Ga Dangbe Association of Toronto donates to Sick Kids foundation-Ghana

Ga Dangbe Association of Toronto-Canada has donated 2,000 Canadian dollars to the Sick Kids Ghana Foundation.

The amount of money was raised through a special appeal for fund as part of activities during the Ga Homowo Dinner Dance held in Forum Banquet in Toronto over the weekend.

It was to support the Sick Kids Ghana Foundation in its effort to train pediatric nurses in Ghana to serve in underserved areas where there are no doctors to safe lives of children to secure the country’s future.

Receiving the donation, the Medical Director of the Global Sickle Cell Disease Network, Dr. Isaac Odame said, children and youth account for 40 percent of Ghana’s population, yet there are few health-care providers who are sufficiently trained to address the specialized needs of the children.

Dr. Odame who doubles as haematologist at the hospital for sick children [SICKKIDS] Toronto-Canada, hinted that as a result, more than 54,000 newborns and children under the age of five years die each year-often due to preventable illnesses such as pneumonia, malaria-related and diarrhoea related diseases.

According to him, in a country of more than 25.9million people, there are only 10 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 people therefore, working with local partners such as the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives, Global Affairs Canada, Ghana’s Ministry of Health and Ghana Health services, SickKids will scale up the first specialized pediatric nursing training programme in all West Africa.

Dr. Isaac Odame was hopeful that, by March 2020, the SickKids-Ghana Initiative would have trained 500 nurses on top of the 220 nurses trained in the first phase of the project.

“Additionally, 1,000 nurses, midwives, and community health officers will receive training through professional development courses designed to address the highest needs of Ghanaian children.

“The investment will also contribute immediate and on-ongoing improvements to reduce child morbidity and mortality in Ghana and so far has raised 1.3million towards our goal of 3.45million dollars”.

Dr. Isaac Odame used the opportunity to appeal to all Ghanaians living in foreign destinations to support this special initiative in cash donations because the youth of Ghana represents the economic, financial and social security of the country.