BoG GOVERNOR TO STEP DOWN EARLY AT END OF MARCH

Bank of Ghana Governor, Henry Kofi Wampah, will retire this week, he said on Tuesday, cutting short a four-year term during which he has struggled to curb inflation and stem the decline of the national currency.

Wampah, whose term officially ends on Aug. 5, told Reuters he had informed President John Mahama of his intention to leave by the end of this month, adding the decision was partly linked to presidential and parliamentary elections planned for November.

"I told him I wanted to leave office early and we have agreed that I will exit at the end of March," Wampah said. "It is just fair to leave early in order to give enough room for my successor, whoever it might be, to settle down before we get to the elections."

He said one of his two deputies, either Millison Narh or Abdul Nashiru Issahaku, was expected to serve as interim central bank governor until Mahama chooses a permanent successor.

Once considered a rising star in Africa, Ghana, which exports cocoa, gold and oil, has been dogged by large budget deficits, ballooning public debt and inflation that consistently tops government targets.

Mahama appointed Wampah amid serious fiscal imbalances caused mainly by election spending in 2012 and a burdensome public sector wage bill that complicated the bank's task of managing the money supply.

Wampah responded with a string of monetary policy reforms, including tighter foreign exchange liquidity management to slow inflation.

The bank held its benchmark interest rate at 26 percent in its latest rate decision last week.

As a member of the economic management team, he also helped negotiate a $918 million programme with the International Monetary Fund last year aimed at re-establishing macro-economic stability.

"Its unfortunate that Wampah is not going to be there to complete the IMF program through the election period," said Joe Abbey, director of the Accra-based Centre for Policy Analysis.

"I've found him to be somebody who is able to stand his grounds even if that didn't seem to be the most palatable position to take," he added.

While the cedi currency has for the first time in several years withstood the seasonal first quarter pressure to rally, it has lost 94 percent of its value against the dollar since Wampah was sworn in January 2013.

Consumer price inflation meanwhile slowed in February, but still stood at 18.5 percent.

Such crippling figures have earned Wampah heavy criticism from some quarters.

He has also faced calls for his resignation this year over what some said was the bank's failure to effectively monitor DKM Microfinance, a small firm that lost millions of cedis in its customers deposits before it had to be liquidated.

Wampah dismissed suggestions that he was being forced to step down due to the controversy surrounding the company's collapse.

REINFORCE POLITICAL COMMITMENT AT HIGHER LEVEL AS THE WORLD MARK TUBERCLOSIS DAY

GHana yesterday joined the international community to mark World Tuberculosis Day. World TB Day, falling on March 24th each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of nearly one-and-a-half million people each year, mostly in developing countries.

 It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. 

At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. In 2012, 8.6 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.3 million died from the disease, mostly in the Third World. Koch's discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB. 

World TB Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day and World AIDS Day.

This year's campaign runs under the strong and action-oriented tagline "Unite to End TB!". Partners working in TB from all over the globe chose this dynamic and unifying rallying cry that allows for both strong mobilization on the ground and high level advocacy.

 This campaign draws on the goals set out in the Global Plan to End TB, the roadmap to accelerating impact on the TB epidemic and reaching the targets of the WHO End TB Strategy.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria that are spread through the air from person to person. If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal. People infected with TB bacteria who are not sick may still need treatment to prevent TB disease from developing in the future. Learn to recognize the symptoms of TB disease and find out if you are at risk.

The bacteria that cause TB is spread through the air from person to person. The TB bacteria are put into the air when a person with TB disease coughs, sneezes, speaks, or sings. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected.

People with TB disease usually have symptoms and may spread TB bacteria to others.

TB bacteria most commonly grow in the lungs, and can cause symptoms such as:

• A bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer
• Pain in the chest
• Coughing up blood or sputum (mucus from deep inside the lungs)

Other symptoms of TB disease may include:

• Weakness or fatigue
• Weight loss
• No appetite

• Chills
• Fever
• Sweating at night

Tuberculosis (TB) Treatment

Today, doctors treat most people with TB outside the hospital. Gone are the days of going to the mountains for long periods of bed rest. Doctors seldom use surgery.

 Another important aspect of tuberculosis treatment is public health. This is an area of community health for which mandated treatment can occur. In some cases, the local health department will supervise administration of the medication for the entire course of therapy.

As part of the celebration, WHO today pitched for a direct engagement with communities for case detection, treatment completion and addressing out-of-pocket expenditures and stressed on addressing its social determinants to end the disease.

"To end TB, there is a need to reach out to and engage with communities directly for case detection, treatment completion and addressing out-of-pocket expenditures."

"Forging partnerships with civil society groups and between public and private care providers will likewise ensure that present gaps are closed and that a society-wide movement to end TB develops," Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region, said.

Ms Singh was speaking at an event 'Unite to End TB: Fast Tracking access to quality diagnosis and treatment' organised by Health Ministry and WHO.

Ms Singh also stressed on addressing the social determinants of tuberculosis as it still remains a disease of the poor and the marginalized, with a disproportionate number of cases found among people living with HIV, migrants, refugees and prisoners.

"TB isn't only a health problem. Therefore, its solutions must also encompass the full range of multi-sectoral dimensions and multi-stakeholder engagement. It is one of those diseases that require health in all policies, coupled with strengthening the full spectrum of human rights that guarantee a TB patient the right to the best treatment possible," she said.

 

Ms Singh called for the reinforcement of  political commitment at the highest level. She noted that  the mission-like zeal with which polio and HIV/AIDS have been fought must be reproduced in the battle against TB and must lead to organisational and programming shifts.

As we mark World Tuberclosis Day Let us join hands to eliminate tuberclosis in Ghana and the world.

MANY DEAD IN BRUSSELS TERROR ATTACK

Many people have been killed or seriously injured in terrorist attacks at Brussels international airport and a city metro station, Belgium's PM says.

Two explosions hit Zaventem airport at about 07:00 GMT, and another struck Maelbeek metro station an hour later.

The government has not confirmed casualty numbers. Brussels transport officials say 15 died at Maelbeek and media say up to 13 died at the airport.

Belgium has now raised its terror threat to its highest level.

The attacks come four days after Salah Abdeslam, the main fugitive in the Paris attacks, was seized in Brussels.

Prime Minister Charles Michel called the Brussels attacks "blind, violent and cowardly", saying they were a "tragic moment in our country's history. I would like to call on everyone to show calmness and solidarity".

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