SIAKON MEDIA

He said that "Children are not small adults and the safety and suitability of the medicines should not be determined by adult size", according to the International Paediatric Association. 

Mr. Kyei was speaking at the launch of the Better Medicines for Children's Project, in Accra on Thursday.

He said that in the absence of child-friendly liquid oral formulation, providers and parents some times used fractions of adult dosage forms or crush tablets or add portion of the content of capsules to infant feed.

Mr. Kyei said that "This is unacceptable and providers and guardians should desist form the practice".

The National Drugs Programme and Ministry of Health would assess the current situation of children's medicine in the country with support from the World Health Organisation to improve access to life saving medicines for children, according to the Programme Manager, Mrs Martha Gyansah Lutterodt

The project would improve access to child specific medicines in the sector and their rational use.

It would determine if amoxicillin, zinc, anti malaria and other key medicines for children were available in appropriate dosage forms in health facilities across Ghana and work with health care workers and paediatricians to meet required standards.

The Project would also work with pharmaceutical manufacturers to identify medicines that should be available to treat the major disease in children particularly pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria and promote their availability as well as ensure that national treatment guidelines for the diseases were up to date on the best scientific evidence available.

In a speech read on behalf on his behalf, the Minister of Health, Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor said the Project among other things aimed at reviewing the current level of use of child specific medicines in Ghana, build capacity in evidence-based policy decision making.

He said in response to the reduction of Child mortality as expressed in the Millennium Development Goals (4,5, and 6), Ghana in 2007 developed a child health policy with a goal to reduce it from 111 death per 1000 births in 2006 to 40 death per 1000 live births by 2015.

Dr. Kunbuor said that child specific medicines are those manufactured to suit the age, physical condition and body weight of the child taking it.

He said that the Project must become a reality because children especially neonates differ from adult in their response to medicines.

Dr. Kunbuor said that the Project should focus on appropriate formulation for children in terms of efficacy and their pharmaco-economic context and also concentrate on adverse reaction monitoring among children.

Dr. Susan Hill, a representative from WHO headquarters,  said  the 'make medicine child size' was a global campaign launched in December 2007 and spearheaded by WHO to raise awareness and accelerate action to address the need for improved availability and access to safe child-specific medicines for all children under 12.

One of the challenges in developing medicines for children was the lack of knowledge about the effect certain medicines could have on children, she said, and noted that this was largely because fewer clinical trials were conducted in children than adults.

Dr, Hill called for fixed dose combination and flexible oral dosage medicines and a keen interest in the supply chain to ensure that the right thing was done.

Dr. Daniel Kertesz, WHO Representative in Ghana, said many countries including Ghana were making progress in respect with  the MDGs but still needed to do more in intervention for children because they still die from preventable diseases  such malaria and Diarrhoea.

This, he said, called for availability of medicines in the right dosage, quality and at the right place to help reduce child mortality.  

GNA

Fathers told to be responsible

Ho, June 20, GNA - Reverend James Noble Tulasi, Resident Pastor of Jubilee Christian Centre in Ho on Fathers' Day, urged fathers to rediscover themselves as heads of the family and act responsibly.

He asked them to be hard working so as not to shirk their financial responsibility towards the family.

Rev. Tulasi who was preaching a Fathers' Day sermon at the Church urged fathers to be good examples and leaders at home and in the society.

"We have to demonstrate leadership wherever we found ourselves. Contribute our quota to national development with hard work, and let the world know that we are the heads," Rev. Tulasi urged.

He admonished fathers who use government resources for their personal gains to repent and be accountable.

He exhorted fathers to spend quality time with their families and share their "lives and love with them."

Rev. Tulasi said being a father comes with responsibilities and opportunities and urged fathers to be up to their responsibilities.

He also appealed to mothers and children to support fathers for peace to prevail at home and society at large.

A special communion service was organized for all fathers and men to mark the Day in the Church.

GNA

Time to call nurses to professional order

Complaints about the poor attitudes and rude behavior of Ghanaian nurses though not a new trend, seem to be on the ascendency and affecting the delivery of quality healthcare to patrons of the country's health facilities.

Discussions around the phenomenon unfortunately have always been superficial, without addressing the root causes of such undesirable attitudes and behaviour. Reasonably, one would expect that professions like health and education will attract the brightest and best because of the importance of these two professions to national development, public health and safety.

Sadly though, these two professions seem to attract mediocre students, whose original preferences are academic programmes at the university but compelled to opt for nursing and teaching because they couldn't make the mark to the university. The nursing and teaching professions have failed to attract the most brilliant students because of poor remuneration and conditions of service the professions offer.

The course content, it appears, does not also place emphasis on professional conduct and ethics, and their professional associations appear weak in upholding and demanding the highest standard of their members.

The emerging trend of seeking judicial intervention in matters related to professional negligence and misconduct on the part of medical professionals should send a wake-up call to all health workers that society has had enough of their impunity. It should also alert the relevant professional associations to do more than they are probably doing to salvage and advance the image and reputation of their professions.

A lasting turn-around of the situation can however happen only if we ensure that only dedicated and diligent students get admitted to institutions that train health workers and teachers. Invariably, this will mean enhancing the remuneration and conditions of service of these professions to make them attractive and therefore competitive. The big question of course, has always been how to finance such measures. Of course, the budget is our first point of call.

African governments have committed to spending at least 15 per cent of their annual budgets on health. We must work to ensure that Ghana meets this target and uses part of the additional allocation to enhance the conditions of service for health professionals. It will also not be out of place to augment the health budget with a national health trust fund, as has been done for education.



Author: Constance Kyew Mensah,Jayee Universty College