President urges Ghanaians to write books

Accra, June 29, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday asked Ghanaian scholars, intellectuals and academics to write books to document their experiences for the benefit of society.

He said, "it is unfortunate and also a fact that our scholars and academics no matter how bright, have not shown the propensity to write books to document their experiences to the benefit of society". President Kufuor said this when he launched a book on: "Health and Disease" a Layman's Guide to Good Health in Accra.

A team of 19 Specialist Doctors and Lecturers of the University of Ghana Medical School, College of Health Sciences and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Authored the 374-page book with 40 chapters.

The book, which was conceived in 1994, attempts to give an insight into some common diseases that afflict Ghanaians and how to prevent some of them.

It also gives some guidelines on promotion of good health and would help to raise the level of awareness of good health of the people of Ghana.

The book addresses ailments such as appendicitis, ulcers, hypertension, cancer, impotence, infertility, common childhood diseases, gout, eye ailment, psychiatry diseases, diabetes and diseases related to pregnancy.

President Kufuor noted that although most of the scholars and intellectuals did write, many have mainly focused on their academic publications and sometimes in technical language which non-specialists in the field found very difficult to understand and might not easily appreciate.

He said it was only a continual pursuit of knowledge that could enlighten the people and appealed to professionals, academics and intellectuals in the field in the field of health to help with the process through writing and publishing works, which have some appeal to the public in general.

Dr Kweku Afriyie, Minister of Health, said health promotion and education was the only key to impact greatly on the health of people. He commended the team of authors for coming out with the book and suggested that it should be reduced to monographs to make it more handy for every home and individual to read.

Dr Afriyie pledged the Ministry's support in every effort in ensuring that every home got a copy of the book and urged the Ghana Health Service to take advantage of the content of the book and inculcate it in their health educational programmes. Professor Clement Tagoe, Dean of the University of Ghana Medical School, said the content in the book was based on results of research work.

He described the book as a manual that would provide information for the layman on certain basic diseases. He said many people found it very difficult to inquire from their doctors on their ailments adding; "this book will bridge that gap".

Oyeman Wereko Ampem II, Chancellor of the University of Ghana, who presided, urged every individual to get a copy of the people for the benefit of their good health.

Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, who led the auctioning sold the first copy at 10 million cedis to Oyeman Wereko Ampem.

EPP Book Shop also offered 25 million cedis for 100 copies of the book for President Kufuor to distribute to some Senior Secondary Schools.

Ghana Health Service also bought a copy each for all health institutions - regional, district, community, polyclinics and teaching hospitals.