Daily Heritage July 18

Quake Edition 112.qxp_Layout 1 7/17/17 8:53 PM Page 6
Health
tips on
cholesterol
• Limit intake of foods full
of saturated fats
Foods with a lot of saturated fat
include butter, fatty flesh like red
meat, full-fat and low-fat dairy products,
palm oil, and coconut oil. If you
see partially hydrogenated fat in the
ingredient list of a food label, that
food has trans fats. Top sources of dietary
cholesterol include egg yolks,
organ meats, and shellfish.
• Eat more fiber-rich foods
Foods naturally rich in soluble
fibre have proven particularly good at
lowering cholesterol. Excellent
sources include oats, oat bran, barley,
peas, yams, sweet potatoes and other
potatoes, as well as legumes or beans.
• Choose protein-rich
plant foods
Common legumes include lentils,
peas, and beans, such as pinto beans,
red beans, white beans, and soybeans.
They’re full of nutritional riches and
are a very healthy, protein-packed alternative
to meat. Legumes help lower
total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol,
blood sugar, and insulin levels, and
may even lower cancer risk.
• Chill out
Did you know that when you’re
stressed, your cholesterol can go
through the roof? Get lost in a good
book, meet a friend for coffee, or take
to your yoga mat. It’ll help keep your
cholesterol in check.
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
DAILY HERITAGE TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017
&Env.
Filth engulfs major cities in Ghana
BY PHILIP ANTOH
•Rubbish piled in market places and on shoulders of roads
•Rubbish piled in market places and on shoulders of roads
THE CULTURE of
impunity among
Ghanaians in dumping
waste materials
into gutters, shoulders
of roads and
anywhere in the environment and
causing filth everywhere is gradually
causing serious environmental
risk in the country.
Many people have attributed
this canker to insufficient waste
bins and waste tanks doted along
roadsides, market places and vantage
points, worsening the sanitation
problem in major cities.
However, after providing few
bins in major areas in the cities,
Ghanaians have still resorted to
the daily routine of dumping,
throwing or
flipping unwanted
waste
materials out
of cars and
homes onto
the environment.
Parts of the Greater Accra Region
are currently experiencing
poor sanitation on the shoulders
of some major roads which serve
as pedestrian walkways.
Most responsible Ghanaians
are complaining about the fact that
pedestrian walkways have become
refuse-dumping sites, making it
difficult for pedestrians to have
easy walk through town, and
sometimes some of them are
knocked down by vehicles because
they move into the road.
Some environmental
health expert
in the country
have attributed
the poor
treatment of
sanitation issues
to uncultured
habit of
some Ghanaians
adding
that it is appalling
to see
foreigners also
throwing
dregs around
because they
tend to cultivate
the habit
they came to learn.
Research over the years has
shown that Ghana alone loses over
GH¢420 million annually to sanitation,
a situation that creates diseases
which affects the
gastrointestinal and respiratory
tracts of citizens, resulting in
malaria, cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea,
pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis
and dysentery.
In an interview with the
DAILY HERITAGE, residents
of Kaneshie disclosed that the unavailability
of dustbins is the reason
why most Ghanaians litter
around, adding that the mentality
and behaviour of some Ghanaians
is what is causing dirt on the roads.
According to him, some people
do not know what hygiene is and
others see this as normal practice
and call on the Accra Metropolitan
Assembly (AMA) or the Ghana
Health Service to seek police intervention
to arrest those who disrespect
the bye-laws.
On his part, Mr Samuel Owusu,
security personnel at adb Bank,
said sanitation is becoming better
gradually, adding that because
there is less control on people,
they do what pleases them.
Mr Agbeleseshie revealed that it
is time for the government to employ
people who will inspect the
environment and punish offenders
to serve as a deterrent to others.
A shopkeeper at Dansoman,
Naa Akweley, revealed that when it
rains, people take advantage of the
running water and dump refuse
into them, which ends up causing
flooding and destroying property
because all the gutters are choked.
She called on individuals to be
responsible to dregs they make on
daily basis and discourage people
on the notion that after paying
market tolls, Zoomlion will clean
the market or the environment.
Free health screening exercises for Sunyani residents
FRIENDS OF Health Association
(FOHA), a health-centred non-governmental
organization (NGO), has
conducted separate free healthscreening
exercises for the clergy,
and some residents in the Sunyani
Municipality.
The exercise gave opportunity to
about 71 pastors, including their female
counterparts, to test for their
HIV/AIDS status, body mass index,
sugar level, ear, nose and throat examination,
hypertension and diabetes.
Only one female pastor tested
HIV positive, the Reverend Jefferson
Kwasi Agbotro, the Founder and
Chief Executive Officer of FOHA,
told the Ghana News Agency
(GNA) in an interview on Monday
and added that she had been referred
to a hospital.
In addition, 200 men and women,
according to Rev Agbotro, benefited
• A woman going through health screening
from similar screening exercise, but
added that none of them tested
HIV/AIDS positive.
He said the exercises formed part
of activities to mark the ninth anniversary
of FOHA and were led by
Dr Raf Mens and Dr Maarten Van
Der Ven, medical doctors from the
Netherlands.
Prior to the screening, Dr Gabriel
Gbiel Benarkuu, the Brong-Ahafo
Regional President of the Ghana
Coalition of NGOs in Health, and
Mr Robin Appiah, the Brong-Ahafo
Regional Health Promotion Officer,
took the beneficiaries through
HIV/AIDS education and proper
hygiene.
Rev Agbotro expressed discomfort
about the new HIV infections,
worrying that the 2.7 per cent HIV
prevalence rate in Brong-Ahafo was
unacceptable, recommending that
the campaign against the disease
ought to be intensified in the region.
He said though HIV/AIDS testing
was not compulsory, there was
the need for those who had not
known their status to do so, so that
they could be placed on early medication.
Rev Agbotro said his NGO was
poised to bring healthcare delivery
on the doorstep of the people, and
appealed to NGOs, corporate bodies,
philanthropists and religious organisations
to support its activities.
He added that the anniversary
was being celebrated on the theme
‘Action against HIV/AIDS now’.
FOHA activities lined up include
mass health screening, nutrition talks,
clinical and HIV services. GNA