Menstrual Hygiene Day: It’s Time For Action [OPINION]

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May 28, 2020

BY: Pearl Ama Akordor | OPINION |

‘It’s Time for Action’ is the theme for this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day, 28th May. Many girls and women across the world do not have access to good sanitary wear during that time of the month.

Most of them still resort to the traditional way of using old cloths and toilet rolls during their Menstrual period. This poses a serious health implication to them. It is undeniable fact that sanitary products are expensive and many females can’t afford due to the socio- economic factors in especially developing countries. It is said that about one (1) in every ten (10) girls miss school during their menstrual period.

About Menstrual Hygiene Day

It is an annual awareness day on May 28 to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management. It was initiated by the German-based NGO WASH United in 2014 and aims to benefit women and girls worldwide. The 28th was selected to acknowledge that 28 days is the average length of the menstrual cycle.

This again culminates to about 20% annually. This means that they lose contact hours and this affects them psychologically and academically. Notwithstanding the stigma that still comes with menstruation, many females will rather prefer to isolate themselves for fear of being mocked than be among their peers.

It’s time for action; it’s time for us to listen to the voice of the young adolescent girl who is in the village and can’t even afford a three square meal a day.

It’s time for action to fight for no tax on sanitary products in our country.

It’s time for action for civil society groups to advocate for the female child.

As we mark, Menstrual Hygiene day today, may we be reminded that menstruation is not a choice like sex. Menstruation is biological which every female must experience.

Let us also be reminded that we can support each other and help the girl child enjoy that time of the month.

It’s time for action. No more rhetoric.

Source: Pearl Ama Akordor (Mrs)

Founder: Girl Today Woman Tomorrow

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Volta’s COVID-19 Cases Hit Almost 60, With 32 Recoveries [Infograph]

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Volta Online

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May 27, 2020

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BY: Lambert Atsivor | voltaonlinegh.com |

The Volta region has confirmed 15 more COVID-19 cases in the last one week, pushing up the regional tally to 59 as at the close of Tuesday, May 26, 2020.

Data from the Public Health Unit of the Regional Health Directorate copied Volta Online revealed that, Ho municipality had the biggest jump in cases, moving from seven (7) to fifteen (15) cases over the period.

Two districts have confirmed their first set of cases, bringing the number of districts with the pandemic to eight (8) out of the 18 districts and municipalities in the region.

They were Central Tongu with two cases and South Tongu with one case. Volta Online gathered the South Tongu case was recorded at the District Hospital at Sogakope, leading to the temporary closure of the Emergency and Female wards of the facility for fumigation, while the patient has been transferred to the Regional Treatment Centre in Ho.

Click on the Keys on the chart to see the corresponding figures

Recoveries

Nonetheless, the region has recorded four (4) new recoveries, bringing the total number of recoveries to 32, with two deaths and 25 active cases, presently.

Per the break down, the single case recorded in the Agotime-Ziope district has recovered, while one other has also recovered in the Ho municipality and two recoveries in Hohoe municipality.

Meanwhile, the national case count is now 7,117 with 2,317 recoveries and 34 deaths.

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com

#COVID-19: Volta Records Three More Cases; Two Confirmed At Ho Municipal Hospital

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Volta Online

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May 22, 2020

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BY: Lambert Atsivor | Voltaonlinegh.com |

The Volta region has confirmed three more COVID-19 cases, bringing the regional tally to 44 as at May 20, 2020.

The three, according to updates from the Ghana Health Service COVID-19 portal, include one case from the Ketu South municipality and two cases in the Ho municipality.

Available information to Volta Online however revealed that, the Ho cases were recorded at the Ho Municipal Hospital. The affected persons were a staff of the facility and a patient, a source at the hospital told Volta Online.

Also Read: Ho Teaching Hospital Staff Tests COVID-19 Positive, As Volta’s Case Count Rises To 41

As a result, the hospital management has temporarily shut down the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Unit and the Out Patient Department (OPD), where the cases were reportedly recorded for disinfection, Volta Online has gathered, while about 33 staff, including 16 at the A & E as well as 17 from the OPD have been placed under mandatory quarantine for the next 14 days as part of precautionary measures to contain further spread of the virus in the facility.

The shutdown OPD Section

Their samples have also been taken to the University of Health and Allied Sciences laboratory for testing.

Active Cases

Meanwhile, the region’s active COVID-19 case count now stands at 14, as result of the 28 recoveries and two deaths recorded in the past weeks.

