The Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Council has expressed immense gratitude to the Government of President Akufo-Addo, for making its dream of having a Fire Service Academy and Training School in the area possible.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, on Tuesday March 26, 2024, commissioned a new Fire Service Training School in Duayaw Nkwanta, the second Fire training school built by the Akufo-Addo Government, to take the national tally of fire academy and training school in Ghana to three.

Speaking at the commissioning, Acting President of Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Council, Nana Boakye Bonsu, expressed the joy and gratitude of his people to President Nana Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia.

“Indeed, today is a great day for our Municipality and the Traditional Area. The reason is that the dream and concept of this wonderful project that we are witnessing today, was initiated and conceived by wonderful persons like tje late Nana Boakye Tromo III, Omanhene and Presidemt of the Duayaw Kwanta Traditional Council,” he said.

“The entire Traditional Council wants to take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude to the government.”

“Duayaw Nkwanta will always remember the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the NPP Government.”

Facilities at the training school include dormitory blocks for men and women, classroom blocks, administration blocks, as well as modern training equipment such as hydraulic platforms to reach the 16th floor, to fight fires and effect rescue operations.

The Vice President announced that a third Fire Service Training School built by the government in the Eastern Region,  will soon be commissioned.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.

In a further move towards pooled procurement of essential medicines and medical products, Ministers of Health from small African islands states established a secretariat and elected Mauritius as the host, taking critical steps to launch joint operations for increased access to affordable, quality-assured and safe medicines and medical supplies.

The pooled procurement programme, signed in 2020 by Cabo Verde, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Sao Tome&Principe and Seychelles, that form the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) from Africa, and endorsed by Madagascar, aims to coordinate the purchase of selected medicines and medical products affordably, harmonize medicines management systems, improve supplier performance and reduce procurement workload. The programme also sets the guiding principles and governance structure, including the creation of a secretariat, technical committees and a council of ministers.

The ministers, gathering for the 8th SIDS meeting in Victoria, Seychelles, took the new step to set up a secretariat as they embark on the final stages of the joint procurement initiative.

“Mauritius is honoured to assume this important responsibility and we thank fellow SIDS countries and Madagascar for the confidence demonstrated in us to host the pooled drugs procurement secretariat,” said Hon Kailesh Jagutpal, Minister of Health and Wellness of Mauritius. “We will assume this duty with the care and rigour that it requires for the common good of all people and countries represented.”

Pooled procurement has been on the SIDS agenda since 2017 when the countries expressed commitment to implement the initiative.

“I congratulate Mauritius on the election as host for the secretariat. This is a win for all of us. Our unique position of SIDS in the African region is what brings us together and makes us stronger,” said Cabo Verde Minister of Health, Hon Filomena Gonçalves. “We will continue to play an important role in moving the agenda of pooled procurement forward and will work closely with our partners, including WHO.” 

During the 25–27 March 2024 meeting, the ministers and government representatives also agreed to strengthen collective efforts and actions on health, including bolstering preparedness and response to health emergencies, strengthening health systems and putting in place measures to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, to which island nations are particularly vulnerable. 

“As a collective we have come together to explore different ways of working so we can make our voices heard in all the important global arenas. Even if we don’t always have the capacity on our own, through SIDS we can do it. We may be small, but we can be big in our actions,” said Hon Peggy Vidot, Minister of Health of the Seychelles. 

The meeting was the first for Guinea-Bissau, which has now become a full member of SIDS, and for Madagascar, which accepted the invitation to be part of the SIDS Network initiative and therefore part of pooled procurement efforts. 

“This meeting will be remembered as a milestone. We’ve had fruitful discussions and made important decisions that will have an impact on SIDS and the rest of the region. At WHO, we will provide technical support to SIDS to ensure the implementation of the agreed-upon actions from this meeting,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa. 

The SIDS meeting in the African region serves as a forum for a collective voice for joint inputs into global SIDS events, including the upcoming Fourth International Conference on SIDS in Antigua and Barbuda, which will take place in late May 2024. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of WHO Regional Office for Africa.

Kenya today received provisional approval for the Yr. 2 PEPFAR Country Operational plan (COP) – USD 322,000,000 (KES43B) funding for HIV response whose implementation will run from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. This was announced today during the COP 23 approval meeting, that took place between the Kenya Government represented by the CS, Ministry of Health – Hon. Nakhumicha S. Wafula, Office of the Global Aids Coordinator -Ambassador Dr. John Nkengasong; US Ambassador to Kenya, HE Meg Whitman; Kenya Chair of COP 23 Julia Martin; PEPFAR Country team through the respective agencies, CDC/ USAID, DOD; Council of Governors (COG); the civil society and MOH representatives including the Ag. Director General Health, National AIDS and STI Control Program and the National Syndemic Disease Control Council (NSDCC) among others.  

