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Upper West: GNFS worried about the spate of fire incidents
The Ghana National Fire Service in the Upper West Region is worried about the spate of fire incidents at senior high schools (SHS) across the region and has asked that school authorities take fire safety precautions more seriously.
The Public Relations Officer of the GNFS in the region, Divisional Fire Officer III (DOIII), Martin Bakobie Wa who expressed the concern in an interview, mentioned that six separate fire incidents at three senior high schools within one month called for immediate attention to fire safety in the schools.
The first three incidents he said occurred at the Wa Senior High Technical School (SHTS) in a space of 72 hours, destroying about six rooms on the girls’ dormitory block.
“When the first incident occurred at the school we were still trying to figure out the cause, then the second occurred, then the third, within 48 hours so that some affected students were made to go home”, he said.
DOIII Bakobie said the last incident occurred at the Ullo Senior High School at Jirapa where over 5,000 exercise and textbooks, among other stationery burnt to ashes when the store room and dining hall of the school caught fire.
He mentioned that other items which included food commodities such as maize, vegetables and sugar meant for the students got burnt in the fire, leaving the school children very distraught.
“This fire incident comes a week after a previous incident at the Eremon Senior High Technical School (SHTS) in the Lawra Municipality where six classrooms and a twin-dormitory block were razed down”, he said.
The PRO noted with concern that 170 students at the Eremon SHTS were displaced whereas 154 of the displaced students lost virtually everything to the fire.
He mentioned that student bunk metal beds, student mattresses, chop boxes containing groceries, uniforms, trunks and other personal effects were all lost in the flames, leaving the students very devastated.
“We had to dispatch two fire pumps; one from the Jirapa fire station and the other from Lawra to help bring the fire under control after nearly two hours of trying to quench the flames”, he said.
He mentioned that they were investigating the various fire incidents but appealed to the authorities of senior high schools across the region to take precautionary measures to forestall accidental fires.
He encouraged them to allow for regular fire education, acquire fire extinguishers and also repair and replace faulty electrical wires, switches, and lamp holders, among others to help reduce the incidents.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, WA
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
Entertainment
Maxi Sway teams up with Kweku Darlington on ‘Efie Bayie’
One of Ghana’s fastest-growing musicians, Maxi Sway known in private life as Alex Bonsu, has teamed up with music sensation, Kweku Darlington on ‘Efie Bayie’.
The song is off his new External Play (EP) dubbed, ‘Love and Life’ which is made up of five songs.
The EP written and performed by Maxi Sway, drew inspiration from real life situations.
According to Maxi Sway, ‘Efie Bayie’ was inspired by something unfortunate which happened in the life of his producer Ssnowbeatz.
He revealed that “some years back as it was almost close to the B.E.C.E examinations, Ssnowbeatz fell sick and had to write the exams at the hospital with a few Security Personnel around.”
“Ssnowbeatz told me it was a very difficult time because he was out of school for a while and had no time to even revise or prepare for the exams. He failed the papers because of his health and even didn’t go for the results,” he said.
According to him, after hearing the story of Ssnowbeatz, “It got me thinking and it inspired the song Efie Beyie.”
The video was directed and shot by Mista Morgan.
The songs on the EP include, Meganja, Efie Bayie, Wayo Love, Come Closer and Seke.
The songs making waves were produced by Klassic Beatz and Ssnowbeatz.