Click on the Keys on the chart to see the corresponding figures

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com

Gov’t Grants ‘Special Permit’ To Ghanaian Deportees From Kuwait

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Volta Online

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May 22, 2020

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Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah

BY: News Desk | Voltaonlinegh.com |

Government has granted a special permit to some 245 Ghanaians who are due for deportation from Kuwait, to be admitted into the country.

This follows a request to the Ghanaian authorities from the Kuwaiti government of their intended action to return the Ghanaian nationals found to be staying illegally in the Western Asia country.

The minister for information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah at a press briefing on Friday in Accra, said the deportees were due to arrive in Accra on Saturday 23rd May 2020, hence the decision by government to allow them into country under a special dispensation, even as the country’s ports of entry remained close to human traffic as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.

According to him, “the Government of Kuwait has informed the Government of Ghana, of an intention to deport some 245 Ghanaians who are currently in the Kuwait illegally.

“The Government of Kuwait has further requested permission from the Government of Ghana to deport the said persons to Ghana on Saturday May 23, 2020. The Government of Ghana has subsequently granted a special permit for the admission of the said deportees to Ghana. This deportation is to be executed via a special charter arrangement at the cost of the Kuwaiti Government” he said.

The deportation of these persons comes at a time when Ghana has all it entry points closed as part of measures to stop the importation of the novel coronavirus in the country.

Mr. Nkrumah added that the Government of Kuwait will bear the cost for the deportees who will be arriving on chartered flight.

Mandatory Quarantine of Deportees

The information minister however explained that arrangement have been made to mandatorily quarantine these 245 persons upon arrival into the country and subsequently test them for COVID-19 with the Nation Security Secretariat working in collaboration with the Military, Immigration and Police to ensure that the mandatory quarantine is adequately enforced.

“The deportees will be mandatorily quarantined and tested for covid-19 immediately upon arrival into the Ghana. Deportees who test positive will be supported with treatment. Deportees who test positive will remain in quarantine for a second test at the end of the 14 day quarantine period.

“In addition to the aforementioned covid-19 measures, the deportees will generally be received and handled in line with immigration regulations for all deportees. That is they will be in the custody of the state for preliminary investigations on the circumstances of their illegal stay in Kuwait. Upon completion of the investigations, a case by case determination will be made on the status and further handling of each deportee in accordance with law” he said.

He assured Ghanaians that government is working assiduously to “ensure the health of the general population” and that this latest development will not in any way erode the gains chalked by government so far towards the fight against the virus in the country.

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com

Ho Teaching Hospital Staff Tests COVID-19 Positive, As Volta’s Case Count Rises To 41

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Volta Online

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May 19, 2020

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BY: Lambert Atsivor |voltaonlinegh.com |

A female staff of the Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH) has tested positive to the Corona virus pandemic, forcing a temporarily shutdown of the hospital’s main surgical theatre, where she works.

According to a Volta Online source, the nurse took ill at work last Thursday and was attended to at the Out Patients Department, with her sample later taken for testing at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, where it came out positive over the weekend.

She was however said not to be part of some 39 staff who have been quarantined last week following their exposure to a patient who tested positive to the virus and died few days later.

Mr. Amos Jah, the Public Relations officer of the hospital confirmed the news to Volta Online in the following text quotes;

"Yes. A theatre nurse tested positive for COVID-19 through General Surveillance after a bout of flu and slight sore throat. The place [theatre] was temporarily shut down for disinfection. Normal duties will resume from tomorrow [Tuesday]."

He added that, “Three other colleagues she works with are in self-quarantine at the moment [and] she’s responding to treatment.”

Nonetheless, some staff of theatre unit remained jittery about the situation, as they called for the suspension of elective surgeries in order to contain a possible spread of the virus among them and their patients.

Case Count now 41, with 28 Recoveries

Meanwhile, the Volta region’s COVID-19 case count has moved from 34 to 41 as a result of some new confirmed cases.

According to Dr. Kwesi Djokoto, Deputy Regional Director incharge of Public Health, the new cases include that of the Teaching Hospital, three in the Hohoe municipality, one each in Akatsi South district, Ketu South and Kpando municipalities.

Click on the Keys on the chart to see the corresponding figures

Fatalities

The Kpando case, involving a middle aged man has however become the second COVID-19 fatality on the region, after the first one involving a 60-year old woman, was recorded at the Treatment centre in Ho last week.

