Ghana needs renewed mindset on disability-VOICE Ghana

Ho, Dec. 05, - Mr Francis Ansong, the Executive Director of VOICE Ghana, a disability focused non-governmental organization has said Ghana needs a renewal of mindset to promote social inclusion of persons with disabilities.

    

He said though the country had chalked some successes in promoting the right of persons with disability, much more was left to be done, including political will in “fostering transformation towards sustainable and resilient society.”

    

Mr Ansong said this in a statement to commemorate this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDD), which fell on Sunday, December 03.

    

The Day was on the theme, “Transforming towards sustainable and resilient society for all.”

    

He said it was time the nation reflected on its “policies and processes” to know if they were inclusive enough not to leave anyone behind and underscored the need to have social inclusion at the heart of central and local government.

     

Mr Ansong appreciated the support of Ford Foundation, Open Society Initiative for West Africa, STAR-Ghana, Disability Rights Fund, ULOBA, JICA and Bezev towards social inclusion and disability rights campaign.

GNA

Make hand washing with soap a habit - Coordinator

Tamale, Dec. 05, - Mr Abdul-Kahard Abdulai, Programme Coordinator for integrated Action for Community Development (INTAGRAD) has advised the public to make hand washing with soap a regular habit to avoid contracting communicable diseases such as diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections.

    

Mr Abudulai who said this on Monday during the Tamale Urban Sanitation project funded by the Netherlands Embassy through UNICEF and implemented by INTAGRAD the theme: “Our hands, our future” said it was part of activities to mark the Global Hand washing Day Celebration.

    

Mr Abdulai said the Global Hand washing Day is an annual global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of hand washing with soap as an easy, effective and affordable way to prevent diseases.

    

He said pneumonia had been the number one cause of mortality among children under five years, killing an estimated 1.8 million children per year saying, “Diarrhoea and pneumonia together account for almost 3.5 million child deaths annually worldwide”.

   

He said the purpose of the project was to raise awareness on the benefits of hand washing with soap, which is to access and evaluate to reduce the cases of diarrhoea by 30 per cent and respiratory infections by 21 per cent in children under the age of five.

GNA