CAPE COAST CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE VICAH GENERAL COMMENDS DR LORDINA MAHAMA

 Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Coast Very Rev Father Isaac Ebo-Blay has commended the First Lady Dr Lordina Mahama for her philanthropic works across the country. 

“Supporting the vulnerable in society and the church must be the priority of all especially NGOs” he noted. This the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Coast Very Rev Father Isaac Ebo-Blay believe will reduce burden on government in making Ghana a better place for all . 

Very Rev Father Ebo- Blay made the commendation when the Lordina Foundation presented sets of musical equipment to the Little Ways Evangelization group based in Cape Coast. The Deputy Minister for Defense Kenneth Gilbert Adjei made the presentation on behalf of the First Lady Dr Lordina Mahama. 

According to the Vicar General, the church is made up of the rich, poor, the sick; among others who need the word of God to change their lives hence all join hands with churches for this transformation to be made possible.  “NGOs must focus their attention on the deprived, the needy the marginalized so that we all build our society and community” he said. 

Very Rev Father Isaac Ebo-Blay was grateful to the first lady Dr Lordina Mahama who is the founder of the Lordina Foundation for the gesture saying the equipment will go a long way to help the Little Ways Evangelization Group to reach out to more people particularly the youth in the central region.

Little Ways Evangelization Group, has been without musical instrument since its inception. With the set of professional sound system, microphones and professional audio mixer presented to the group the President of the group Isaac Taku Mensah believes the group will move to the hinterland to evangelise to win more souls for the kingdom of God. 

 He assured the foundation that the equipment will be used for its intended purpose.

The Central Regional Chairman of the NDC Allotey Jacob who witnessed the presentation described the first lady as a woman who is willing to help anybody irrespective of the religion, age or ethnic.  He was grateful for the first lady for her support to the central region. Mr. Allotey Jacob said the Lordina Foundation should be an example or an eye opener to all NGOs to be truthful and spend what they have and what have been given to them to invest in people.  

On the upcoming elections, he urged Ghanaians to be focused on the unprecedented developmental projects the President John Dramani is under taking should been seen as beacon of Ghana’s democracy.  Mr Allotey Jacobs entreated Ghanaians to be tolerant in order to ensure that there is peace and tranquility before, during and after 2016 elections.

THE WORLD MARK MALARIA DAY WITH A CALL FOR AN END TO MALARIA

The International Community today marked World Malaria Day with  a call to end Malaria. A day to celebrate the gains made in the fight against malaria around the world. Observed on April 25 each year, this day highlights global efforts to control malaria and mobilizes action to combat the disease.  

This year's  theme for the day is "End Malaria For Good”. Following the great progress made under the Millennium Development Goals, it is important to build on this success and ‘end malaria for good’ under the Sustainable Development Goals.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes. About half of the worlds’ population is at risk of malaria, particularly those in lower-income countries. It infects more than 500 million people each year and kills more than one million people, according to WHO. However, Malaria is preventable and curable.

The World Health Assembly instituted World Malaria Day in May 2007. The purpose of the event is to give countries in affected regions the chance to learn from each other’s experiences and support one another’s efforts. 

World Malaria Day also enables new donors to join in a global partnership against malaria, and for research and academic institutions to reveal scientific advances to the public. The day also gives international partners, companies and foundations a chance to showcase their efforts and reflect on how to scale up what has worked.

Organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the United Nations’ (UN) directing and coordinating authority for health, actively play a role in promoting and supporting World Malaria Day. The activities and events that take place on or around World Malaria Day are often joint efforts between governments, non-government organizations, communities and individuals.

Malaria-endemic countries have made incredible gains in malaria in the last decade, but sustaining them will take extra efforts until the job is finished and malaria is eliminated worldwide.  While efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria have gained important momentum over the past years, an annual shortfall in funding threatens to slow down progress, particularly across Africa where high-burden countries are facing critical funding gaps.  

Unless the world can find a way to bridge the funding gaps and endemic countries have the resources and technical support they need to implement sound malaria control plans, malaria resurgence will likely take many more lives.

 According to a World Malaria Day report  released by WHO in 2015, all countries in the WHO European Region reported, for the first time, zero indigenous cases of malaria, down from 90 000 cases in 1995. Outside this region, 8 countries reported zero cases of the disease in 2014: Argentina, Costa Rica, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Paraguay, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates.

Another 8 countries each tallied fewer than 100 indigenous malaria cases in 2014. And a further 12 countries reported between 100 and 1000 indigenous malaria cases in 2014.

