Lancaster University Ghana, has organized a mini-conference on health and infectious disease at the school’s premises.
Stakeholders, students and researchers in the area of public health, infectious diseases and hygiene from Ghana, UK and USA attended the one-day conference at the school premises.
The Deputy Provost of Lancaster University Ghana, Prof Cynthia Forson, in her welcome address underscored the importance of conferences of this nature. In her view, these conferences will help educate, inform and tackle issues on health in the country. She also hinted that these conferences are being organized to aide in the establishment of a medical school at their new site which is still in development.
Several speakers from various public universities across the country delivered papers on Pneumonia, Stillborn pregnancies as well as other food and gut related health diseases.
Dr. Eric S Donkor, a lecturer at the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Ghana in his main presentation discussed the spatial clustering patterns of six vaccine preventable diseases that continue to affect a number of patients in Ghana. In his presentation he said the prevalence of VPD’s in urban districts was higher than the rural areas but the reason behind these clustering patterns were not yet known as further investigations had to be done to ascertain the occurrence.
The findings that have already been made he said provide “valuable insights” for public health practitioners and Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) managers.
Another researcher, Dr. Kwabena O. Duedu spoke about the alarming rate of microorganism in foods sold on the roadside. The presentation focused on key indicators for health, food quality and safety as well as the state of environment. The presence of pathogenic microbes in the foods eaten by infants was as high as 15.8% with psychiatric patients following closely with 13.8%. The parasites included Strongyloides stercoralis larva, Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts, Giardia lamblia Hookworm ova and Fasciolopsis buski ova.
He advised vendors and consumers to wash their vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes and cabbage very well after they purchased them off the market. Tiger nuts was also among the foods people were supposed to avoid due to high concentration of parasites and microbes.
Lancaster University Ghana is set to hold a major Health Conference on Current and Future Challenges for Medical Management in West Africa. This event will take place on 8th and 9th September, 2016. The purpose of this conference is to bring together leading academics, policy makers, clinicians, practitioners and students from the UK and West Africa with the view to assessing current and future challenges for medical management in West Africa. It also serves as a platform for students in Africa who are undertaking PhD programmes in LU and elsewhere to showcase and receive feedback on their work. By attending this conference, individuals will have the opportunity to learn about contemporary research in health and medicine, share research ideas and network with practitioners and researchers from the UK and Africa.
