HEALTH IN GHANAIAN COMMUNITIES (NORTH-DAYI)

Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the cells of the cervix to the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina. Another school of thought also defined  cervical cancer  as when the cells of the cervix grow abnormally and invade other tissues and organs of the body. Women of all ages  are at risk of cervical cancer.  In the United States, an estimated  13,000 women were diagnosed  with invasive cervical cancer in 2016 and more than  4,000 women will die as a result of this diagnosis. This vital information was part of a document published by the National Foundation for Cancer Research (USA) in the year 2018. Signs and Symptoms Early-stage cervical cancer generally produces no signs or symptoms. Signs and symptoms of more-advanced cervical cancer include: abnormal bleeding, such as bleeding between menstrual periods, after sex, after a pelvic exam, or after menopause discharge that’s unusua...

Leadership is the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization. Leadership involves making a sound -- and sometimes difficult -- decisions, creating and articulating a clear vision, establishing achievable goals and providing followers with the knowledge and tools necessary to achieve those goals. This young man has shown high standards of leadership skills from one district to another. It was not that different from what he has accomplished in North-Dayi. There are leaders and there are leaders. He is a leader of leaders, that is what most nurses think about him in North-Dayi. His unit, Disease Control Unit (DCU) North-Dayi has done very well in terms of Public Health under his leadership. As an effective leader, he possesses the following characteristics: self-confidence, strong communication and management skills, creative and innovative thinking, perseverance in the face of failure, willingn...

T he blueprints of IFA  Quiz Competition (IQC) emerged from North-Dayi on 30th November 2018, with two Junior High Schools taking part in it. It is the first time ever a quiz competition is organised in Ghana in which the area of study or the whole quiz session is based solely on  Girls Iron-folate Tablet supplementation ( GIFTS) .  As an innovative way to get the students and community members actively involved in the GIFTS programme, the Nutrition/Diet Therapy Unit (North-Dayi) with health facilities involvement as well as collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (North-Dayi) took this bold initiative to organize the IQC. A  quiz  is a form of  game  or  mind sport , in which the players (as individuals or in teams) attempt to answer questions correctly. The IQC was specially designed to test students' knowledge of GIFTS (IFA). Present at the event are officials from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) a...

"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...