The “Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030”, approved by the World Health Assembly in 2015, calls for the elimination of local transmission of malaria in at least 10 countries by 2020. WHO estimates that 21 countries are in a position to achieve this goal, including 6 countries in the African Region, where the burden of the disease is heaviest.

Since the year 2000, malaria mortality rates have declined by 60% globally. In the WHO African Region, malaria mortality rates fell by 66% among all age groups and by 71% among children under 5 years.

The advances came through the use of core malaria control tools that have been widely deployed over the last decade: insecticide-treated bed-nets, indoor residual spraying, rapid diagnostic testing and artemisinin-based combination therapies.

But reaching the next level—elimination—will not be easy. Nearly half of the world’s population, 3.2 billion people, remain at risk of malaria. Last year alone, 214 million new cases of the disease were reported in 95 countries and more than 400 000 people died of malaria.

The efficacy of the tools that secured the gains against malaria in the early years of this century is now threatened. Mosquito resistance to insecticides used in nets and indoor residual spraying is growing. So too is parasite resistance to a component of one of the most powerful antimalarial medicines. Further progress against malaria will likely require new tools that do not exist today, and the further refining of new technologies.

So as individuals how can we prevent getting infected by malaria? 

While malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases in Africa, infections can be prevented by sleeping under long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs). These nets, which are designed to last at least three years, work by creating a protective barrier against deadly malaria-carrying mosquitoes that typically bite at night.

In addition to bed nets, malaria can be prevented by applying insecticide to the inside walls of individual homes. Mosquitoes that land on treated walls are killed, preventing the transmission of malaria. 

If malaria is contracted, early treatment with anti-malaria drugs, such as Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) can effectively cure malaria. 

We must also keep our surroundings clean and clear chocked gutters to ensure free flow of water in our gutters.

Let's all join hands as we end malaria. Together we can.Save yourself! Save your family! Save Ghana from Malaria!

US ambassador to UN Samantha Power's convoy kills Cameroon boy

 The US ambassador to the UN has expressed her "great sorrow" after her motorcade accidentally hit and killed a seven-year-old boy in Cameroon.

Samantha Power was in Cameroon to show US support for the campaign against militant Islamist group Boko Haram when the accident happened on Monday.

An armoured jeep knocked the boy as he tried to cross a road when the convoy was heading towards a refugee camp.

"Although the boy received immediate medical care from an ambulance in our convoy, he died shortly thereafter," Ms Power said. 

Ms Power's motorcade was moving at a fast speed when the sixth vehicle in it hit the boy after he darted on to the two-lane highway near the small city of Mokolo, the Associated Press news agency reports.

The vehicle that struck the boy stopped, but was then ordered by US security forces to continue travelling through the unsecured area, AP reports. 

  

She said she met the boy's family to offer "profound condolences".

US officials were unable to say whether their government will pay compensation to the boy's family who lived in a village in northern Cameroon. AFP news agency reports.

Ms Power later met children at a camp for people who fled attacks by Boko Haram, which is fighting to establish an Islamic state in the region. 

 

"All of you who are attempting to fight this terror, the United States stands with you,'' she said, AP reports.

Boko Haram is the most dangerous militant group in the region. 

It launched its insurgency in northern Nigeria in 2009, but has increasingly targeted neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

The conflict has led to the deaths of some 17,000 people, destroyed some 1,000 schools and displaced 2.5 million people

ALERE INCORPORATED DONATES HIV AND SYPHILIS TEST KITS TO LORDINA FOUNDATION

The Lordina Foundation has taken delivery of 12,000 duo HIV and Syphilis test kits from ALERE Incorporated, a global diagnostic device and service provider company.

The SD HIV/Syphilis duo is a rapid diagnostic test kit for the simultaneous prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and syphilis results in 20 minutes.

Zeina Henaine, ALERE Social Responsibility Ambassador for Africa who presented the items commended the First Lady for her hard work and dedication in ensuring the welfare of women and children in less privilege areas.

At a ceremony in Accra to present the kits Madam Zeina said using a dual screening test for HIV and syphilis would permit an efficient extension of maternal care services and support health capacity.

 She said the presentation formed part of a pledge made by the ALERE group to members of the OAFLA last year in New York following recognition that more than one million women and families had to face the trauma of repeated pregnancy loss, stillbirth or child born infected with and suffering from HIV and syphilis.

She explained that apart from their role as OAFLA members the First Ladies had their individual projects which they executed in their respective countries, hence the need to support their efforts.

