Keep to healthy lifestyles -Minister Breman Asikuma (C/R)

Dec. 20, GNA- Major Courage Quashigah, Minister of Health on Tuesday, called on all Ghanaians to keep to healthy lifestyles by eating the right food, exercising their bodies and keeping their environment clean.
He stated that Ghanaians would stay alive for long and healthy if they refrained from over reliance on drugs to cure themselves of sicknesses and rather prevent themselves against the causes of sicknesses.
Major Quashigah made the call at a ceremony to launch a pilot training programme on Regenerative Health and Nutrition Project (RHNP), at Breman Asikuma, capital of Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa (AOB) district, in the central region.
The RHNP is a new health policy developed by the Ministry of Health, which emphasizes on health promotion and prevention, and aims at improving the health status of Ghanaians through promoting healthy lifestyles with emphasis on nutrition.
The minister said as part of activities for the pilot programme, the Ministry of Health intends to collaborate with the district assemblies to establish change agents in the districts to facilitate the promotion of healthy lifestyles and nutrition.
Major Quashigah stated that the policy was adopted after understudying the Israelis who live long and healthy, because of their peculiar lifestyles, which is in conformity with eating the right food, exercising regularly and keeping their environment clean.
According to him he has seen a 74-year old woman taking part in a running exercise in Israel and that he was also shown a community in Israel, which had not recorded a single death, in a period of 38 years. He said it was in this regard that a number of specialists from Israel have been brought into the country, to spend a year, to assist in the education of Ghanaians about the RHNP and the creation of awareness on its benefits, to facilitate its acceptance by all.
The minister reiterated that if Ghana were to attain a middle-income status by the year 2015, it was imperative that the nation moved away from spending huge sums of money on drugs and rather save such money for investments.
According to him, Ghana spends more than 500 million dollars on malaria treatment alone in a year, and called for a new paradigm on health from curative to preventive, adding that the launching would be replicated in all the 138 districts to popularize it.
Major Quashigah, also had a meeting with the management and staff of Our Lady of Grace Hospital, to know their problems, among which were, the lack of a bus to convey staff to and from hospital and insufficient staff accommodation.
Mr P. C. Appiah Ofori, Member of Parliament of AOB constituency, for his part, said all the efforts government was making to develop the nation would be a fruitless venture if people did not keep to healthy lifestyles and lived long to benefit from those development projects. He in this regard advised the people to refrain from drug abuse and the use of hard drugs, whilst committing themselves to hygiene and environmental cleanliness to prolong their lives.
Mr Prince Emmanuel, head of the Israeli delegation, noted that Ghana has always been in the forefront of everything that is good in Africa, and that even though they came from Israel they feel proud to be associated with Ghana in the dissemination of the RHNP in the country. Mr Emmanuel Adjei Domson, district chief executive of AOB expressed gratitude to the ministry of health for choosing the district as the place to launch the pilot project, and promised that all efforts would be made to facilitate its popularity and acceptance.
Earlier, an early morning walk dubbed, “the walk of life”, led by the minister was undertaken alongside some health workers, teachers, assembly members and a cross-section of the members of the public, through some streets of the town for 30 minutes, bearing placards. Some of the placards read, “exercise at least three times a week, exercise your body by turning, running and skipping, take some rest it is good for your heart, drink at least seven glasses of water a day, you are what you eat, and eat a lot of fruits and vegetables”.
Later, Dr Elimelek Ben Israel, a naturopathic doctor from Israel, talking to newsmen said the 15-member delegation, would be traveling to all parts of the country to share information on RHNP with the people. He said during their tour they would encourage the establishment of health clubs among the people, among others, and also urged them to live healthy lifestyles in order to live long and healthy.
Talking to the press too, Dr Edward Addai, director for policy planning and evaluation of the ministry of health, stated that health is not about what is happening in the hospitals, and advised people to live the life that would help them stay out of hospital.
According to him, people tended to weaken their bodies with what they ate and how they lived, adding that, people got malaria because their bodies were too weak to fight the malaria parasites. Dr Addai, who is also the RHNP project co-ordinator, therefore urged the people to ensure that their environment was always clean, stressing that, “anytime you looked at your environment, you should know that your life and healthy survival depended on it”.
Source: GNA

