Day: April 8, 2023

Hajia Hamdaratu Dauda Wumbei, the Chairperson of the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022 will protect public health by reducing the consumption of health-harming products.

She said the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol and tobacco caused non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and diabetes.

Sugar-sweetened beverages were too many on the market and causing overweight and obesity among children and adolescents, the Chairperson said.

‘If measures are not taken now the children would become incubators of NCDs in future,’ she said.

Hajia Wumbei said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a news conference organised by the Ghana NCD Alliance, in collaboration with the University of Ghana School of Public Health, Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the Ghana Public Health Association.

It aimed at highlighting the health benefits of the Excise Duty Amendment Bill, passed by Parliament on the night of March 31, 2023. The Bill is now awaiting Presidential assent.

Hajia Wumbei said, the Bill’s intention was not to destroy businesses or cause unemployment but to control the consumption of health-harming products through price increases, which would affect the purchasing power of the consumer, leading to a reduction in consumption.

She gave the assurance that members of the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics were readily available to support industry players with new recipes to meet the demands of the public.

Ms Annabel Yeboah-Nkrumah of the University of Ghana School of Public Health said the cost of NCDs treatment was huge, which the poor in society could not afford, hence the need for prevention through tax increases on products that cause the disease.

‘Ghanaians should not look at industry players who are only thinking of their profit but rather the poor and the human lives that are lost through their products. People are on lifelong medication, which is affecting the finances of their families,’ she said.

She urged parents to avoid buying sugar-sweetened beverages for their children to protect them from NCDs.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Duamenefa Foundation, a non-governmental organisation promoting peaceful coexistence, has donated medical supplies and other items to two wards of the Keta Municipal Hospital.

The items included a nebuliser, suction machine, hand-held pulse oximeter, fetal doppler, a 10L portable oxygen cylinder with a regulator, and glucose monitoring system with strips for the Children’s Ward.

The Male Ward received an adult scale and four ceiling fans.

Mr Emmanuel Ketaman Evortepe, the Executive President of the Foundation, in a speech read on his behalf, said it was a decision between him and his cousin, Dr David Kotei Evortepe (based in the US), to show ‘care and concern to the place where we were birthed.

This is the seventh time the Foundation has donated to the two wards. The cost of items donated, since February 2020, amounted to GHS52,494.00.

These included plasma television with satellite hookup, curtains, student mattresses, floor mats, tricycles, hand dryers, double-head stethoscopes, infrared thermometers and rolling medicine tray tables.

Mr Evortepe acknowledged the contributions of the Foundation’s International Director of Operations, the Board members and the staff of the Keta Municipal Hospital among others for making Keta Hospital the best in the Volta Region.

He expressed the hope that the cordial relations between the Foundation and the Hospital would be sustained to ensure effective healthcare delivery.

Dr Kofi K. Bonsu, the Medical Director of the Hospital, expressed appreciation to the Foundation and said the support would help in quality healthcare for residents.

Mr Farouk Iddrisu, the Hospital Administrator, assured that the items would be put to good use to improve the quality of services.

‘…. For some time now we’ve not had a suction machine. These are things we need to operate well,’ Ms Sarah Mensah, Nurse in charge of the Children’s Ward, told the Ghana News Agency.

Source: Ghana News Agency