Ms Henaine said HIV and syphilis are the major public health problem affecting women and their newborn infants in the world, and 90 per cent HIV infections to children were from mother-to -child transmission during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding.

She said pregnant women infected with syphilis might transmit to their unborn child and although it syphilis is easily curable with penicillin, unlike HIV which were routinely tested in pregnant women, there were usually no tests carried out for syphilis pregnant women.

According to her, when detected, treatment in the early stage of pregnancy could prevent congenial syphilis, stillbirth or premature births.

In a speech read on her behalf by Dr Angela El-Adas, Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, the First Lady Dr Lordina Mahama said the incorporation of both HIV and syphilis tests in a single kit had many advantages.

It would save the use of needles and blood volume, eliminating the need for laboratory personnel or infrastructure, as well as decreased time to results, and overall it lowered the cost of testing.

She said using a dual screening test for HIV and syphilis would also reduce testing duplications, labor time, logistics fee, storage space and operating costs partly because it did not require electricity or other equipment.

She said the Standard Diagnostics (SD) HIV/syphilis duo test kits were indeed one of a kind as they could detect HIV and Syphilis with the same specimen using a single device. 

Mrs Mahama said like many other members of OAFLA, Ghana had benefitted first hand from those kits which were for use “during our the elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission (eMTCT) outreaches conducted throughout the country”. 

The elimination of mother-to-child transmission outreaches was aimed at bringing services to the communities using an integrated health approach.

“With the donation from Alere, we can now move from two different kits for HIV/Syphilis to a single test kit. Our clients will access HIV and syphilis testing services at a single point instead of moving from one source point to another”, she said 

According to the First Lady it had taken a lot of time to receive Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) approval for those test kits, and it had been worth every effort put in by the Ministry of Health and Alere since the delivery of the SD HIV/syphilis duo kits by Alere to the OAFLA Ghana Chapter in November 2015. 

She expressed her appreciation to Alere for providing innovative kits, and appealed to them to increase the allocation of the SD HIV/syphilis kits initially delivered to Ghana to support its first 90 campaign to test 6 million people over the next 12 months.

WAEC TO TAKE PROMPT ACTION IN EXAM PAPER LEAKAGE

The West African Examinations Council says it will take prompt action against persons involved in the leaking of exam papers in this year's WASSCE.

The Head of WAEC, Rev. Samuel Nii Nmai Ollenu says he is confident those involved will b

e dealt with the save the integrity of the Council.

A number of exam papers in this year's West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE),  leaked hours before they were due to be taken. The leaked examination papers include Physics practical, Social Studies, Integrated Science, and Oral English.

Last year, some Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and WASSCE papers leaked and were widely shared on social media platforms – Facebook and whatsapp.

Five BECE papers including English Language 2, Religious and Moral Education 2, Science 2, Mathematics 2 and Social Studies 2 leaked and were, therefore, cancelled.

The cancelled papers had to be retaken later. Parents were unhappy about the situation and blamed the leakage on WAEC.

WAEC says it should not be blamed entirely for the perennial leaking of exam papers. Last year it blamed parents for the problem.

The exams governing body has assured students that papers already written this year will not be cancelled.

It indicated in a statement, Wednesday that some of the leaked papers were found to be fake. WAEC however, authenticated some of the leaked papers and said they were leaked after the papers were released to the examination centers.

The Council says it is working with the security services to get to the bottom of this latest case.

According to the Head of WAE, Rev Nii Nmai Ollenu, two of its staff have been dismissed and one has been demoted for breaching internal security in last year’s massive leakage.

“Those who were dismissed were handed over to the BNI and we expect the BNI to also do their part,” Rev. Ollenu stated.

Rev. Nii Nmai Ollenu says WAEC cannot prosecute persons involved in the leakage of papers itself.

He urged the security agencies to prosecute people involved in the leakages to serve as a deterrent to others who plan to engage in such nefarious activities that have the tendency to tarnish the image the country's education system.

SUDANESE PRESIDENT TO RESIGN IN 2020

 Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has told the BBC he will step down in 2020, when his current mandate ends.

Mr Bashir also denied allegations of abuses perpetrated by the Sudanese forces in renewed violence against black African villages who took up arms in the country's western Darfur region.

The president has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on counts of

genocide and war crimes.

Mr Bashir has been in power since 1989. He won elections in April last year.

He told the BBC's Thomas Fessy that his job was "exhausting" and his current term would be his last.

"In 2020, there will be a new president and I will be an ex-president," he said.

However, sceptics will say that he had already pledged to step down in the past and later went back on his word, our correspondent says.

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