Ghana News

Dr Owen Laws Kaluwa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative, has called on the Government to develop and strengthen evidence-based programmes to address the mental health needs of young people.
He urged the Government to put in place deliberate interventions, with the support of national policy-makers and programme managers, to prioritise and advocate for funding to finance the mental needs of the country, with special emphasis on adolescents and young people.

Ghana on 02 August, 2018 made strides when it launched its Parliamentary TB Caucus. The launch of this body was done by the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Honorable Joseph Osei-Wusu. This event organized by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health in collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership and the Aurum Institute took place at the Parliament House.

As part activities of the 2018 breastfeeding week celebration in Ghana, the Ghana Health Service and its health partners organized a media briefing and orientation on the importance of breastfeeding at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital.
Speaking at the function, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), , said although the country has made appreciable strides in promoting Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF), rates, have stagnated in the recent past.

WHO Ghana has donated to the Ghana Health Service, Emergency Reproductive Health Kits (clean delivery kits). The kits are worth over GHS 800 000 and can service about 10 000 women for a period of three months.

In a brief handing over ceremony, the WHO Country Representative, Dr Owen Kaluwa mentioned that the emergency kits where originally prepositioned in Ghana for emergencies and have been in store for some time now.  However, considering the lifespan of some of the items, permission has been granted by AFRO to hand over the kits to the Service.

Ghana has made tremendous progress towards the development of a National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS), following the completion of a Joint External Evaluation (JEE) process.
The JEE, which is a critical component of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, was conducted last year as a voluntary, multi-sectoral process to assess the country’s capacity to  prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health risks irrespective  of their origin.

This year on 14 June, the World Health Organization joined the global community once again to celebrate the gift of blood on World Blood Donor Day, under the theme “Be There for Someone Else. Give Blood. Share Life”.

13 June 2018 ¦ Brazzaville ¦ Accra ¦ Geneva - The World Health Organization (WHO) today congratulated Ghana for having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem, two decades after the World Health Assembly resolved to tackle the leading infectious cause of blindness. The announcement comes the day after a commitment from Pfizer, the manufacturer of Zithromax (azithromycin) to extend their donation programme for the antibiotic until 2025, if required, to finish the task of global trachoma elimination.

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, has concluded her three-day visit to Ghana at the invitation of the Ghanaian Authorities.  The visit provided an opportunity for her to acquaint herself with ongoing efforts, successes and challenges as the country strives to improve the health and overall well-being of Ghanaians. 

Dr Moeti and her team visited the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region. She first visited the District Health Directorate to interact with the District Health Management Team.  The District Director made a presentation on the performance of the district. From there the team visited the Ayikuma CHPS to give Dr Moeti the opportunity to familiarize herself with service delivery at the lower levels.