HEALTH IN GHANAIAN COMMUNITIES (NORTH-DAYI)

"Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es." [Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are]. In an essay titled  Concerning Spiritualism and  Materialism , 1863/4, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach wrote:   "Der Mensch ist, was er ißt." That translates into English as 'man is what he eats'. This fact has not changed yet, but rather solidly holds now and future till eternity. This fact has not changed in nutrition activities in Gblenkor CHPS Zone, hence North-Dayi. Gblenkor CHPS Zone has been one of the CHPS zones in North-Dayi district that continue to exhibit great skills in nutrition activities during their Child Welfare Clinics (CWC). Personally as a health staff, when I heard about this activity and saw the pictures, I was really impressed with the service delivery from the health facility staffs to nursing mothers during CWC session. The development of children under five (5) years is ver...

Do you know the nutritional value of "Akukor"? The Yellow Mombin is a fruit well known and consumed worldwide but has different names around the world.  The true yellow mombin,  S. mombin  L. (syn.  S. lutea  L.) is most often called hog plum in the Caribbean Islands. In Jamaica, it is also known as Spanish plum, or gully plum. The fruit, which is very common among households in North-Dayi is "AKUKOR" . In North-Dayi, the tree is common but less is known about its nutritional value or its economic values. It is very common and I believe it can be exported from North-Dayi in commercial quantities to other countries, big firms or industries for processing. The small fruit as we normally see contains the following nutrients: Food Value Per 100 g of Edible Portion* Calories 21.8-48.1 Moisture 72.8-88.53 g Protein 1.28-1.38 g Fat 0.1-0.56 g Fibre 1.16-1.18 g Carbohydrates 8.70-10.0 g Ash 0.65-0.66 g Calcium 31.4 mg Iron 2.8 mg ...

WHAT IS TEENAGE PREGNANCY? UNICEF defined it as a teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant. The term in everyday speech usually refers to girls who have not reached legal adulthood, which varies across the world, who become pregnant. Another school of thought also defined it as any female individual who is pregnant before 20 years of age, whether married or not married. THE CURRENT SITUATION · Half of the world’s population are under 25. Some 1.8 billion are aged 10-25, history’s largest generation of adolescents, and about 85% live in the developing world. · Most people become sexually active before their 20th birthday. · 49% of girls in the least developed countries marry before they turn 18. · 10% – 40% of young unmarried girls have had an unintended pregnancy according to community studies. · Some 14 million children worldwide are born every year to young married and unmarried women aged 15 to 19. North-Dayi was the leading di...

From an article published by United Nations International Children’s Fund, Ghana, (UNICEF Ghana), ‘Delayed breastfeeding increases the risk of newborn deaths by up to 80%’. More so, mixed feeding within the first six months of life also increases the risk of newborn deaths. Meanwhile, ‘children that are exclusively breastfed are 14 times likely to survive the first six months of life than the non-breastfed children’. It is an issue of  national interest and public health concern, therefore I deemed it necessary to blog on this topic. Exclusive breastfeeding  means feeding of a baby solely on human breast milk day and night for the first six (6) months of life without adding any other food or water, except prescribed medication. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING TO THE CHILD? The first breast milk (colostrum) gives the child immunity. The colostrum contains antibodies which protect the newborn from infections of the throat, lungs, and intesti...

More than 140 million children are at greater risk of illness, hearing loss, blindness and even death globally if urgent action is not taken to provide them with life-saving vitamin A supplements, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned. It is not only a public health concern to Ghana but a global concern as well, and I deemed it necessary to blog on this for information to reach the masses. WHAT IS VITAMIN A? Vitamin A is a group of unsaturated nutritional organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, and several provitamins A carotenoids (most notable beta-carotene). Vitamin A has multiple functions: it is important for growth and development, for the maintenance of the immune system and good vision. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS THAT WE GAIN FROM VITAMIN A? 1. Protects Eye Health One of the most well-known benefits of vitamin A is its ability to boost vision and keep your eyes healthy. This is because it is a critical component of...

"IS IT FEASIBLE FOR GIFTS OR IFA TO SURVIVE THE DOUBLE TRACK EDUCATION SYSTEM?''.   The vision of the Government of Ghana to implement the new system in second cycle education came into effect with the admission of new Senior High School (SHS) students. The implementation of the double track system begins in some 400 Senior High Schools. The major question remains, " how are we going to run the GIFTS in the double track system?" in the minds of health workers and other organizations involved. Girls Iron Folate Tablet Supplementation (GIFTS) , often referred to as Iron Folate Acid (IFA) , is an initiative of  United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Government of Ghana (GOG) t o reduce the extremely alarming high rate of anaemia among adolescent girls in Ghana. Of the two million girls aged between 15 and 19 years old in Ghana, around one million are anaemic. Being anaemic can cause dizziness, tiredness, and headac...