The Regenerative Health and Nutrition Program in Ghana has reached South Africa

Prince Immanuel spoke to the Land and Agriculture Committees, Culture Committee, and the Moral Regeneration Movement
by Prince Immanuel Ben-Yehuda
KNN-Africa
The good news of the Regenerative Health and Nutrition Program in Ghana has reached South Africa and resulted in an invitation being extended to the African Hebrew Development Agency to send representation to meet with the National House of Traditional Leaders and attend the opening of the legislative season of the National House in Cape Town at the end of February.
Prince Immanuel Ben-Yehuda, the International Projects Director of AHDA and his Executive Assistant, Ahkote Yielah Eshet Nasik Gavriel attended the annual speech given by the South African President Thabo Mbeki, to African royalty, Kings, Chiefs, Queen Mothers, and delegations from South Africa and other SADAC countries, including Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia.
After the address by Mbeki, Prince Immanuel was invited to address the National House and explain to them the elements of Regenerative Health and Nutrition and also the Restoration Village Organic Agricultural Program presently being initiated in Ghana.
It is believed that these programs might have great impact in South Africa, especially being directed through the National House of Traditional Leaders as 70% of our people in rural areas remain under the leadership of Traditional Leaders.
Prince Immanuel spoke to the combination of the Land and Agriculture Committees along with the Culture Committee and then later met with representatives from the Moral Regeneration Movement to determine how the African Hebrew Development Agency might form a strategic partnership with NHTL to address the health conditions threatening the people in South Africa as well as initiate viable agricultural projects and education in rural areas to encourage young people to remain there.
The Chosen First Fruit youth organization (CFF) of the African Hebrew Israelites were featured participants in a conference organized by the Moral Regeneration Movement in the Eastern Cape in 2005. Later the CFF delegations organized another MRM conference in Johannesburg.

“It is important to know that we have not come here as guests and visitors, but as members of the extended family who have come to join hands, and add our experience to the solving of problems which we see as affecting many of our communities across the African Continent and around the world. Meeting with the Traditional Leaders, who are recognized as the custodians of the land and the culture, two essential elements to ensure our future of strength is most essential if there is to be progress among our people,”
Prince Immanuel said. “The Traditional Leaders and their authority must continually be enhanced as so much of the richness of our past which has sustained us to this point, is under their care. Therefore, we should consistently turn our attention to and work through with and through them in conjunction with the governmental legislative bodies to ensure the progress of our people.”Prince Immanuel was also the featured speaker at an engagement sponsored by the Hon. Jacqueline Mofokeng, ANC Parliamentary representative from Gauteng.

Ghana Health Ministry To Expand Regenerative Health Programme

The Ministry hopes to introduce it in 50 other districts this year
Source: GBC NEWS
The Ministry of Health, as part of its paradigm shift has introduced the Regenerative Health and Nutrition Programme which it has been successfully launched in 10 districts. The Ministry hopes to introduce it in 50 other districts this year. A statement issued by the Ministry said people from all walks of life including journalists have been sent to Dimona , Israel to understudy their concept and system.
It said beneficiaries of that trip assembled at the Manna Heights Hotel in Mankessim to review the concept and share their experiences and the way forward. After three-days of deliberation, participants came out with a communiqué which advocated the development of a national policy on cultivation of organically grown foods including vegetables and fruit and the production of regenerative health food and crops at reasonable cost.
It called for the introduction of health education and nutrition as examinable subjects in school curriculum and increasing access to potable water.
The Communiqué asked for a scale up in consultation with relevant stakeholders including establishing strategic partnerships with community radio stations, the programme of mass communication of the Regenerative health message at the national and district level including packaging the Regenerative message into local languages and the production of jingles as well as build capacity of change agents.
It noted that there is the need to explore options for setting up a National Commission on Regenerative Health and Nutrition and introduction of alternative and sustainable source of financing the programme.
The Communiqué suggested the empowerment of MPs, Chiefs and other opinion leaders to disseminate the Regenerative Health and Nutrition messages and lifestyles in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission to promote the use of nutrition in the management of HIV and AIDS.

Regenerative Health and Nutrition Team from Dimona helps Cut Medical Costs in Ghana

