Day: June 29, 2024

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Tax policies on products with negative health impacts beneficial – FDA


Madam Delese Mimi Darko, the Chief Executive of the Food and Drugs Authority, says tax policies on products like tobacco and alcohol, with negative public health consequences are beneficial.

‘The taxes advance health equity, prevent disease, save lives, and generate revenue for the general budget. These funds can also support Universal Health Coverage,’ she stated.

Madam Darko made the remark at the first National Forum on Tobacco Taxation on the theme: ‘Strengthening the Evidence for Effective Tobacco Taxation for Health and Development in Ghana.’

It was organised by the Vision for Alternative Development – Ghana (VALD-Ghana) in Accra.

The forum was aimed at seeking feasible recommendations through which Ghana’s tobacco taxation could be comprehensively aligned with global standards, particularly those outlined by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

The goal was to address the social, health, environmental and economic impact of tobacco use.

Madam Darko said the passage of the E
xcise Duty Amendment Act, 2023 (Act 1096), marked a significant milestone in tobacco control in Ghana, transitioning from an ad-valorem tax structure to a mixed tax structure.

‘Raising taxes on tobacco products increases their price, making them less affordable and preventing youth initiation,’ she noted, adding that; ‘Article ‘6’ of the WHO FCTC encourages countries to implement price and tax measures, and Ghana is dedicated to this effort,’ she said.

She said tackling tobacco use globally was a priority within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and that controlling the product was crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG Target 3.4.

The target aims at reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by one-third by 2030, while Target ‘3.a’ supports the objective by calling for the strengthening of the implementation of the WHO FCTC.

The Chief Executive stated: ‘Beyond health, tobacco control reduces poverty and inequalities, strengthens
the economy, and promotes sustainable development.’

Madam Darko said the FDA was committed to fully supporting the continuous implementation of the Excise Duty Amendment Act, 2023 (Act 1096) to reduce tobacco use and save lives in Ghana.

Dr Charles Addai, the Deputy Commissioner of the Ghana Revenue Authority, said the Authority was implementing all the excise taxes, which were called ‘sin taxes’ to raise revenue and help reduce the consumption of harmful products.

He said one of the major laws being used by the GRA was the Excise Duty (Amendment) Act 2023 (Act 1108).

‘The objective of the Act is to raise revenue, mitigate the harmful effect of excisable products, and conform to ECOWAS protocol; and the major changes in the Act were; increase in the tax rates, introduced e-cigarettes, and introduced mixed excise tax regime (specific and ad-valorem,’ he stated.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Kasseh Health Centre is now model facility


The Kasseh Health Centre in the Ada East District has been upgraded to a model health center to help improve health services in the area and beyond.

Mr. Edmund Ninson, the Physician Assistant in charge of the facility, disclosed this during the launch of the Networks of Practice (NOP) for the district, an initiative by the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service aimed at ensuring access to high-quality healthcare services.

The NOP is also to reduce preventable maternal and infant fatalities and impairments, as well as enhance accessibility to emergency public and clinical services.

Mr. Ninson, in an interview with the GNA, noted that the Kasseh Model Health Centre, following the new policy, will be getting more human and material resources to strengthen and improve health delivery.

He explained that the NOP initiative has an objective to upgrade existing health centres into Model Health Centres, which will serve as a hub to link other public health facilities such as the CHPS Compound, private inf
irmaries, clinics, laboratories, pharmacies, and maternity homes within the same geographical area to maximise efficiency in quality and efficient health delivery.

Mr Ninson said: ‘So now referrals will be well coordinated from the CHPS Compound to the Model Health Centre and then to the District Hospital.’

He said the new policy has been welcomed by all the staff of Kasseh Health Centre and surrounding smaller clinics called ‘spokes’ for a successful implementation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Physician assistant advocates for medical diagnosis before spiritual remedies


Mr. Rocky Tettedzie, a Physician Assistant at the Pleasant Medical Centre, Ashaiman Middle East, has advised the public to seek proper medical diagnosis before turning to spiritual remedies.

Mr. Tettedzie emphasised the importance of visiting medical treatment centres first to identify any potential health issues and the needed intervention.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, he acknowledged the role of spirituality and personal beliefs in personal health care decisions, stressing, however, that health institutions were equipped to detect problems through laboratory tests.

Mr. Tettedzie stated that clinical conditions could sometimes be diagnosed without lab tests and in such cases, if lab investigations yielded negative results but the patient remained symptomatic, treatment might still be administered, often resulting in the patient’s improvement.

He noted that when no medical cause can be identified, healthcare providers would explain to patients that health encompassed not only t
he absence of disease but also mental and physical well-being.

‘While medical centres do not typically direct patients to seek spiritual remedies, there are rare instances where a clinician with spiritual insight might advise so, nonetheless, medical practice prioritises evidence-based treatments,’ he said.

The physician assistant pointed out that some conditions, like HIV/AIDS, cannot be completely cured but could be managed to improve the patient’s quality of life and prevent further complications.

He urged people to avoid prioritising spiritual interventions over medical consultations, recommending a proper diagnosis first, if no medical issues were found, they could then explore spiritual avenues, stressing that the Holy Spirit is accessible to everyone for prayer and intervention, not just spiritual leaders.

