News
Malaria pill trialed to prevent COVID-19
A trial to see whether two anti-malarial drugs could prevent COVID-19 has begun in Brighton and Oxford.
Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine or a placebo will be given to more than 40,000 healthcare workers from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.
All the participants are staff who are in contact with COVID-19 patients.
US President Donald Trump was criticised this week after he said he had been taking hydroxychloroquine, despite warnings it might be unsafe.
The first UK participants in the global trial were enrolled yesterday at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
They will be given either hydroxychloroquine or a placebo for three months. At sites in Asia, participants will be given chloroquine or a placebo.
These are the first of a planned 25 UK sites, with results expected by the end of the year.
The trial is open to anyone delivering direct care to coronavirus patients in the UK, as long as they have not been diagnosed with COVID-19.
It will test whether the drugs can prevent healthcare workers exposed to the virus from contracting it.
One of the study’s leaders, Prof Nicholas White at the University of Oxford said: “We really do not know if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are beneficial or harmful against COVID-19.”
But, he said, a randomised controlled trial such as this one, where neither the participant nor the researchers know who has been given the drug or a placebo, was the best way to find out.
“A widely available, safe and effective vaccine may be a long way off,” said Prof Martin Llewelyn from Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who is also leading the study.
“If drugs as well-tolerated as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could reduce the chances of catching COVID-19, this would be incredibly valuable.”
The drugs can reduce fever and inflammation and are used as both a prevention and a treatment for malaria.
Hydroxychloroquine regulates the body’s immune response and is also used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus – an inflammatory disease caused by an overactive immune system.
Lupus charities in the UK and US have raised concerns that demand for the drug associated with coronavirus could threaten the supply for patients who already rely on it. -BBC
News
MoMo vendor 24 murdered at Kwadaso
A disturbing crime has shaken the Kwadaso Onion market community in Kumasi, leaving family and friends grieving the loss of a young life.
Identified only as Junior, a 24-year-old mobile money vendor, was found murdered in his room on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
According to eyewitnesses, Junior had returned home the previous day with a substantial amount of money, over Gh¢20,000.
It was suspected that the killers might have been motivated by the large sum of money in Junior’s possession.
A police source that confirmed this to The Spectator, said investigation has been launched into Junior’s murder, but so far, no arrests have been made.
The Kwadaso community is reeling in shock, calling for justice and an end to the atrocity that has claimed the life of a young and promising individual.
Junior, is believed to be a native of Ejisu Onwe, and was known to his colleagues and friends as a hardworking and diligent individual who worked at the Kumasi Race Course.
His tragic death serves as a stark reminder of the risks and challenges mobile money vendors faced.
The incident comes barely a month after Patricia Nimako, a 27-year-old Mobile Money (MoMo) vendor, was shot and killed at Krofrom, Kumasi in the Ashanti region by an unknown assailants.
The suspected armed robbers fled with the deceased cell phones and an amount of GH¢10,000 on Thursday, February 13, at approximately 3:00 p.m.
The two armed robbers reportedly stormed the kiosk where the deceased was operating and without any provocation shot her dead.
There has not been any arrest yet by the police.
From Kingsley E. Hope , Kumasi
News
Former Dean, 68, in same law class with daughter Wonders, the sages say shall never end.
Some people say life is all about nursing and adding value to it to build and gain an incorporated image in society.
It is also said that age is just a number and must not serve as a barrier to people who seek to pursue their long-cherished dreams by going into new areas to acquire knowledge.
With this in mind, a former Dean of Business, Education and Law at the University for Development Studies, Wa Campus, Professor Daniel Bagah, 68, a foundation layer of UDS and former Upper West Region’s Council of State member has enrolled to venture into the legal field to study law at SDD-UBIDS this academic year.
The surprising thing about Professor Bagah going to read law is not about his age, but that he is sitting at the backline of his third daughter in the same class for lectures to the admiration of the young ones in lecture halls and some of the lecturers he handled at the university.
When Professor Emmanuel K. Derbile, Vice Chancellor of the SDD-UBIDS announced the name of Professor Bagah among the ‘freshers’ for the 2024-2025 academic year to pursue LLB, there was an uproar among the students and some lecturers alike about the news.
Talking to Professor Bagah in an interview, he said the legal field had been his long-cherished dream, which was about to elude me but time has come for him to venture into new areas to acquire new knowledge.
“I believe in getting to new areas of knowledge and throughout my studies, my first, second and third degrees, I have not been able to do law, which is a new area for me. My age is nothing to me, it is my intention to challenge the young lecturers and students to emulate me and go into the legal field to know of their human rights and the rights of other people.
“For the few days that I have been lectured, I have realised that I had trampled on so many people’s rights ignorantly, even during communication with others l wrong them,” he said.
Professor Bagah, therefore, advocated basic law to be taught at all tertiary schools in Ghana to open the mindsets of the students to know about their rights and the rights of others, as well as defend the country patriotically.
He appealed to the people of northern Ghana to take advantage of the Law School to improve their lives since the school is the first law school in the north.
Miss Portia Bagah, 24, said her degree was in Estate Management and her dad had been an inspiration in her life, encouraging her to pursue the law programme.
She said the presence of her father in class serves as motivation and challenge to her and not a setback like others might be thinking. –GNA