Ghana Loses $762 Million Annually In Malaria Control
by Shirley Asiedu-Addo
Ghana General News
About $762 million is lost in controlling malaria in the country yearly. The loss includes labour loss, cost of transportation to facilities, cost to families and cost in treating patients.
According to the Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), if the cost of preventable and avoidable diseases continued to increase, it might be necessary to sell the country to pay for the ill-health of its people.Major Quashigah, who was addressing a meeting to review the new Regenerative Health and Nutrition Programme (RHNP) introduced to ensure good health by adopting healthy lifestyles, said, “It is important that the country work to ensure that limited resources are not wasted on preventable diseases.” Health service providers, district chief executives and media practitioners attended the meeting in Mankessim in the Central Region.
The RHNP was adopted from Dimona, Israel, where a community of about 3,500 African Hebrews live without encountering any diseases as a result of the programme. Major Quashigah stated that in the near future, all diseases would be costed to know their cost to the nation and the need to work to prevent them. He noted that since 2006, the RHNP had been piloted in 10 districts in seven regions of Ghana in the form of week-long training of change agents and advocates.
The minister stated that more than 700 change agents and 5,000 advocates had so far received training in RHNP across the country, adding that he expected them to work hard to touch the people in the communities and families to adopt the programme. He said it was unfortunate that eating junk food was associated with sophistication, adding that eating healthy foods, exercise and rest could do a lot of good to the body.
The Director of the programme, Dr Edward Addai, stated that RHNP had been found to be an important way of improving the lives of the people in any nation.He, therefore, urged all stakeholders to ensure that the programme was successful. The Omanhen of the Mankessim Traditional Area, Nana Amanfo Adu VI, urged the people to ensure the proper handling of fruits and vegetables to avoid contracting diseases.He also called on them to adopt personal hygiene and good environmental sanitation practices to ensure healthy living.
Over 1,000 people of diverse backgrounds have participated in a health walk
Health walk organized by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the African Hebrew Development Agency (AHDA), an Israeli based organization at Keta Ghana districts.com
The walk, which was to promote the physical fitness of participants, was also to arouse community consciousness about the need for regular fitness exercises as one of the fundamentals in diseases prevention.It also formed part of a week’s programme of Regenerative Health and Nutrition Training to promote alternative health care through physical exercise and good nutrition dubbed: “Renew your strength to prevent diseases.
“The 8.5 kilometre walk from the forecourt of the Keta District Assembly premises at 0600 hours went through the main streets of Keta, Dzelukope and Vui, ending at the beach at Tegbi where participants, including health workers, traditional rulers, students and some Israeli nationals underwent drills before retiring for water and fruits.
Mr. Solomon Yaw Fordjour, District Chief Executive of Afram Plains and Mr. Kofi Ahiabor, DCE of Keta took part in the exercise.Mr. Prince Emmanuel Ben-Yehuda, the Project Director of AHDA based in Dimona, Israel, where good health practices were said to have made maternal and child mortality alien to the place in the past 40 years, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that exercising, intake of plant based diets, of fruits and vegetables, drinking of water and eating at the right time are the best means of disease prevention.
He said his association is in the country to assist the Ministry of Health to drum home to the people that most of the diseases in Ghana are preventable if everybody assumed responsibility for his or her own health through disciplined lifestyles rather than relying on hospitals and drugs.Mr. Ben-Yehuda said their presence is to mobilize communities, including the chiefs and health workers to know and lead the way in advancing the regenerative health and nutrition concept in the country.
Mr. Kofi Edusei, Project Manager of the Regenerative and Nutrition Programme (RNP) at the Ministry of Health said the Ministry is shifting health paradigm from the development of hospitals to development of health in homes through good health practices and so limiting the propensity of people becoming sick. See: Ghana Districts

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Obesity is not wealthy living – Health Official

Accra, June 12, GNA – Ghanaians have been urged to discard the illusion that obesity is a sign of wealthy living. Mr. Kofi Adusei, Project Manager, Regenerative Health of the Ministry of Health, said obesity or fatness rather made the individual susceptible to all kinds of illness, which could result in death. Mr. Adusei, speaking at a seminar on regenerative health for citizens within the Adentan Municipality said fatness increased the Body Mass Index (BMI) of a person.
BMI which could be classified as underweight, overweight, obese and highly obese helps the physician to detect risk of the individual to developing diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, among others, due to poor eating habits.
‘You can live up to 120 years and still look younger if you cultivate the habit of eating more fruits and vegetables, drink 8 glasses of water a day and do a lot of exercises,’ he said. Dr Elimelek Israel, African Hebrew Development Agency, said the use of body and hair creams and soaps which contained a lot of chemicals also disturbed the normal functioning of the body.
He advocated that Ghanaians should value local creams and soaps such as alata samina, shea butter, palm kernel oil and also put on dresses made of cotton, silk and wool to protect the body.
Dr Isreal noted that regular exercise and massage helped in proper circulation of blood, which would boost the immune system.
Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minister of Health, who shared his Dimona experience in Israel, said for over 40 years people in that part of the world had never fallen ill or witnessed death due to good eating habits and exercise.
Dimona is a community in Israel with a population of 4,000 who have adopted healthy eating as their standard of living. He noted that he therefore borrowed the practice and decided to make it work in Ghana and urged all and sundry to support and adopt it to ensure longevity.
Major Quashigah said most of the local dances such as Adowa, Agbadza and Boboobo were exercises in themselves and encouraged the dances every morning as exercise.
Nii-Noi Adumuah, Municipal Chief Executive, Adentan, said although the municipality was a newly created one, they were determined to invest in all aspects of the socio-economic life, including health.