Day: November 30, 2023

Alhaji Ahmed Isshahaku, the Bawku West District Chief Executive, has reiterated the importance of the SOCO Project to improving livelihoods, saying it is a holistic approach to making people live happily in rural communities.

He said it would improve productivity at the local level, raise incomes and enhance livelihoods as the project ensured that roads linking the farming communities were motorable.

Alhaji Ahmed Issahaku said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at the handing-over of sites to contractors under the Gulf of Gunea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project in 13 communities at Zebilla in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.

The projects include the construction of double 2.5 meters by 2.5 reinforced box culverts on the Dagunga-Mokpal two kilometre feeder road, construction of two 1.8 diameter culverts and one 1.2 dimeter culvert among other works on the Kare to Abugla feeder road.

Others include the building of one CHPS compound with four-unit nurses accommoda
tion, provision, supply and installation of solar energy at the CHPS centre at Komaka, Toende and Biringu, and drilling of mechanised boreholes at Weari, Yibonde and Apondabogo communities with hand pumps.

The Bullinga and Komaka communities are getting a three-unit classroom block each with writing desks, office with store, four- seater KVIP, two -unit urinal and changing room among other things.

Alhaji Amed Issahaku expressed excitement at the fully financed projects, which would improve the local economy and the wellbeing of the people.

‘It is a holistic approach to letting people live a happy life,’ he said, adding that they would create job opportunities, build capacity of the youth and improve productivity.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Chief of the Defence (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) Thursday inaugurated the National College of Defence Studies (NCDS) of the GAF.

The College is intended to prepare selected senior military officers and civilians for strategic-level command and staff positions.

The college will offer Master’s and Doctoral programmes to officers and civilians working with national security, defence establishment, ministries departments and agencies in Ghana and allied African countries.

At a short ceremony at the Signal Training School at Burma Camp in Accra, Vice Admiral Amoama told a gathering of Senior officers that the establishment of the NCDS was consistent with current efforts to boost the country’s military capabilities and readiness.

He said the NCDS aimed to equip personnel with the knowledge and skills needed to safeguard the nation’s peace, security, and prosperity.

‘The programme of this college aims to produce graduates imbued with leadership, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, requi
red to address Ghana and Africa’s complex security challenges,’ he said.

The CDS said the college was a testament to the military’s ‘unwavering commitment’ to providing professional military education at the strategic level – an urgently needed intervention to assist in offering possible solutions to contemporary security challenges at the strategic level.’

He said the courses to be offered at the school would help build the capacities of selected senior officers and boost their ability to conduct scientific research in military science, defence studies, strategic studies, international relations, and related subjects.

The NCDS is set to commence its academic year on January 9, 2024.

It would train the first batch of 19 senior officers: 12 of whom are army officers, and two each from the Air Force and the Navy.

The maiden training would be done under the theme: ‘Environment, Security and Development’ to reflect the fundamental principles of ameliorating the country’s security challenges.

Major-General I
rvine Aryeetey, the Commandant of NCDS said, the setting up of the college signified a new era in the country’s defence education and training.

The college would produce strategic future leaders for the Armed Forces and empower other senior employees from the civilian circles.

‘The NCDS will not be merely a place of learning but a symbol of our commitment to safeguarding our nation’s sovereignty and ensuring the safety and security of our people.

‘It is here, that, the future leaders of our armed forces and civil servants from our ministries, departments and agencies would be nurtured and equipped with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to protect and serve Ghana,’ he said.

Currently, the NCDS has its programmes accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC).

Its establishment was a partial fulfilment of Section 19(1 and 2) of the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 1023 of 2020.

The NCDS forms part of a greater vision to establish a National Defence University (NDU) earlier announced
by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the West African Soldiers Social Activity (WASSA) held in February 2023.

The NCDS is presently mentored by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and would become a branch college of the yet-to-be-established NDU, which is awaiting a presidential charter.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Health Service in partnership with United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and Global Affairs Canada, has launched a project seeking to promote reproductive, maternal and child health in the Ashanti Region.

The five-year project dubbed, ‘Health Systems Innovation Project’, which will be implemented in 20 districts, also targets quality improvement in service delivery in beneficiary districts.

Dr. Rita Larsen-Reindorf, Deputy Regional Director of Health Services in charge of Clinical Care, said the region would identify resource training centres in all 20 districts to serve as hub for training of other staff and aid lower facilities in the district.

She said as part of the project activities of the maternal and perinatal task force teams, infection prevention and control teams and quality improvement teams in the region would be strengthened to improve service outcomes.

According to the Deputy Director, obstetricians, gynaecologists and paediatricians in the district hospitals shall be trained and
the goal is for those districts to serve as the hub in the network of practice.

‘District and sub-district staff and community members will be trained in the implementation of the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) scorecard to provide opportunity for community members to provide feedback to health service providers,’ she indicated.

Dr. Reindorf-Larsen disclosed that the directorate, as part of the project’s implementation, strengthened gender responsive community engagement and capacity building for underserved communities.

Also, a comprehensive and integrated package of clinical and public health interventions has been provided.

Dr. Felix Osei-Sarpong, Health Specialist, UNICEF Ghana, said the Ashanti Region was considered well-endowed in terms of support, but a closer look at the data suggested that there was the need to support the region.

