Give students free condoms – MP

Mr. Charles Hodogbey, MP for North Tongu on Friday suggested that government makes condoms available to students from the Junior Secondary School to the University levels to check the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Recalling his days of community work in Chicago, USA, Mr Hodogbey said condoms could be placed at vantage points in the schools campuses where students could have free access to them.

Mr. Hodogbey made the suggestion in a contribution in Parliament on a statement by Mrs. Gifty Eugenia Kusi, MP for Tarkwa Nsuaem on "HIV/AIDS and Poverty- the African Woman's Bane.

Mrs. Kusi had said in the statement that poverty was pushing young women on the African Continent to indulge in illicit activities such as prostitution for sustenance, and in the process exposed them to all sorts of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Mrs. Kusi said there was a rise in HIVAIDS cases, and said at a recent Commonwealth Women's Parliament seminar on Women's Health, Poverty and HIV/AIDS, seminar, the women fought for the cause to intensify the education of the Ghanaian populace and fellow MP's on the dangers and effects of the pandemic.

She also noted that maternal mortality rates had been aggravated by the high incidence of HIV/AIDS, and recommended that the Ghana Health Service come out with a policy or legislation to make maternal death one of the notifiable events.


Mr Hodogbey in his contribution supported a mandatory test for HIV/AIDS for people entering into marriage, establishment of a research institution, and a dedicated HIV/AIDS clinic.

Ms Akua Sena Dansua urged men to be more interested in discussing issues on women that dealt with HIV/AIDS. She regretted that even men in Parliament were not so keen in taking part in discussion on the subject.

Ms Cecilia Obeng Dapaah, Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, called for sympathy and good for people living with AIDS, adding, " Your infected wife or husband who has HIV/AIDS, is a still your husband or wife; your son or daughter who has HIV/ AIDS is still your child."
GNA

Kwabena Agyepong is out and about.

Mr Kwabena Agyepong, former press secretary to President John Agyekum Kufuor, and currently a presidential aspirant in the camp of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has embarked on a five-day tour of the Volta Region as part of his campaign to outline his vision and canvass for votes in the 22 constituencies whose delegates would be voting at the Party’s primary.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after meeting the Akan constituency executive at Kadjebi, Mr Agyepong said he felt very strengthened and energized at the remarkable support and encouragement he received from the party's dedicated and selfless foot soldiers.

He pointed out that the hallmark of his political programme was to pursue the interest, and aspirations of the youth and women, adding that, "the welfare of the individual and the state is the essence of politics".

Mr Agyepong said the Kadjebi constituency executive should be proud to be associated with the achievements of the NPP government under President J.A. Kufuor and appealed to them to trumpet the success story in their communities.

He said there was need to fast-track the interventions that had already been put in place to support indigenous entrepreneurs with long term risk capital. Mr Agyepong said what the NPP needed was a decisive and vibrant leadership, adding that he possessed such qualities.

He said he would inject peace, passion and patriotism into the body politic if given the mandate to lead in 2008.

"As a team builder, I would work hard to harness the nation's human and natural resources and marshal the socio-economic development of the country to a new level by building on the considerable achievements of the NPP's two term achievements.
GNA

Netherlands to help Ghana manage environmental problems

Ms Lidi Remmelzwaal, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana on Friday said her country would support Ghana to solve her environmental problem to ensure the livelihood of Ghanaians.

She said initiatives like marine and coastal ecosystems needed to be improved to ensure sustainability and good health. Ms Remmelzwaal was interacting with Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, when she called at his office to formerly introduce herself as the new Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana and to discuss ways to improve cooperation.


She said other initiatives her Government would undertake in Ghana include assistance to develop the private sector, as well as improve on education and enhance growth.


She said local governance through the decentralization process was important to enhancing Ghana's democracy and to enable the people at the grassroots to participate and manage resources at their disposal.


Ms Remmelzwaal said she considered herself lucky to be posted to Ghana, which was doing considerably well in the Sub-region, and that she would build upon the work of her predecessor, who had since been posted to Abuja, Nigeria, to deepen cooperation.


