecturer at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) at the University for Development Studies (UDS).

In an interview with Dr Afoko, he described his work in the north as a calling from God.

“Each day, I see over 70 patients at the Out Patients Department (OPD),” he revealed.

In spite of the large numbers of patients requiring surgery, Dr Afoko is only able to do about four surgeries a week and he blames this situation on the lack of modern equipment.

“I can do a minimum of 35 surgeries in a week if there is a spacious theatre and modern equipment,” he said, adding that with modern equipment surgical operations become simpler and faster and the patient’s recovery is enhanced.

“Using the outdated gadgets and methods currently available in Ghana, I would use about three hours for a single surgery, depending on the condition, and the patient would need about 14 days to recover.

“With an Endoscopic machine, treatment takes less than 20 minutes and the patient is discharged the same day,” Dr Afoko explained.

As the interaction with Dr Afoko progressed, middle-aged young men pushed their octogenarian father on a wheelchair into the consulting room.

The old man, who looked as pale as death, had a urinary catheter inserted into him, and due to his situation, the doctor could not do otherwise than to pause the conservation and attend to the old man.

When the conservation resumed, Dr Afoko said he still remains resolved to stay and serve the north, in spite of the problems he faces daily.

“If I leave, it would be terrible for the people here because when again would another urologists come to the north. Even my conscience would bother me,” he stated.

In actual fact, Dr Afoko does not only remain committed to serving the north, but is determined to work towards improving the practice of urology in the north.

I grinned with delight when he hinted of plans that he and a Dutch urologists, Dr Hans de-Wall, were making for the establishment of a medical centre at the TTH to provide modern urological services to people in Northern Ghana and beyond.

Dr de-Wall operates a urological hospital in Offinso in the Ashanti Region, which he established through the Ananse Foundation in partnership with the Ghana Health Service.

Together, the two have conducted endoscopic surgeries on patients at the TTH on a number of occasions.

The proposed TTH urological centre, as Dr Afoko explained, would be a centre of excellence which would take care of urological and pelvic floor disorders.

These conditions, he noted, were being ignored and yet many people in the north and elsewhere were leaving with such conditions.

According to Dr Afoko, his desire to establish the centre in the north, and not anywhere else, was due to his conviction that treatment must be nearer to those who need it most.

He said he had realised over his few years of practice in the north that many children die or suffer from conditions like posterior urethral valve, because of poor diagnoses and lack of quality healthcare.

He also identified obstetric fistula and prolapsed uterus us two of the many urological conditions that women in the north were suffering from.

“I have been very saddened by the number of cases of fistula in the north,” Dr Afoko stated, adding that fistula is as an example of a severe form of pelvic disorder.

Dr Afoko believes that training more urologists locally is one of the key strategies to increasing the number of urologists in the country and he believes the centre would be able to achieve that.

With the desire to serve being demonstrated, evidently, by Dr Afoko, one can only pray and hope that he receives the needed support, particularly from health authorities and the political leadership.

MORE WOMEN PRACTICE EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING IN NORTHERN REGION

EXCLUSIVE breastfeeding is on the increase in the Northern Region as more women, families and communities have accepted the practice.

This is the assessment of public health authorities in the region following a number of community outreaches that have contributed to deepening the understanding and appreciation of the benefits of breastfeeding among local communities.

Some few years back, some communities refused to accept the practice of exclusive and extended breastfeeding due to their firm adherence to traditional practices that did not recognise any of these.

Apart from preventing newborns from taking the yellowish milk that flows from their mother’s breasts on their first attempt, these communities also preferred giving newborns water along with breast milk, even before the babies reached their sixth month.

These practices had been a source of worry to health personnel in the region, thereby necessitating an intensified campaignon breastfeeding in local communities.

Speaking at a durbar to mark the annual BreastfeedingWeek at the Tamale West Hospital, the Northern Regional Nutrition Officer, Mr Sofo Muntari noted that these unhealthy practices were on the decline.

“Through our rounds in the various communities,we have realised that many families now allow lactating mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding,” he stated.

Mr Muntari said what was even pleasing was that these families and communities no more objected to their newborns taking in the yellowish milk.

“The first milk is very crucial to the baby’s wellbeing. It contains a number of nutrients that would propel the baby’s physical and mental growth and also strengthen the baby’s immune system,” he explained.

Mr Muntari further noted that women in the local communities now testify that exclusive breastfeeding and breastfeeding up to two years impacts positively on the health of both mothers and their babies.

He mentioned, for instance, that some of the women had noticed that proper breastfeeding had helped in delaying theirnext pregnancies.

He also mentioned that the women hadequally observed that babies who benefitted from exclusive and extended breastfeeding looked healthier and fell sick less often than those who were denied.

The Nutrition Officer said apart from these, proper breastfeeding also binds a child to the mother and makes the child to be emotionally stable.

A number of pregnant women and lactatingmothers who were at the durbar to learn more about breastfeeding shared theirexperiences with the Daily Graphic.

“My husband is one who does not joke with the advice of nurses, so he ensures that I always give our baby onlybreast milk,” a mother of a four-month-old baby boy, Issah Ayisha stated.

She said her child had a lot of weightdue to the breast milk and so she was optimistic he would grow thicker than hisfather, who she described as slim.

A seven-month-old pregnant woman, Fati Mohammed, said although she had learnt a lot about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, she would have wished her parents and husband were also at the forum, so they could equally appreciate the message.

