By Razak Baba
As part of efforts to increase awareness on lead poisoning, some selected Municipalities and Health Directorates in the Ashanti Region are implementing multi-faceted public health campaigns to educate Ghanaians on issues related to lead poisoning.
These include the use of social gatherings, visiting of mosques and churches and undertaking house-to-house visitations.
The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF is supporting the Ghana Health Service to sensitize the public on the dangers of lead poisoning and its prevention in some selected Municipalities in the Ashanti Region.
The campaign seeks to draw the attention of the public to the harmful effects of lead to the human body with the ultimate goal of reducing its exposure to humans.
As part of strategies to intensify education among residents in the beneficiary Municipalities at the community level, the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate has held a review meeting in Kumasi for Health Promotion Officers, Community Health Nurses and Environmental Health Officers and the media.
The beneficiary Municipalities took turns to present measures they put in place to impart knowledge about the dangers of lead-poisoning in their localities. Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of Health in charge of Public Health, Dr. Michael Rockson Adjei commended the health workers trained to disseminate lead-poisoning prevention messages throughout the region.
He noted that the review meeting has become necessary due to effects of Lead and the need for people to limit their exposure.
Dr. Rockson Adjei therefore charged the health promotion and community health nurses to intensify the campaign seeking to reduce harmful effects of lead poisoning among artisanal workers.
Communication for Development Officer at the United Nations Children’s Fund, Charity Nikoi in a virtual message commended the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate and the health workers for working tirelessly to ensure effective implementation of policies geared towards drawing the attention of the public to the harmful effects of lead to the human body with the ultimate goal of reducing its exposure to humans.
In an interview with the Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Health Services, Dr. Akosua Gyimah said the campaign has been vigorously intensified particularly in areas where artisanal works are located.
The Old Tafo Municipal Director of Health Services, Madam Faustina Osei Mensah shared experiences witnessed by health workers in the area who had been privileged to be trained to undertake the lead poisoning campaign.
Lead poisoning is a type of metal poisoning caused by Lead build-up in the body, usually over months or years. Exposure to lead is very dangerous to the development of the brain, because it could disrupt brain development, lead to anemia and affect the entire growth of a child.
