Youth go for medical checkup only when they have appointment – Dr Wodah-Seme

Dr Richard Wodah-Seme, the Acting Upper West Regional Deputy Director of Public Health has observed that the only time the youth get interested in knowing their health status is when they have a job appointment.

He said even with the medical examination as a job requirement, all they wanted, was for the doctor to fill the form for them to secure their jobs without actually going through the screening process.

Dr Wodah-Seme disclosed this during an advocacy dialogue with policy makers and youth leaders organised by the Upper West Region office of the National Youth Authority (NYA) to advocate for increased youth participation in programme planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting.

The youth advocacy dialogue is a Government of Ghana project with funding support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

He said even when the doctor made it known to them that it was in their interest to know their health status; some would often push for it to be filled for them without him/her passing through the actual screening.

Dr Wodah-Seme disclosed that worldwide, hypertension is responsible for about 17.9 million deaths annually, adding that, cardiovascular diseases accounted for about 30 per cent of all mortalities in Ghana.

He said they were beginning to see a drift of all mortalities among the youthful population in the country, and called on the youth to take interest in knowing their basic health status by cultivating the habit of undertaking regular medical screenings.

He called on employers to put in place annual health screening programmes for their staff saying, “We cannot afford to continuously lose the youth as we have it now.

“We can only contribute meaningfully to national development when we are healthy and we can only be healthy when we take continued efforts and steps to ensure we secure our health”, he said.

Dr Wodah-Seme called on the youth to take their education serious to enable them obtain good grades that would aid them to take advantage of the various, certificates, diploma and degree courses being offered at the various health institutions.

Mr Issifu Salifu Kanton, the Executive Director of Community Development Alliance (CDA), called on leaders to focus on building the youth for the future and not the future for the youth since it was the critical thing the youth must fight for.

He said to ensure full and active participation of the youth in national development, the government must first create space for the youth to participate at the highest level of decision making.

This according to him, would not only ensure a sense of belongingness among the youth and the promotion of a high sense of responsibility and citizenship, but would also create a situation where the country’s programmes and policies would be in the interest of the youth, thereby, creating a serene environment for national development.

“Let us strengthen our efforts to include the youth in programmes and decision making that will be beneficial to their future”, he said and that many countries that had given opportunities to the youth have not regretted and Ghana should emulate that.

Mr Archibald Donkoh Jnr., the Upper West Regional Director of the National Youth Authority (NYA), said he was confident that the dialogue session would reinforce the need for increased youth participation in programme planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting.