Day: October 29, 2023

The Eastern Regional Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has partnered with the Regional Hospital to host a blood donation event at Asokore, New Juaben North District, to help maintain a consistent supply of blood. The exercise was supported by the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Hospital in the Eastern Region. Madam Anita Owusu-Kuffour, the Eastern Regional Head of the FDA, explained that the blood would undergo thorough screening and evaluation to determine its health and nutritional status. Following this, she added, a portion of the blood would be distributed to local health centres to guarantee a constant supply of blood to patients and eliminate the need to redirect them to nearby hospitals. ‘The importance of blood transfusions to patients cannot be over-emphasised because blood is life,’ she said. Mr. George Ampofo Ayeh, the Eastern Regional Public Relations Officer of the FDA, explained that the blood donation exercise was conducted as part of the Authority’s corporate social responsibility. He said there were two blood donation exercises conducted this year, one in the Manya Krobo District and another in the New Juaben North District. According to him, the office is focused on ensuring the safety and well-being of the public, which is why they are conducting the exercises. Madam Philomina Quayson, the Eastern Regional Blood Donor Organiser at the Regional Hospital, said that the number of participants in the exercise in the two districts surpassed their goal of 300. This is a positive development compared to last year’s turnout of 200. She also explained the process of screening blood donors, which involves checking their blood pressure, age, weight, infection status, and haemoglobin level, after which the blood was sent to the technical room for screening and evaluation. She urged the public to visit hospitals and donate blood to help replenish the blood bank.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Luanda – Angolan president João Lourenço said Saturday in Luanda that his country intends to develop closer cooperation with the Czech Republic by identifying areas of common interest.

In a congratulatory message on the celebration of the European country’s Independence Day, João Lourenço said he hoped it would be possible to exploit the great potential that exists in both countries for mutual benefit.

In the message, João Lourenço suggests the holding of high-level meetings to lay the foundations for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the near future.

Long-standing relations

Relations between the two countries date back to the proclamation of Angola national independence through the then Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

With a long-standing relationship, Angola and the Czech Republic have been considering establishing more solid and effective co-operation in a wide variety of areas.

Political-diplomatic and cooperation relations between the Republic of Angola and the Czech Republic date back to January 1, 1993.

In December 1999, a Declaration was signed on the ties between the two countries, which were strengthened in 2006 with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding and the Development Cooperation Programme.

The Czech Republic is a Central European country bordered to the north by Poland and Germany, to the east by Slovakia, to the south by Austria and to the west by Germany.

The country’s capital is the city of Prague, which is also its largest and most populous, with over a million inhabitants.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Seychelles’ Honorary Consul General in Bulgaria, Maxim Behar, premiered his first hip-hop song about public relations simultaneously in New York and in Bulgaria last week.

The single “PR We Are” was aired on Hot 21 Radio in New York and BG Radio in Sofia and is being aired on all major radio stations all over the world including the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) Paradise FM radio.

The song “PR We Are” is dedicated to the PR business, which Behar has been involved in for 30 years and achieved numerous global successes. It is the world’s first and only song about the PR industry.

It is available on musical platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, and more than 100 others.

Behar told SNA that the song was a serious project and through music, he just wanted to show the nature and also the importance of the business he spent the last 30 years of his life doing – public relations.

The founder and chief executive of the Bulgarian leading PR company M3 Communication Group, and former president of the World PR Organisation ICCO, teamed up with rap singers Big Sha, Lil Sha and American country singer Sarah Harralson for the single.

Harralson has four entries for Grammy Awards this year, and Big Sha and Lil Sha from Chicago are of Bulgarian origin. They have recorded songs with numerous superstars like Shakira and Rihanna. Shakira from Colombia is known as the queen of Latin pop music and Rihanna from Barbados is regarded as one of the most prominent singers of the 21st century.

“Totally by coincidence, we decided with two very famous Bulgarian hip-hop singers, father and son, Big Sha and Lil Sha, living in Chicago for the past decade. I wrote the text, Lil Sha did the music and in one day we recorded the song and made the video clip even. Then, I really needed a female voice to make the “bridge” and to connect two parts of the song and – again – by coincidence met in a pub American country superstar Sarah Harralson who agreed to join us in this project. I had great passion, fun and creativity producing this song,” said Behar.