MORE WOMEN PRACTICE EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING

(Daily Graphic, Oct 22, 2011, Page 11)

EXCLUSIVE breastfeeding is on the increase in the Northern Region as more women, families and communities have accepted the practice.

This is the assessment of public health authorities in the region following a number of community outreaches that have contributed to deepening the understanding and appreciation of the benefits of breastfeeding among local communities.

Some few years back, some communities refused to accept the practice of exclusive and extended breastfeeding due to their firm adherence to traditional practices that did not recognise any of these.

Apart from preventing newborns from taking the yellowish milk that flows from their mother’s breasts on their first attempt, these communities also preferred giving newborns water along with breast milk, even before the babies reached their sixth month.

These practices had been a source of worry to health personnel in the region, thereby necessitating an intensified campaign on breastfeeding in local communities.

Speaking at a durbar to mark the annual Breastfeeding Week at the Tamale West Hospital, the Northern Regional Nutrition Officer, Mr Sofo Muntari noted that these unhealthy practices were on the decline.

“Through our rounds in the various communities, we have realised that many families now allow lactating mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding,” he stated.

Mr Muntari said what was even pleasing was that these families and communities no more objected to their newborns taking in the yellowish milk.

“The first milk is very crucial to the baby’s wellbeing. It contains a number of nutrients that would propel the baby’s physical and mental growth and also strengthen the baby’s immune system,” he explained.

Mr Muntari further noted that women in the local communities now testify that exclusive breastfeeding and breastfeeding up to two years impacts positively on the health of both mothers and their babies.

He mentioned, for instance, that some of the women had noticed that proper breastfeeding had helped in delaying their next pregnancies.

He also mentioned that the women had equally observed that babies who benefitted from exclusive and extended breastfeeding looked healthier and fell sick less often than those who were denied.

The Nutrition Officer said apart from these, proper breastfeeding also binds a child to the mother and makes the child to be emotionally stable.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Northern Regional Minister, Mr Bukari Moses Mabengba said the government had thrown its weight behind breastfeeding campaigns because it is crucial if the country is to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

He said when mothers practice breastfeeding in its right form, it improves they and their children’s health, thereby reducing child and maternal mortality.

He also noted that breastfeeding had the potential to help countries reduce poverty as contained in the MDGs, because through breastfeeding, babies and children get access to good food and medicine at no cost to their mothers and the entire family.

Meanwhile, as part of the breastfeeding week celebrations, the Tiyumba Drama Group in Tamale staged a drama to drive home the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and by so doing demonstrated the problems that occur when families refuse to practice it.

A number of pregnant women and lactating mothers who were at the durbar to learn more about breastfeeding shared their experiences with the Daily Graphic.

“My husband is one who does not joke with the advice of nurses, so he ensures that I always give our baby only breast milk,” a mother of a four-month-old baby boy, Issah Ayisha stated.

She said her child had a lot of weight due to the breast milk and so she was optimistic he would grow thicker than his father, who she described as slim.

A seven-month-old pregnant woman, Fati Mohammed, said although she had learnt a lot about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, she would have wished her parents and husband were also at the forum, so they could equally appreciate the message.

GIFEC PRESENTS COMPUTERS TO KUMBUNGU SHS

(Daily Graphic, Oct 18, 2011, Page 33)

THE Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) has donated twenty (20) new computers and other accessories to the Kumbungu Senior High School in the Northern Region.

This is to help furnish the school’s computer laboratory and enhance the teaching and learning of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which had been ineffective due to the limited number of computers in the school.

The items were presented to the school over the weekend in Kumbungu by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni with support from some staffs of GIFEC.

The twenty new desktop computers and UPS were estimated to cost GH¢30,000.

Alhaji Mumuni, who is a former MP for the Kumbungu area, said he was elated that GIFEC had included the Kumbungu SHS as part of beneficiaries of its Schools Connectivity Project (SCP) for the year 2011, adding that it was only fair that disadvantaged communities got their share of the national cake.

He said the provision of ICT tools to educational institutions was a major priority of the government because President John Atta Mills was committed to investing in the youth.

“The defining features of the 21st century are globalisation and knowledge-based society. For the youth to participate effectively in any of these, they need skills in ICT,” Alhaji Mumuni noted.

He pledged to assist the Kumbungu SHS to construct an assembly hall complex and undertake other infrastructural developments in the school.

The headmaster of Kumbungu SHS, Mr Dan Biitr commended GIFEC and the government for breathing fresh life back into the school.

According to him, the school, which was opened in 1991, had not received the needed support for several years, thereby leaving the school in a quagmire of problems.

He said the school’s enrolment, which is currently about 500, had been limited due to the absence of classrooms and other facilities.

“The provision of boarding facilities, such as dining hall, dormitory blocks and assembly hall are very crucial if the school is to be converted into a boarding facility,” he further noted.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Technical Director of GIFEC, Mr Osman Zakaria Yahaya noted that the mandate of GIFEC had been broadened and repositioned to respond to the ICT challenges facing various sections of the Ghanaian economy.

He said GIFEC was therefore working to bridge the digital divide between the haves and have-nots, and mentioned the ongoing connectivity projects for the Prisons Service, public libraries, public schools and community information centres as some initiatives that GIFEC was pursuing to fulfil its mandate.