Recoveries

Nonetheless, some 28 persons have fully recovered from the virus as at May 15, 2020, leaving the current active cases in the region at 11.

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com

COVID-19: Volta Records First Casualty, 28 Recoveries

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Volta Online

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May 16, 2020

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BY: Lambert Atsivor | Voltaonlinegh.com |

The Volta region has recorded its first COVID-19 fatality involving a 60-year old woman, who was on admission at the Regional treatment centre in Ho.

According to information available to Volta Online, the deceased who had an underlying health condition, was rushed early this week to the Ho Teaching hospital with difficulty in breathing, fever for three days and reduced level of consciousness. She was said to have returned from Accra two weeks ago.

The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, who confirmed the death to the Ghana News Agency in Ho, said the deceased was a known diabetic who had suffered a Cerebro-Vascular Accident (CVA) a few years ago.

She was noticed to have been progressively getting weak prior to her presentation at the Teaching Hospital and passed on after five days on admission at the Regional COVID -19 Centre on May 14, 2020 at 6:15pm, the GNA reported.

39 Quarantined

As a result of their exposure to the deceased, some 39 health workers at the Ho Teaching Hospital have been put under quarantine. They include 10 doctors, 28 nurses and an orderly.

Their samples have also been taken for testing, while the hospital’s Emergency Unit was shut down for two days for disinfection.

Recoveries

Meanwhile, the region has recorded 19 more recoveries in addition to the previous nine, bringing the total number of recoveries to 28 out of 34 confirmed cases. Ketu South municipality has the witnessed the biggest recoveries with all its 21 confirmed cases recording a 100 per cent recovery.

Agotime-Ziope district has also joined the list of districts with confirmed COVID-19 cases, registering one case.

Click on the Keys on the chart to see the corresponding figures

Source: www.Voltaonlinegh.com

Volta Hoteliers Support UHAS COVID-19 Testing centre

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Volta Online

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May 14, 2020

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BY: Albert Kuzor | Voltaonlinegh.com |

The Volta Regional branch of the Ghana Hotels Association under the auspices of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in Ho has donated items worth thousands of cedis to aid the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Coronavirus Sample Testing laboratory.

The items which included double door refrigerator, a floor stand air conditioner, two wall-mounted air conditioner, veronica buckets, tissues, surgical gloves, surgical face masks, hand sanitizer, liquid soaps, and epindorf tubes, among other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), were presented to the management of the University on Wednesday, 13 May, 2020.

The Testing Centre, opened for Volta and Oti regions, is a joint initiative of the university, the Volta Regional Health Directorate and the Ho Teaching Hospital as part of the government’s objective of enhanced testing.

Speaking to the Media after the donation, the Regional Chairman of the Ghana Hotels Association, Mac Hotor, said the pandemic has affected the hotel industry hence the need to support the government to fight against the COVID-19 in order for business to return to normalcy.

“Hotel industry is into food, accommodation, drinks but none of these areas are working out, because of this pandemic everybody is afraid to come to the facility that is why the industry is suffering… We can't leave everything to the government like that, that is why we're here today to support".

He revealed that, some workers in the hotel industry in the region have been layoff due to the pandemic and appealed to the government to give further support to help sustain the industry.

Mr. Alexander Kwame Nketia, Volta Regional Director of GTA, noted that, the closure of borders has largely affected the industry but domestic tourism need to be embrace to keep business running without foreign affairs.

"We think that we should now begin to look at how we can improve upon domestic tourism so that citizens within the country who knows what is on the ground will feel okay to travel around because we are not expecting the various countries to open their borders immediately,” he said.

On his part, the Head of Biomedical Sciences who doubles as the Head of the Laboratory, Dr. Kwabena O. Duedu said the items have come at the right time that they need them to run the lab. He revealed that, since the laboratory started testing on April 27, 2020, some 1,400 samples were tested out of which five were positive of COVID-19.

He admonished Ghanaians to adhere to the various protocols because the virus is real.

Also present at the ceremony were the Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Letsa and Professor John Gyapong, UHAS Vice Chancellor.

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com

NGO Trains Community On Climate Change Impact Mitigation Activities

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Volta Online

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May 13, 2020

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BY: Albert Kuzor | Voltaonlinegh.com |

Learning Helping Living (LHL), a non-profit organisation based in the Ho Municipality has with support from the French Embassy in Ghana trained some women and community leaders on climate change and its impact mitigation measures.