On why he chose the hip-hop genre, the honorary consul general, said, “One of the main reasons was that Big Sha and Lil Sha are masters in R&B or hip-hop and it was their style. But it is also a musical style very popular in my lovely country Seychelles and I was sure we sing in one and the same language with my compatriots on the islands.”

Big Sha, whose real name is Mihail Mihaylov, said, “It was very exciting to be involved in this project. For me, Maxim has always been a role model of how one should work and how one should behave in society, but now we have been able to see his professionalism in action. He really is world-class in everything he does. I’m sure the song will be a spectacular success in the international charts.”

Behar said he hopes to “continue to express what I think in different styles in music. Of course – the listeners are the main judges of whether I succeed or not. It is more or less like writing articles or books, this is the way creative people say what they want to say to the world. Simply in music, you must have other abilities and qualities you must have and develop every day.”

The honorary consul general hopes that not only listeners in Seychelles but also from the whole world will understand the main message of the song: public relations makes the world go round.

“This is also the substance of our business, it underlines its importance and I am really happy this project went live. And also you can listen to the excellent video produced by M3 Communications Group, Inc. in Bulgaria,” he added.

Behar plans to continue his music career alongside his main PR business, where he was recognised as the Best PR Professional in Europe for 2022 by the influential PR Week magazine.

He has also published two books this year, received a state award from the President of Lithuania, and completed numerous successful business projects with his company M3 Communications Group, Inc.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

A crackdown by the Eastern Regional Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has put a stop to the sale of turkey tail meat in Suhum and Nsawam/Adoagyiri, where the demand for the product was high. In an operation with the Ghana Police Service some retailers and sellers of the meat were arrested and cartons of turkey tail confiscated. In Ghana, the fried turkey tail is commonly referred to as ‘Tsofi.’ Health experts say this particular poultry product has a high fat content of over 15 percent, which, if consumed in large quantities, could potentially increase the risk of developing cancers in the lungs, breast, colon, and brain. ?At the scene of the exercise, the team faced resistance from the retailers, who greeted them with insults and accusations of political interference. They claimed that the intention was to make life difficult for members of certain political parties by collapsing their businesses. Meanwhile, the Authority told the Ghana News Agency that it remained dedicated to ensuring consumer safety at all times. Despite the widespread public awareness of the health hazards of selling turkey tail, there was still a thriving market for the meat, Madam Anita Owusu-Kuffour, the Eastern Regional Acting Head of the FDA, said. According to her, in 1999, the Ministry of Trade and Industry issued a communique to all importers, stating that poultry and poultry products with a total fat content exceeding 15 per cent were prohibited from being imported into the country. Nevertheless, it was discovered that turkey tails had made their way into Ghana. This indicates that they were likely smuggled in, either through unapproved routes or by falsely declaring the product content at the approved point of entry. ‘We need to make it a collective responsibility to make sure such products are not available on the market for sale,’ Madam Owusu-Kuffour said. She said that those who were apprehended would be brought before the court to ensure legal compliance and serve as a deterrent to others. The authority safely disposed of the seized meat products. Mr. George Ampofo Ayeh, the Public Relations Officer of the FDA, Eastern Region, quoted the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851), Section 100, Subsection (3), that certain criteria must be met for a food to be considered safe for consumption. These criteria include not containing poisonous or harmful substances, being wholesome and fit for human or animal consumption, not consisting of filthy, putrid, rotten, decomposed, or diseased substances, not being adulterated, not being injurious to health, and meeting the prescribed standards. According to the penalty and defence section of Section 110, subsection (1), anyone who violates sections 97 to 108 is committing an offence. The consequences for this offence include a fine ranging from 1000 to 7500 penalty units, imprisonment for a minimum of four years to a maximum of fifteen years, or both. The FDA’s primary goal is to safeguard public health by upholding rigorous standards to ensure the safety, quality, and effectiveness of various products, including drugs, food, cosmetics, medical devices, household chemicals, clinical trials, and tobacco products.

Source: Ghana News Agency