He shared some experiences of patients with breast cancer, cervical cancer, hypertension, and diabetes who sought treatment at religious prayer camps.

He said these patients often report to the
hospitals very late when faced with severe complications or when their conditions had worsened.

Mr. Tettedzie clarified that no doctor would prevent a patient from seeking spiritual health, but medical professionals advised that individuals must first visit health institutions for early diagnosis, adding that clinics might have varied diagnoses, therefore what is undetected at one centre could be identified at another for treatment.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Bad cocoa harvests, high cost of living making farmers vulnerable in child labour fight – Report


Bad cocoa harvests in West Africa and higher costs of living and production, are exacerbating farmer vulnerabilities in the fight against child labour in the sector, a 2023 Report by the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) has found.

The Report, which was shared with the Ghana News Agency, said poverty and lack of access to basic social services were among the root causes of child labour.

‘Negative shocks to farmer income, such as those caused by crop failure, a fall in price, or severe weather can put a strain on farming families, who with limited resources or alternative sources of labour, may call on their children to fill the gap.

‘A lack of social safety nets and access to social services makes cocoa farming families even more vulnerable,’ it said.

The ICI said the development in the cocoa sector had made it ‘more critical’ to provide support to cocoa farming families.

The ICI’s 2023 Annual Report highlights the Organisation’s work to tackle child labour and forced labour in the cocoa sector.

The
ICI’s activities throughout the year supported three strategic objectives – responsible cocoa supply chains, a supportive enabling environment and coordinated approaches.

The ICI said by the end of 2023, it covered over 320,000 households through Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) – systems designed to identify, address and prevent child labour.

The Report said 26 per cent of children in the system were found to be engaging in child labour, out of which 77 per cent of them received support.

The ICI said when well implemented, those systems could be highly effective with 41 per cent of supported children stopping hazardous work.

The Report said additional initiatives such as income-generating activities, community service groups, Village Savings and Loans Associations, or cash transfers, could help farmers to establish alternative sources of income to enhance their resilience.

Mr Matthias Lange, Executive Director, ICI, said challenges in the sector highlighted the need to re-double e
fforts to support cocoa farming families.

‘It is great to see significant scale up by our members across industry and civil society in West Africa. This is a significant achievement, and one on which we are happy to build, as

we continue to collectively strengthen the effectiveness and improve the impact of these systems and advance the way child labour and forced labour are tackled in the cocoa sector,’ he said.

‘While no single system (nor one actor alone) can end child labour, CLMRS have demonstrated their effectiveness. Along with complementary approaches, and an enabling environment, they play an important role in tackling the issue,’ Mr Lange added.

The ICI said responsible supply chains were only a part of the solution to combatting child labour in the cocoa sector.

The Organisation said the creation of an enabling environment of policies, standards, and regulation that helped tackle child labour and forced labour were key to combatting the phenomenon.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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We need to document Ghana’s unique traditional fishing knowledge – Fisheries Alliance


Mr. Kyei Kwadwo Yamoah, the Convenor for the Fisheries Alliance, a civil society organisation, has called for the documentation of the unique indigenous traditional fishing knowledge in Ghana to help in the country’s fisheries management.

Mr. Yamoah said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency following the commencement of the Creating Synergies between Indigenous Practices and Scientific Knowledge (ISIPSK) Sankofa research project, an initiative of the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, in collaboration with other stakeholders.

He said it was important for the fisheries sector managers to blend traditional and scientific management as scientific knowledge depended on traditional knowledge, which is known as primary information gathering from practitioners.

He added that in Ghana’s fisheries sector, there were several rich indigenous and traditional knowledge that fishermen applied in their jobs that were yet to be documented.

He noted that
when fishers went fishing and returned at night, they read the stars and applied astronomy to identify where they have to locate their communities, adding that they also used the stars to identify some fish species that would be available.

Mr. Yamoah further said the traditional ways of constructing canoes in Ghana do not have any written diagrams or documents to show how they were done, stating that ‘in Ghana, we have a unique way of having canoes from logs; other places use planks, so it is a knowledge of carving that needs to be documented.’

He further said, ‘We also have traditional ways of net construction; when nets are stolen, traditionally, they have ways of identifying their own because they are uniquely constructed, but for a layman, when you get to the fishing community, you will think that all are the same; we have traditionally woven nets, and every fisherman has a unique way they do theirs.’

According to him, there are places that fishermen have identified as spawning grounds that need to be
properly captured to inform fisheries management.

‘What is even more important is that in those days, there were traditional norms and other forms of cultural practices that, when they followed, they called on the belief system, the sea god, to provide them with a bumper harvest. And they believe it is workable; we need to document them to appreciate and understand them,’ he emphasised.

Mr. Yamoah further recalled that in the olden days, there were times that the traditional leaders would not allow fishers to go to sea at certain seasons based on certain signals they had picked up by reading the stars or observing certain environmental happenings and had various reasons, including the sea being envisioned to be rough or if a disaster would occur.

‘There are traditional fishing methods that need to be captured and are unique to Ghana; we can even use them to promote tourism or share them with the global community for some recognition,’ he indicated.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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