February 21

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News
DAILY HERITAGE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
43% of Ghanaian
adults obese or
overweight
BY KWABIA OWUSU-MENSAH-GNA
FORTY-THREE PER CENT of
Ghanaian adults are either
overweight or obese, a joint study
conducted by two universities –
Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology (KNUST)
and the University of Western Cape
in South Africa, has concluded.
It said women were found to have
the highest prevalence rate and the
condition was also common among
school-age children.
According to the findings, the
situation in the urban areas was twice
that of the rural communities.
Dr Reginald A. Annan, Senior
Lecturer at Department of
Biochemistry of the KNUST and
Principal Investigator on the project,
announced this at a collaborative
workshop on researching obesogenic
food environment, its drivers and
potential policy levels in Ghana and
South Africa, held in Kumasi.
The International Development
Research Centre (IDRC) provided
funding for the study, the goal of
which was to identify the links
between dietary patterns, food
environment, value chains and policy
in the two countries.
He said changes in the food
environment were the main factor
contributing to the alarming rate in
obesity, hypertension and diabetes.
He indicated that changes in
dietary practices, less physical activity,
increasing calories were the drivers of
these diseases.
Dr Annan underlined the need for
concerted effort by all to address the
problem.
Emeritus Professor David Sanders
of the Western Cape University, said
non-communicable diseases were
responsible for about 70 per cent
annual global deaths, majority of
them people, between the ages of 30
and 69 years.
He pointed out that nutrition was
a key social intervention for good
health, adding that, 45 per cent of
global neonatal deaths were
associated with malnutrition.
Prof Sanders said food security
was not only about the availability of
enough food, but nutritious and safer
food as well.
Mr Oji Samuel Oti, Senior
Programmes Specialist of IDRC said
the task was to help modify food
systems to ensure the production of
safer food in order to reduce the
spread of non-communicable
diseases.
The International
Development
Research Centre
(IDRC) provided
funding for the
study, the goal of
which was to
identify the links
between dietary
patterns, food
environment, value
chains and policy
in the two
countries.
Emeritus Professor David Sanders of the
Western Cape University, said non-communicable
diseases were responsible for about 70 per cent
annual global deaths, majority of them people,
between the ages of 30 and 69 years.
EIB’s Kwame Adinkra supports
Kumasi Children’s Village
BY ISAAC BEDIAKO
HOST OF Excellence in
Broadcasting Network’s (EIB’s)
Abusua FM Morning Show, Mr
Kwame Adinkra has donated goods
worth thousands of Ghana Cedis to
the Kumasi SOS Children’s Village.
The donation, according to Mr
Adinkra, who is also the Chief
Executive Officer of Apotiti Consult
based in the Ashanti Region, was part
of his commitment towards putting
smiles on the faces of the poor
children in the Village.
The items donated to the inmates
of the village included 10 bags of rice,
two bags of maize, toiletries, two
cartons of milk, boxes of washing
power, a Polytank which takes 10,000
gallons of water and a cash amount of
2,000 Ghana Cedis.
Addressing the media after the
donation, the King Morning Show
host in Kumasi called on Ghanaians to
support the running of various
orphanages in the country.
“We decided to visit the village and
express our love and compassion to
the under privileged. This SOS
Children Village is faced with a lot of
BY KOJO ANSAH
AROCHA GHANA, an
environmental organisation, together
with its partners such as USAID,
United States Embassy and Wildlife
Division of the Forestry Commission
of Ghana on Saturday February 17,
2018 marked World Pangolins Day in
the Eastern Region.
Commemoration of the day took
place at Nsutem and Bonsu stretch
of the Accra to Kumasi Highway
simultaneously to create awareness on
the importance of Pangolins and the
need for their conservation.
The organisers offered
opportunity to pupils from various
schools to actively participate in the
awareness exercise.
The Eastern Regional Manager of
AROCHA Ghana, Mr Emmanuel
Ackom said out of the eight species
of pangolins worldwide, three could
be found in Ghana but endangered
now due to poaching and
unsustainable harvesting, as well as
destruction of forest reserves.
He said pangolins are very
•Kwame Adinkra (in white), making a presentation to the Children’s Village
AROCHA, USAID mark World Pangolins Day
important because they burrow the
soil which improves nutrient quality
of the soil and aids decomposition.
Additionally, they provide a healthy
substitute for flush vegetation to
•The occasion was used to raise awareness on Pangolins
grow.
Mr Ackom therefore called for
intensified sensitisation and
enforcement to protect the
endangered pangolins in Ghana.
challenges; therefore it’s important
to support them with the little that
we have. As you can see this village
looks very beautiful with nice
structures but trust me, they are
faced with a lot of challenges on
day-to-day running of the village,
therefore I will like to call on
cooperate organisations to come to
the aid of the village,’’ he stressed.
Management of the facility who
were amazed by the donation
commended Mr Adinkra for
putting smiles on the faces of the
children in the village on the
occasion of Valentine’s Day.
“We were aware of Kwame’s
coming to the home, but we least
expected a lot of goodies from
him. We are very grateful to him
and all the people who supported
him and us in this way. When you
come to our village you will think
we don’t lack anything, but all the
beautiful things you see here are all
donated by individuals and
corporate organisations.
“Ours is to take good care of
the facilities. I will want to use this
opportunity to invite cooperate
Ghana to come to our aid and
support the daily up keep of the
village,’’ he appealed.
He expressed worry that there is
illegal harvesting of wild animals
including pangolins in the Atiwa
Forest Reserve which are paraded for
sale at the Atiwa stretch of the Accra
to Kumasi Highway in the full glare
of law enforcement agencies.
He said this was emboldening
hunters and poachers, as well as
traders to illegally engage in wildlife
business in the country.
Wildlife Division to arrest culprits
The Wildlife Division of the
Forestry Commission, however,
assured that it would clamp down on
wildlife traffickers, particularly
traffickers of pangolins.
Mr Joseph Yaw Oppong, Public
Relations Manager of the Wildlife
Division of Ghana said it was
liaising with other law enforcement
agencies to arrest illegal hunters and
poachers depleting wildlife resources
including endangered pangolin
species in the country.
Govt must
regulate
one-man church
operation in
Ghana - Odike
BY ISAAC BEDIAKO
LEADER AND founder of
the United Progressive Party
(UPP), Mr Akwasi Addai, also
known as ‘Odike’ wants
government to redraw licenses
of one-man churches across
the country and re-register
them to operate under strict
government supervision which
should include payment of
taxes since their operations are
purely business.
According to the Kumasibased
businessman cum
politician, the founders of
churches through false
teachings are amassing wealth
at the expense of the
vulnerable in their
congregations.
“In Ghana churches are
springing up like mushrooms;
this is because a lot of people
believe through church
operations they can amass
wealth. I believe that most
teachings from some of the
one-man churches are not in
consonance with the scriptures;
therefore I think the time has
come for the government to
crack the whip on them to
ensure there’s sanity in the way
some one-man churches
operate in the country,’’ he
said.
“This is my advice to the
government; no church should
be registered without initial
membership of hundred. This
I think will totally check oneman
church business in the
country to promote
accountability in churches,’’ he
stressed.
Again, he suggested that
churches should be formed to
have a national character to
control decency just like the
political parties.
“I think the churches
should have a national
character just like the political
parties, meaning they should
have representatives across the
10 regions of the country. The
beliefs of the church should
also be stated in written form
to ensure checks and balances
in their operations before their
licences are released to them,’’
he told ULTIMATE FM’S
Isaac Bediako.
•Mr Akwasi Addai, also known as ‘Odike’