During the meeting, the US Ambassador to Kenya, HE Meg Whitman, expressed confidence in Kenya’s ability to achieve epidemic control in the near future including ending AIDS in Children by 2027. Amb. Dr. John Nkengasong, the US Global AIDS Coordinator, while giving the provisional approval, lauded Kenya’s strong commitment and efforts in management of HIV and GOK transformation of the health sector through the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Primary Health Care (PHC) platform which are a critical pillar to a sustainable HIV response. The speakers lauded the alignment of the proposed priorities and the collaboration between MOH, communities, counties and Kenya PEPFAR team reflected in the COP process and proposal. In her remarks the Cabinet Secretary reiterated the MOH commitment to steward the response and provide a conducive environment in the convergence of the HIV response in the context of UHC as the country accelerates the epidemic control efforts.     

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Health, Kenya.

About 1,000 people a day are fleeing into South Sudan from Sudan after nearly one year of war, arriving in scorching heat and with children in dire need of support, Save the Children said.

More than 600,000 people – both refugees and returnees – have crossed the border since last April, arriving into a region already facing a severe hunger crisis, and the numbers continue to rise as the hostilities show no sign of abating. Most people arrive with nothing, having lost their homes and livelihoods. Some children have reported seeing loved ones, including their parents, killed on route.

The majority have arrived at the border crossing of Joda in Upper Nile State by foot or on donkey carts, from where up to 200 people at a time are crammed into trucks with standing room only. They are taken to two overcrowded transit centres in nearby Renk, a two-hour journey on dirt tracks in temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) as South Sudan battles its worst heatwave in four years.

They usually spend about two weeks in the centres – which houses over 15,000 people, even though they were built for no more than 3,000 – where food and water are scarce, healthcare is limited, and many sleep outside in makeshift shelters. From there 500 people at a time are packed onto barges for a two-day journey along the Nile to head to other destinations in South Sudan or packed into trucks for a 12 hour road trip to a refugee camp in Maban.

Most of these families have been displaced before. Many fled to Sudan from South Sudan in 2013 when widespread intercommunal violence erupted just two years after the country celebrated its independence as the world’s newest nation. Despite a peace deal in South Sudan in 2018, the country is still facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, plagued by continuing violence, repeated climate disasters, widespread hunger, mass displacement and now soaring prices. Even before the war in Sudan, about 9 million people – about 75% of the population ­– including nearly 5 million children were in need of humanitarian assistance.

For people fleeing the conflict in Sudan, however, life in South Sudan is a better option. About 1.75 million people have left Sudan, according to latest UNHCR data, headed to South Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad, Central African Republic and Egypt.

Amira*, 37, a South Sudanese citizen, crossed the border into South Sudan with her husband and two young children in early March before being taken to one of the transit centres in Renk. She was working at a hospital in Khartoum  as a surgical nurse when the fighting started and was trapped in the basement for three days before she could get home.

“We have lost everything. We left everything behind,” she said. “My husband and I both had good jobs and my son was happy at school but that changed overnight. When the fighting began, we had no choice but to leave. Our lives in Khartoum were destroyed. So much has changed in a year, but now we both just want to get jobs and be settled again, so our children can go to school.”

For children in Renk’s transit centres, Save the Children has opened Child Friendly Spaces, where they can play, paint, dance, learn and receive psychosocial support.

Margret, 25, hails from South Sudan and is one of Save the Children’s team working with children in the centres. She fled to Sudan during South Sudan’s conflict and was forced to flee again when armed clashes broke out in Khartoum last April. It took Margret five days to reach Renk. She was robbed of the few possessions she’d managed to take with her.

“They took my laptop and my phone. Life is very difficult there. They killed my friend,” she said. “I feel better here. I get to play with the children – they make me smile again.”

Since the escalation of violence in Sudan, Save the Children has expanded its operations in Renk to assist families. Staff members are on location from the border to the boats to keep children and families safe, help them on and off the trucks, see to their immediate needs and emotional welfare, as well as reunite unaccompanied children with their families.

Pornpun Rabiltossaporn, Save the Children’s Country Director in South Sudan, said the needs were so much greater than the support currently available. She said:

“We want to ensure that the children arriving here are protected, get the psychosocial support they need, and that unaccompanied girls and boys are reunited with their families as quickly as possible. But so much more needs to be done.”

Save the Children’s CEO Inger Ashing visited Renk this month to draw attention to the escalating crisis and call for urgent funding with needs overwhelming. A UN funding appeal for US$1.8 billion for South Sudan is only 18% funded so far. She said:

“This is one of the world’s most overlooked crises and it is getting worse by the day. I heard so many heartbreaking stories from children. Some saw their parents killed. Others were separated from their families. Many told me they just wanted some normalcy and to go back to school.

“It is devastating to think that this journey is not the end of their ordeal but just the start with many not knowing where they are going and with no resources at all. Most displaced people on average spend seven years on the move. That is half a child’s time in education.

“No child should wake up fearing for their safety, worried about when they will next eat, and not knowing where they will sleep that night. No child should be without an education. The international community needs to step up to commit the funding and resources needed before it’s too late.”

Save the Children has worked in South Sudan since 1991. The child rights organisation provides children with access to education, healthcare and nutritional support, and families with food security and livelihoods assistance. In 2023, the organisation’s programmes reached over  1.9 million people including 1.1  million children and this year Save the Children hopes to reach 1.4 million people in South Sudan.

* Name anonymised to protect identity

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.