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By Eunice Hilda Ampomah, RNG
Accra, July 10, GNA – Ghana Tuesday
joined the subregion to commemorate the West African Health Organization
(WAHO) in Accra, to promote regional integration through health and
share the activities, projects and challenges of the Organization with the subregion.
The mandate of WAHO is to ensure the highest
possible standard and protection of the health of people in the region through the
harmonization of the policies of the Member States, pooling of resources and
cooperation with each other for a collective and strategic fight against
health problems in the subregion.
Professor Stanley Okolo, Director
General of the Ministry of Health, said that the health landscape in West Africa was
currently mixed and had a healthier population living longer in 2019 than
in 1987.
He said that immunization rates of children were
also high, all countries being polio-free. However, the subregion
recurrent epidemics such as Lbada fever, yellow fever and meningitis.
Too many women in the sub-region
died during childbirth, while many children did not live beyond their age
fifth birthday, he said, adding that malaria had been eliminated in several
parts of the world but was prevalent in the area, being responsible for about
Four in five deaths among children under five.
Worldwide, eleven countries accounted for over 80
per cent of malaria cases with India and 10 African countries, of which five
were in West Africa, said Professor Okolo.
«Obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases
and strokes are the leading causes of death in West Africa, "he added.
Prof Okolo said that the fact that the sub-region
80% of the medicine he needed was an appeal to the Member States to
prioritize the provision of affordable and high quality medicines across the
region, preferably through regional manufacturing, which would also contribute to
to industrialization and employment.
WAHO, he said, therefore had every interest in helping
countries in the subregion to move from control to the elimination of malaria,
agree on a common registration of medicines for the 15 countries in order to attract the
pharmaceutical manufacturing and operationalization of human capital
strategy.
"We will continue to engage not only our
parliamentarians, but also those of Mauritania and Chad on a project launched in
2017 to ensure adequate funding for health, demographic dividend and population
development policies of our countries, "he said.
Mr. Alexander Gyedu Yeboah, Chief of the
Information Technologies for Health Training Institutions Reporting to the Ministry of Health
Health, said as part of the activities to achieve the mission of WAHO,
Stakeholders in the subregion have been trained in Abuja on how to
collect data on all health training institutions in a database.
He said the reason was to allow everyone
countries to easily access health data in all countries
knowledge of the facilities and programs available to them that could be exploited
necessary.
He said that the process had been undertaken because some
West African countries have been able to train health professionals, while others have
lack of health professionals.
Mr. Yeboah explained that it was therefore
their goal of letting the countries concerned support each other with health
professionals, programs and training in health, and resources.
Give an example, he said, with an epidemic
disease in a country, the database would allow the country to know
where he could seek professional or logistical support.
GNA
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