THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOPEXCHANGE MEDICAL CENTRE, GHANA
THE DEDICATION CEREMONY OF THE HOPEXCHANGE MEDICAL CENTRE
President John Kufuor of
Ghana presided over the formal Dedication Ceremony of
the new HopeXchange Medical Centre, a new specialty
hospital facility in Kumasi, that will serve as a regional
hub for the delivery of high quality healthcare services
and training in five specific areas: women's cancers, HIV,
malaria, facial malformations and ophthalmology.
The Medical Centre will offer
continuing medical education, tailored
to the resources available in the
Ghanaian health care system and to
the specific needs of Ghanaian
healthcare providers. Initial patient
services such as the state of the art
breast cancer diagnostic and
treatment facility will commence in the
spring of 2009. HopeXchange
Medical Centre is located on 6.15
acres of land donated by the Catholic
Archdiocese of Kumasi.
THE INTERNATIONAL BREAST CANCER SYMPOSIUM
As part of
the Dedication of the Medical Centre, hopeXchange
organized this first International Breast Cancer Symposium
at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra,
Ghana on October the 16th, 2008.
Local and international
experts examined key issues directly related to practical
approaches to breast care relevant to Ghanaian women
and their healthcare providers.
PRESS CONFERENCE IN GHANA
A press conference in Accra announced
the dedication of the hopeXchange Medical Centre on the 17th
October 2008. It also launched The Ghana Breast Cancer
Alliance, an initiative of the hopeXchange Medical Centre. This
Alliance is a unique coalition of leading local and international
experts and institutions that will work collaboratively to address
the major breast health needs in Ghana and Sub-Saharan
Africa.
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MARCH
As part of the
occasion of the Dedication of the Medical Centre, over
1,500 young people participated in a Breast Cancer
Awareness march in Kumasi on October the 17th.
This was the culmination event of a series of educational
programmes held across the public and church schools to
demystify the myth surrounding breast cancer in Ghana
and create a deeper awareness of the disease.
LEARNING LABORATORY
The HopeXchange Medical Centre will
also house the first interactive Learning Laboratory of the Breast
Health Global Initiative, where doctors and scientists from
around the world will share critical information on the main
medical areas of specialty of the hopeXchange Medical Centre.
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| CAUSES OF POVERTY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA |
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On average, 45 to 50 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans live below the poverty line - a much higher proportion than in any region of
the world except South Asia.
The consequences of poverty often reinforce its complex causes, exacerbating the problem. A recent study has identified the
following as the main causes of poverty:
- Inadequate access to employment opportunities;
- Inadequate physical assets, such as land and capital, and minimal access by the poor to credit even on a small scale;
- Inadequate access to markets where the poor can sell goods and services;
- Inadequate access to assistance for those living at the margin and those victimized by transitory poverty;
- Lack of participation; failure to draw the poor into the design of development programs.
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| GHANA |
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People
Total population 21.4 million
HIV prevalence 15-49 2.2%
Tuberculosis death rate 52/100,000 population
Malaria death rate (children under 5) 448/100,000 population
Infant mortality rate:
Total: 52.22 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 55.1 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 49.25 deaths/1,000 live births
Death rate:
10.67 deaths/1,000 population
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 74.8%
male: 82.7%
female: 67.1%
Languages:
Asante 14.8%,
Ewe 12.7%,
Fante 9.9%,
Boron (Brong) 4.6%,
Dagomba 4.3%,
Dangme 4.3%,
Dagarte (Dagaba) 3.7%,
Akyem 3.4%,
Ga 3.4%,
Akuapem 2.9%,
other 36.1% (includes English)
(2000 census)
Electricity:
Only 15% of the population is supplied with electricity, the figure dropping to 4% for those living in rural areas.
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