If You Care About Public health in Ghana, Write to the Health Minister Quashigah.

Do we have the equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration in Ghana? If we do, has it neglected its role in society and like many institutions of the state has become a failure? Sometime ago there was the Ghana Standards Board which existed among other things to certify all products as safe before being allowed unto to the market. All food products and body products, and all other products made in Ghana all bore the standard board logo as haven been certified as safe and haven met good production standards. Is the Ghana Standards Board still in existence?

On a recent visit to Ghana I saw all kinds of products on the market, ranging from food products, drinks, medicine, and body products, some locally made others brought into the country from all kinds of places imaginable on the planet Earth. The efficacy of some of these products are in serious doubt and so are its safety and production standards. Many of them have no labels on them, and the active ingredients that make up the product and in what amounts are not listed anywhere on the product label. Because we live in a lawless country, anybody at all can stand up and bring something into the country for sale, especially food products which have a direct effect on the public health of the country. Nobody checks to see if these products meet acceptable health standards. The fact that there has been no major food scares in the country does not mean we can take public safety for granted. Just how much do you personally care about what you eat? Do you follow any diet? Do you think food labeling is important for public health?

In the name of public health and disease prevention, we should start lobbying for compulsory food and nutrition labeling on most food products in easy to read and easy to understand way. The Standards Board must be revived and strengthened to make it work more effectively. Parliament should pass a law to make it obligatory for all importers and...
It appears to me that our Public Health departments comes into play only when there is an outbreak of some disease. But we need to look at the long term effect of all the canned foods. With the influx of many goods to Ghana, we need to be aware that some might even have expired. Some might also be of questionable standard. Some foods might predispose our people to diabetes and cancer. We need to be vigilant because the long term effect of some these foods will greatly burden our already weak health system and even completely sink it. In fact there are too many suspect and dubious items being offered for sale in Ghana whose long term health risks is like a time bomb waiting to go "boom". We need people with vision to plan ahead and solve this problem before it engulfes all of us.We need citizens action, a campaign to help change the current situation. Parliament itself needs to be educated on the importance of food labelling so it can enact suitable laws to enforce it. If you care about what you eat start ma king some noise about lack of labels on foods, drinks, and other body products to make a change. You can write to the Minister of Health about this issue of national importance.

P.S. And do we still use asbestos in our buildings? I will talk about the long term health hazards pose by asbestos used in buildings.

Ben Ofosu-Appiah,
Tokyo, JAPAN.
The author is a policy strategist advisor and a public policy expert based in Tokyo, Japan. He is also a senior social and political analyst. He has written extensively on political, social, and economic issues in Ghana , Africa, and in the developing world in general.