At a day’s forum held in Tanyigbe Etoe in the Ho municipality, on Tuesday 12 May, 2020, the participants were schooled on forest degradation and reservation, bee farming and tree planting, aimed to preserving biodiversity and improving ecotourism in the Volta region.

It was in the theme, “Integrated project to restore the forest cover, preserve medical plants and conserve biodiversity in the Volta region, restore land promote eco-tourism.”

The Plantation Manager at the Volta/Oti Forestry Commission, Nkwanta Sector, Mr. Pious Kodzo Adzigbli, who facilitated training, bemoaned how human influences such as, bush fires, hunting and unauthorised cutting down of trees has over the years contributed to Ghana’s forest degradation and poor climate hence communities which are found of such canker must be educated.

‘Trees are necessary component of our life therefore we must protect them,” he stated, adding that, though plantation was very expensive to undertake, it is a necessary venture to do now in order to improve the climatic system.

 ‘When we plant trees, let us protect it, let us not go in and harvest it, let us not burn it, let's allow the animals to grow in it, they become game reserves, forest attractions,  people go there to see animals and pay money for the community.’

He therefore encouraged community members to venture into plantation farming as it has enormous economic benefit in addition to protecting the environment.

‘There are various advantages when you have plantation in your area… Demarcate the land use part for tree plantation and then use part for crop plantation and eventually, you will not lose it becomes your social security benefit in your old age.’

The Projects Coordinator, William said 50 persons will be selected from Tanyigbe, Nyive, Tokokoe and Atikpui which are all farming communities within the Municipality for the training and women beneficiaries will be supported with an amount of Ghc500.00 micro credit.

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com

Court Orders Sale of West FM Properties In Ho

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Volta Online

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May 8, 2020

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By: News Desk | Voltaonlinegh.com |

The Ho District court has issued an order for the sale of properties belonging to West FM Company Limited, a private commercial radio station operating in the Volta Regional capital, Ho.

This follows a suit filed against the station by a former employee, Komla Addo for their failure to settle his unpaid salaries, after he left their employment in December 2018, Volta Online has gathered.

About West FM

West 97.5FM commenced operations in the last quarter of 2018 as a private commercial radio station in Ho.

Though it is unclear the amount involved, the order which was posted at the station’s premises on Friday, May 8, 2020, and sighted by Volta Online, listed all movable and immovable properties belonging to the station, including transmitters, mast, computers, photocopiers, furniture, among others to be sold to defray the debt.

The Court Order posted On the station’s Secretarial shop

Also attached, was a secretarial shop with its contents, owned by the station, as well as, ‘any other assets of the defendant/debtor found anywhere.’

Frontage of the station

As a result, the former employee together with a Court bailiff on Friday caused the closure of the station in fulfilment of the order, which was issued as far back as April 23, 2019 by His worship, Robert Addo, presiding Judge of the Ho District court.

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com

NB: No part of this publication should be reproduced anywhere without the Express permission of the Editor. Contact 0246411634 for enquiries.

Tragic: Fire Consumes Citi News Reporter’s Car in Ho [VIDEO]

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Volta Online

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May 6, 2020

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News Desk | Voltaonlinegh.com |

Information reaching Volta Online indicates that, the Correspondent for CitiFM/TV in the Volta Region, Benjamin Aklama has lost his saloon car in a fire incident Tuesday night.

The tragic incident which occurred at about 11:30pm saw the 2018 registered KIA Morning car totally consumed by the inferno in a matter of minutes in front of his residence in Ho.

B.K Aklama

Confirming the incident to Volta Online, Mr. Aklama, who is also the 2019 GJA-Volta Journalist of the Year said, he returned from an assignment outside Ho the previous night with the vehicle and was indoor when he began to smell a burning material from his room but thought it was from a neighbour who was earlier burning some plastic waste outside.

the burnt car

It was later that he saw the car in the compound engulfed in billow of smoke on his way to the kitchen, there and then he called the Fire Service, who got to the scene within ten minutes, by which time, the vehicle was burnt.

Nonetheless, the fire personnel managed to douse the fire and also safeguard the apartment from the inferno, as portions of the ceiling was razed down by the intense smoke.

The officials have since commenced a probe to ascertain the actual cause of the fire.

Watch the fire Incident Video Below

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com