The plan by Ghana to establish the National Vaccine Institute and assurance by Vice President that the government will continue to harness the power of digitisation to produce a critical mass of enlightened Ghanaians to spur Ghana’s development are some of the leading stories in Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Daily Guide reports that Ghana is to establish National Vaccine Institute
This is contained in a proposal by the committee studying Ghana’s potential as a vaccine manufacturing hub in the sub region.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, who announced this in his 26th televised address to the nation on measures being taken to curb the spread of the Coronavirus, said the government was committed to injecting a seed funding of about $25 million in the establishment of the Institute.
The committee, led by Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, a world-renowned Ghanaian Scientist, recommended that the Institute be established to facilitate the development of local vaccine manufacturing plants.
It will also pave way to deepen research and development for vaccines in Ghana, and upgrade and strengthen the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).
The President said the global shortage of vaccines meant that Ghana must develop its capacity to produce its own vaccines domestically, and reduce dependence on foreign supplies.
“We must be self-sufficient in this regard in the future, and prepare ourselves better to deal with any such occurrences in the future,” he said.
The establishment of the Institute is also expected to help forge bilateral and multilateral partnerships for vaccine manufacturing in areas like funding, clinical trials, technology transfer, licensing, and assignment of intellectual property rights.
The Graphic says that Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated that President Akufo-Addo will continue to harness the power of digitisation to produce a critical mass of enlightened Ghanaians to spur Ghana’s development.
According to him, President Akufo-Addo will continue to make education a priority in his agenda.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, July 24, 2021, Dr Bawumia, said: “I was Special Guest at the 13th Congregation of Nana Opoku-Ampomah University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) today.
At the ceremony to award various degrees to deserving students, an Honourary Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) was conferred on Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh by the university for his work as Education Minister in the first term of President Akufo-Addo’s administration.
I assured the gathering that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will continue to make education a priority, harnessing the power of digitization, to produce a critical mass of enlightened Ghanaians to spur Ghana’s development.
Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and all the graduates for their well-earned awards.”
The newspaper reports that the Cocoa Abrabopa Association (CAA), Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co KG, Fuchs & Hoffmann and Ascot Amsterdam are collaborating on setting up an economically viable and resilient cocoa production system that will improve the lives of cocoa farmers and their households.
The three-year sustainability project seeks to target about 526 members and their households and will be implemented in Daboase, Aboso and Bogoso in the Western Region of Ghana.
The programme was kicked off during an online meeting where representatives of each of the organisation participated.
According to the partners, the main components of the joint program include Training members and field staff with the innovative Farmer Business Schools (FBS) approach; The implementation of an integrated and supportive Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS); Boosting the household income from cocoa and other agricultural products and Enhanced shade trees seedling planting and monitoring program.
They explained that, the FBS trainings will build the capacity of members and their spouses in order for them to take advantage of the skills and knowledge learned to sustainably improve their incomes and food supplies.
Staff of CAA will be trained by external trainers to strengthen the service delivery of the CAA field team with new and refreshed knowledge and skills which goes beyond the technical content.
“With regards to the CLMRS component, existing child labour cases and families at risk of child labour and school attendance will be identified, child labour risk assessment which consists of household surveys, community profiling and awareness raising will be done at the start of the programme.
Data gathered in the first year will be used to develop the model further for subsequent years with a remediation plan and members categorised into low and high risk to child labour.
This should lead to and increases percentage of children of CAA members and their sharecroppers attending school over a period of 3 years” they said.
GIK/APA