Mr Asamoah Boateng said it had been his objective to ensure that the livelihood of the people were protected by ensuring that river bodies and the sea were not polluted through the deposit of toxic wastes.


He said the cardinal principle of the Ministry was to put the welfare of Ghanaians at the centre of service delivery, adding he was looking forward to giving a good performance account of his Ministry at the end of his tenure.


He said there was need for the people to handle local administration for their own benefit and also to indirectly participate in the decision making process.


Mr Asamoah Boateng expressed appreciation for the Netherlands assistance to Ghana’s decentralization process and said the government would continue to learn from that country’s developmental agenda.


He also lauded the Netherlands for its contribution to the Ghana's school feeding programme, adding that some reviews had been done in the pilot stage and would be implemented on a larger scale to achieve the objectives of the programme.
GNA

NIDs entres second day, shortage of ITNs recorded in Greater Accra

The Integrated Child Health Campaign aimed at reducing under-five mortality rate by two-thirds by the year 2015 entered its second day on Thursday with some parts of Greater Accra experiencing shortage of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs).

The five-day campaign, combining measles and polio immunisation, administering of vitamin A and distribution of 2.1 million free ITNs to children less than two years is expected to boost the survival rate of millions of children.

A visit to the some parts of the Tema sub-districts revealed that many mothers have been attracted to the exercise because of the distribution of free ITNs.
At the Ashalley Botwe Newtown post, mothers started queuing as early as 0430 hours to be served early.

Ms Emefa Voudianyi, a volunteer, said the first day registered over 300 children and 300 ITNs were issued out. However, they could not immunize all
the children in the queue because their number.

She said the post had only three volunteers without a nurse and they had
to hire a nurse from a private midwifery centre nearby to give out the measles injections.

She explained that the nurse assigned to the post did not turn up and “going to look for another nurse delayed the start of the exercise and that created a little confusion”. Ms Voudianyi said the post received only 100 ITNs for Thursday’s exercise and said this had forced them to issue to ITNs to only children from zero to
16 months.

“We know this will create another problem because mothers with eligible children who will not be given the ITNs will not be happy with our decision,” she added.
Mrs Eunice Bekoe, a mother, said she was dissatisfied with how the
exercise was going, especially the delay in attending to them.


“I am a working mother and I came to join the queue as early as 0500
hours with the hope that I will be attended to in time so that I could go to work but it is past 0900 hours and I am still in the queue.” At the Adjirigano post, near East Legon, over 200 children had been immunized as at 1110 hours when the GNA visited the post.


Mrs Rose Agble, Tema Rural Coordinator, told the GNA that the nine immunization points under her had all run out of ITNs but they had enough vaccines. She explained that she was given only 30 sacks of ITNs instead of 1,000 sacks since she had about 15,000 children in her district.


“The ITNs have attracted a lot of mothers and that has increased the
number we estimated. Yesterday was bad and it called for the involvement of
the East Legon Police to control the crowd that had come to immunize their children,” she said.

The situation was different at the Adenta Housing Down, Adenta Clinic
and Ogbojo when the GNA visited. Dr Kwadwo Antwi Agyei, Programme Manager for the Expanded Immunisation Programme of the Ghana Health Service, told the GNA that the shortage of ITNs in Greater Accra was due to the fact the region received its allocation of the ITNs this week and distribution was still underway.

“We have enough ITNs for the whole country and the problem of shortage should not occur,” he said.Dr Antwi Agyei noted that various immunisation posts had been issued with coupons to be given to eligible children who would not readily get the ITNs for them to be served immediately the various points had been restocked.

The exercise nationally is expected to target about 5.959 million children from 0 to 59 months for polio and about 5.065 million children from nine months to 59 months for measles. The exercise with cost about 162 billion cedis. There are 9,050 immunisation points, 9,505 vaccinators and 28,514 volunteers to ensure that all the children are covered.