Story: Victor Kwawukume, Tegbi
The Minister of Health, Major (retd) Courage Quashigah has called for a nation-wide campaign aimed at gearing the mindsets of Ghanaians towards grasping the principles of healthy living and the avoidance of preventable deaths.
According to him, the nation’s dream of attaining a middle-income status by 2015 was attainable if the benefits of good health could be exploited towards that goal.
“If we can prevent diseases and accidents, then we will have a longer, healthier life and save money towards development”, he stressed.
Major (retd) Quashigah was speaking at the opening ceremony of a five-day training for 60 strategically selected persons in the Keta District of the Volta Region who are being trained as agents of change in the campaign to conscientise the people of the district on regenerative health.
He bemoaned that a greater chunk of the nation’s wealth was being spent on ill-health adding that there was a need to change this trend if the nation aspired to reach the middle-income status by 2015.
“We have degenerated our health over the years but we can regenerate it by changing our lifestyles and eating right”, he advised.
The Keta District Director of Health Services, Dr. Atsu Seake-Kwao observed that non-communicable diseases and chronic degenerative health factors had led to a rise in premature deaths in the area.
He said that those who died from such causes were mostly in the productive age group of 25-49 years, adding that the role of nutrition could not be ruled out in the effort to curtail such premature deaths.
The District Chief Executive, Mr. Edward Ahiabor called on the trainees to ensure that they assimilate the training for them to become effective agents of change and advocates of good living in the district.
He also appealed for government to take a critical look at the Horticultural sector since under the new paradigm of regenerative health, farmers in this sector would be expected to step-up the production of vegetables and fruits for consumption.
Mr. Ahiabor called on stakeholders in the district to enforce laws on sanitation and also organise frequent clean-up exercises in order to avoid the outbreak of diseases.
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