Health

Ghana’s 2017 ban on shackling people with psychosocial disabilities – or mental health conditions – has not halted the practice, Human Rights Watch said today. The government has not adequately resourced the enforcement mechanisms to monitor compliance by faith-based centers where people are being held in chains and assist those currently being unlawfully detained. Human Rights Watch visited two spiritual ...

Following the dedication of October as Mental Health Month, MindFreedom Ghana has collaborated with the Ngleshie Amanfro Polyclinic to educate the people in the Community on psychosocial issues.   World Mental Health Day 2023, was held on the theme ‘Mental health is a universal human right’ Experts say the commemoration of Mental Health Day presents an opportunity for people and communities ...

The United Nations Human Rights Council has raised concerns about the lack of enforcement of Ghana’s Mental Health Law, Act 846(2012). The Council observed at a recently held Universal Peer Review( UPR) Process in Geneva, Switzerland that the absence of a robust enforcement regime has made it difficult to report the most inhumane and degrading treatment of persons with mental ...

The state of mental health care in Ghana is still a major challenge, especially at the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital. Pantang Hospital is one of the leading mental health facilities in Ghana. The hospital, however, is in a sorry state of disrepair. The buildings are dilapidated, the wards are overcrowded, and the facilities are inadequate. Patients are often forced to sleep ...

Former President John Dramani Mahama has called on the government to promptly scrap import charges and taxes on medication and kits for dialysis treatment in the country. This is in response to a recent increment in the cost of dialysis treatment by more than 100 percent at the Renal Dialysis Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Speaking at an ...

Although COVID-19 may no longer be a global public health emergency, countries must still strengthen their response to the disease and prepare for future pandemics and other threats, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday in Geneva. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was delivering his report to the 76th World Health Assembly, the UN agency’s decision-making body, which ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday launched a new initiative to help strengthen countries’ ability to plan for, and deal with, another deadly pandemic like COVID-19, as the latest figures show a huge fall in COVID deaths this year. The guidance provides a joined-up approach for responding to the threat or arrival of any respiratory pathogen such as flu or the ...

Zimbabwe’s Vice-President, Constantino Chiwenga, announced that the country intends to introduce a law that would make it illegal for other nations to recruit its health workers. The move aims to prevent the loss of valuable healthcare professionals to other countries, which has been a long-standing issue for Zimbabwe’s healthcare system. Mr Chiwenga, who is also the health minister, stated that ...

The Amanfro Community Support Network in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater-Accra Region has embarked on a walk to sensitize members of the public on the need to pay attention to their mental health. The Network is one of other Community Support Networks(CSN) established by MindFreedom Ghana in other parts of the country with the aim to bring persons ...

Implementing sodium reduction policies could save an estimated seven million lives globally by 2030, WHO said in a new report launched on Thursday. “Unhealthy diets are a leading cause of death and disease globally, and excessive sodium intake is one of the main culprits,” the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared. A first-of-its-kind WHO global report on sodium intake reduction shows that the ...