News
2 institutions donate to Accra Psychiatric Hospital
The Accra Gye Nyame Lions and Leo Club together with IDonate Ghana on last Saturday donated assorted items to the Children’s ward of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
Some of the items included bags of rice, gallons of oil, detergents, disinfectants, buckets of powdered soap, liquid soap, packs of diapers, toilet rolls, scrubbing brushes and other cleaning materials.
Presenting the items, The President of the club, Lion Jennifer Dzikunu, said the donation was part of the national volunteer day which the club observes on September 21 every year alongside IDonate GH.
She said the club was poised to help people and communities in need tacking nine thematic areas including, “childhood cancer, hunger, youth, disaster relief, environment, humanitarian, vision and diabetes.’’
The club focuses on serving humanity and communities that are in need and is the largest humanitarian service organization in the world with 1.4m members in 49,000 local clubs servicing in 200 countries globally.
Receiving the items, the Senior Nursing Officer at the hospital, Bridget Ayatey, thanked the donors and stated that it would go a long way to help them in the discharge of their work.
She also acknowledged that there were 14 patients currently at the children’s ward and had to change diapers of each of the 12 inmates, at least three times a day which made the diapers an important donation.
The Lead Volunteer of IDonate Ghana, Naa Amarley Tagoe, in an interview with The Spectator, stated that the organisation had supported the Accra Psychiatric Hospital Children’s Ward since 2016.
IDonate, is an online-based charity founded in 2014 that supports less fortunate children and those with special needs in public and private institutionalised care.
Naa Amarley said, “we redirected our fundraising efforts to support the hospital,” adding that, “the annual clean-up exercise, meal service, and supply donations have continued for eight years with inspiration from a December 2015 TV3 report highlighting patient neglect during festivities.”
As part of the donation, activities like feeding of inmates and clean up exercises were held as a way of interacting with the inmates and showing support.
By Nii Ayitey Brown
News
GFP founder Akua Donkor passes on
Akua Donkor
The founder and leader of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Madam Akua Donkor, has passed away.
She died at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital on Monday, October 28 at 72.
Reports gathered by The Spectator indicated that she was diagnosed with respiratory issues at the Nsawam Government Hospital and was referred to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital where she died.
Known for her spirited presence in Ghanaian politics, Akua Donkor was a staunch advocate for the rights of farmers and women.
Her bold and outspoken demeanour enabled her to capture public attention and significantly impact the grassroots communities she aimed to represent.
Throughout her political journey, she distinguished herself by running for the presidency multiple ti mes, demonstrating remarkable resilience despite financial challenges.
Akua Donkor was listed as the third candidate on the ballot for the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
Her political career began with her election as the Assemblywoman for Herman in the Ashanti region, and she made her first bid for the presidency in 2012 as an independent candidate.
She was, however, disqualified by the Electoral Commission in 2012 and 2016 for the reason that she did not meet the eligibility requirements.
News
Stop using breast enhancing creams …they expose females to breast cancer
Mrs Enyonam Abiti making a presentation
Women have been cautioned to stop using of breast enhancing creams which is said to contain estrogen, predisposing them to the breast cancer disease.
Using such creams over time increases estrogen levels in patrons of such products thereby exposing them to the disease.
Estrogen is a type of sex hormone responsible for development and regulation of female reproductive system and secondary sex chart.
Mrs Enyonam Abiti, a medical officer at Madina Pentecost Hospital, said this at a day’s seminar and breast cancer awareness creation day at Sunyani in the Bono Region.
The programme, organised by the Bono Regional office of COCOBOD, forms part of activities to mark this year’s World Breast Cancer Day celebrations held every year in October.
Some staff of COCOBOD and women in cocoa farming used the opportunity to have their breast screened.
Mrs Abiti during a presentation revealed that one in every eight women was diagnosed of breast cancer while 1 from 1,000 men contract the disease.
She noted that early detection and regular screening was the surest way to salvage the situation.
She mentioned that habits such as excessive smoking and alcohol intake predisposes women to breast cancer.
Moreover, she added that people advanced in age, past history, past ovarian cancer case as well as young girls that menstruate early, among others stands the risk of contracting the disease.
The Bono Regional Administrator of COCOBOD, Michael Paddy Kwesi Asumanu, stated that the decision to organise the breast screening was to ensure that women in cocoa farming were healthy at all times to go about their farming activities in order to increase productivity.
“We don’t want a situation where our women in cocoa farming are infected with breast cancer disease to jeopardise the cocoa sector,” he said.
According him, the Regional Office of COCOBOD in partnership with the Bono Regional Teaching hospital would organised screening for about 4,000 women on October 31, 2024 at Goaso in the Ahafo Region.
The move, he said, was part of their corporate social responsibility towards women as the world mark breast cancer awareness creation this month.
Some of the women who spoke to The Spectator commended COCOBOD for the gesture and called on other institutions of state to emulate the example.
The organisers later held a float on the principal streets of Sunyani to create awareness on the breast cancer disease.
From Daniel Dzirasah, Sunyani
