Dear Editor,

I read in the last edition of your esteemed newspaper a story about sickle cell and an advice to the youth, especially hoping to get married, to be aware of their sickle cell status before falling in love.

That is a very important call on the youth in my view because of the lack of awareness on the condition which has the tendency to affect one’s ability to live a decent life.

Sadly, awareness creation on some of these medical conditions have not been sustained ones.

Just like the breast cancer disease and many others, we often wait for particular periods earmarked for awareness on the existence and management of these diseases.

Although it is good enough to set aside particular days, weeks and months to thoroughly deliberate on some of the medical mishaps, it is equally important to wage a sustained programme to always referesh the minds of the people of these conditions.

Sickle cell for instance is one of the health conditions one don’t hear very often but its implication can prematurely curtail one’s life.

The youth must be aware of its existence and the importance in knowing status before falling in love.

For me, the education must even stretch beyond falling in love since there are those who also engage in casual sex. They can also be caught up in this web and in the case of pregnancy with both have the S OR c genes, then it becomes likely to have a sickle cell baby.

I want to appeal to the authorities to make those calls very regular for the youth to be aware.

Ofori Mike,

La

 Dear Editor,

I write to draw to your attention to a growing phenomenon in our society and the country as a whole.

Growing up, I only saw a few storey buildings around the country. Most buildings I saw were ground structures that housed families.

I am now becoming a bit worried about the rate at which storey build­ings are being built across the country.

While putting up a storey building helps in the effective utilisation of natural resources such as land, it could also lead to the loss of lives and prop­erties if the right building materials are not used.

In Ghana, we have witnessed a number of storey buildings, including shopping malls and church buildings collapse, leading to loss of lives.

Often, investigations conducted by regulatory authorities in the building and construction sector have revealed that those buildings collapse because the right material was not used in the building process.

Although there have been calls from a section of the public for authorities to inspect storey buildings in the coun­try to prevent disasters, I think those calls have fallen on deaf ears, consid­ering the fast pace at which individuals and businesses are putting up storey buildings in the country.

Some of these storey buildings that are near completion or abandoned by its owners and cited in close proximi­ty have even developed cracks, which poses threat to the lives of those who lived around.

I, therefore, as a matter of urgency, urge the duty bearers and regulatory authorities in the building and construction sec­tor to ensure that those storey buildings are inspected and the contractors held accountable, to prevent another Melcom disaster.

Osei Kuka,

Accra