Deputy Director of Public Health in the Greater Accra Region, Dr. John Eleeza, has warned that the continuous construction of poorly lighted classrooms would result in the mass of students suffering from poor vision in the future.
He said in an effort to minimise cost, some classroom blocks in the region were now being constructed with a few holes in the blocks instead of windows thus making the rooms dim.
Dr. Eleeza noted that though the beneficiaries of these classrooms would adjust to viewing in the poor condition, their vision would eventually be impaired.
He was inaugurating a 12-member Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee for Health Promotion to help identify the social and environmental causes of diseases in the Greater Accra Region towards promoting the right behaviour and actions for good health.
Dr. Eleeza said diseases arising from lifestyle and social conditions were becoming increasingly predominant hence the need to tackle the conditions from their roots with a multi-sectoral approach.
He said the excessive consumption of alcohol and dangerous chemicals in the name of bitters was worrying as many consumers were getting liver and kidney diseases.
It was, therefore, incumbent, he said, that traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations, the media and other stakeholders, partnered to work against unhealthy lifestyles and behaviours at the community level.
The committee would, subsequently, be an advisory and coordinating body for all health promotion work in the region; provide a strategic interface for health improvement with the relevant government agencies, recognising health as having wider determinants.
It would also, among other interventions, collaborate with all municipal and district assemblies and other partners to help the Ghana Health Service achieve its health promotion and behaviour change objectives in the region.
Deputy Chief of Party of the USAID Communicate for Health, Mr. Edward Adimazoya, said because the connections between social conditions and health outcomes had become increasingly recognised, there was the need for the development of initiatives to shift from resources mainly invested in medical care to those in health promotion and the prevention of illness.
He said increasing investment in health promotion and prevention required less hierarchical structures but more networking, more collaborative relationships among institutions and more collaboration between organisations, teams and individuals.
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