He said the project also sought to build on the achievements from various interventions implemented to contain the spread of COV
ID-19 in the region,

There are still system challenges that need to be addressed especially when the Ashanti Region has one of the largest number of districts, he argued.

‘There is the need to look at innovations that would be able to help address the challenges of the region,’ Dr. Osei-Sarpong stated.

Ms. Dragica Stanivuk, a Representative of the Canadian High Commission, said Canada was committed to supporting Ghana to tackle maternal and newborn deaths.

She reiterated the need to build on previous interventions and applauded all stakeholders for their efforts towards the project’s implementation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The United States Aid for International Development (USAID) Care Continuum Project, being implemented by the John Snow Inc. (JSI) as part of the fight against HIV/AIDS scourge, has donated 58 Motorbikes to the Ghana Health Services in three Regions.

The beneficiary regions, Western received 28 Motorbikes, Western-North 18 and Ahafo 12 for onward distribution to the various health facilities in the districts and sub-districts to ease the transportation needs of HIV viral load samples from the health facilities Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) sites to the reference laboratories.

This brings 116 Motorbikes donated by the USAID Care Continuum Project to the Western, Western-North and Ahafo Regions.

Motorbikes would among others enhance transportation from the sites to the hubs where these samples are batched to the Regional Reference Laboratory for testing and other health purposes.

The move is expected to improve the health of People Living with HIV (PLWH) and help them know their viral load situation.

Chief
of Party of USAID Care Continuum Project representative in Ghana Dr. Henry Ajewi-Narh Nagai who presented the keys for the 28 Motorbikes donated to the Western Regional Health Directorate in Takoradi, said the transportation of viral load blood samples would afford the Ghana Health Services the opportunity to know whether the medicines they were taking to treat HIV were efficacious or not by testing to know their viral load.

He said the Motorbikes could also transport pregnant women and other health services such as the supply of vaccines from one point to another, especially where the road network was bad to navigate their way through the difficult terrain to get to some of the sub-districts service delivery points.

Dr Nagai said the Project would optimize the collaboration between service agents such as the Ghana Health Services, Ghana AIDS Commission, Christian Health Association of Ghana, PLWH and their clients to assist HIV patients to know their status and put them on life-saving Anti-Retroviral Thera
py.

Receiving keys to the Motorbikes, the Western Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Yaw Ofori Yeboah acknowledged the immense contributions of the USAID Care Continuum Project to the fight against the HIV scourge in the Western Region.

He said the prevalence rate had dwindled with the collaboration, self-test, the access to medicines and medical facilities to ensure clinical results.

Dr Yeboah appealed to the public to volunteer for testing and treatment.

He said each of the 14 Districts in the Western Region has so far benefitted from four Motorbikes and commended USAID for the life-saving intervention.

Source: Ghana News Agency

AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine, has donated items worth GHC 400,000 to eight districts in the Ashanti Region to support this year’s National Farmers Day celebrations.

The beneficiary districts are Obuasi Municipal, Obuasi East, Adansi Asokwa, Adansi North, Adansi South, Adansi Akrofuom, Amansie Central and Bekwai Municipal Assemblies.

Items donated to the assemblies included eight 40 -inches LED TV, eight motorised tricycle (Aboboyaa), 24 pairs of Wellington Boots, 96 pieces of GTP wax print, eight boxes of Key soap, 32 Knapsack sprayer, 120 machetes and eight boxes of Sunphosate Glyphosate Weedicide.

The items were specifically to support the overall best farmers and the best female farmers in the beneficiary districts.

Mr. Edmund Oduro Agyei, Head of Stakeholder Engagement and Land Management of AngloGold Ashanti who presented the items on behalf of the company, said AGAG had consistently sponsored farmers’ day as part of their commitment towards the development of agriculture which was a key component
in their 10-year Socio-Economic Development Plan.

He said the company appreciated the tremendous contributions of farmers to the development of the country hence the need for the company to step in to contribute to motivate them to make agriculture attractive especially to the youth of the country.

‘As a company that is much concerned about making communities we operate in better, such donations are made with a firm conviction that agriculture is the mainstay of our people.

We believe this will go a long way to encourage our farmers to do more,’ he noted.

Dr. Maurice Jonas Woode, Chief Executive for the Akrofuom, lauded AngloGold Ashanti for the annual gesture of supporting the districts to successfully organise the farmers’ day awards.

He said the donation would go a long way to relieving the Assemblies of some of the financial burdens involved in organising such programme.

The Akrofuom DCE praised the government for rolling out phase two of the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme (PFJ).

Targeted at
building on the successes of the initial programme, the second phase of the PFJ is a five-year master plan for the transformation of agriculture in Ghana through modernisation by the development of selected commodity value chains and active private sector participation.

This, Dr. Woode explained, would further boost agriculture, and make it attractive especially for the youth.

Mr. David Mensah, the Adansi South District Director of Agriculture also commended AngloGold Ashanti for the support, adding that the company had demonstrated its resolve to support agriculture in its operational areas.

He said farmers’ contribution called for the support of all stakeholders to encourage them to produce more for the country’s development.

On challenges facing agriculture, Mr. Mensah said the activities of illegal miners continued to destroy arable lands and called on traditional leaders of communities to help protect lands for agricultural purposes.

This year’s Farmers Day celebration, which is the 39th edition, wi
ll be held on the theme ‘Delivering Smart Solutions for Sustainable Food Security and Resilience.’

Source: Ghana News Agency