Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 7:28 PM Aug 12, 2012 Message starred FROM Josefyne Aidoo TO 1 recipient article Show Details From Josefyne Aidoo To deinformergh@yahoo.com KUDOS TO ALL GHANAIANS I’m highly excited about the roles most Ghanaians played in ensuring a be-fitting burial for our late president. Starting from the funeral committees, I say a big congrats to them for a good work-done. They have indeed done their maximum best. From the chairman, to protocol and to the last person in the committee God richly bless them. They have really ensured that our late president’s final celebration has been the best. Also, to the security persons, God bless them. The ceremony would have not been successful if they were not well organized in ensuring safety. The roles they played were very relevant, guarding of the corpse, lifting of the casket, parade, etc. and able to maintain peace. To the reverend ministers, how could the whole service be done without the presence of God? And knowing how religious our president was. Their order of service, prayer, homily, etc was also appreciated. With the angelic voices by the mass choir was also superb. Their choice of songs was great. I was very much amazed when over fifteen dignitaries from different countries were present to honour our late president. Their attendance was deeply cherished. Watching the live burial from TV, I also noticed the distribution of the brochure, thumps up to the publishers for bringing out quality booklet of our late prez. To those who donated in kind or cash especially rlg have really showed their support and care for the families and Ghana. How can I forget our media? Till the time that the demise of the prez was publicized, there has not been a single day that any media station reports on issues concerning our late prez. Right from the day of pronouncement, there has been enough coverage on issues, documentary, press release and others concerning the late president. At the comfort of our homes, one can watch the ceremony live coverage as if he or she was there. I was really impressed at their turnout. Cleanliness they say is next to Godliness. The city could not have been tidy after the ceremony if zoom lion had not turned out. Good work done. Lastly to all Ghanaians, God bless us all for maintaining peace and stability and united as prof would love us to be. To wrap up, the vacuum that has been left behind, I pray that God be our comforter especially to the wife, son, families, government and NDC. God bless us all; rest in peace His Excellency Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills. JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO ACCRA

KUDOS TO EVERY GHANAIAN Ghanaians have shown a lot of maturity in this year’s general elections. Most people thought there would be chaos because most candidates were desperate to come into power. Everything has come to a closure. As usual we have had another peaceful and successful general election. I want to use this opportunity to congratulate all parliamentarians who have been elected into parliament. To the other presidential candidates, good work done, indeed they have shown leadership by setting examples in so many ways. Congrats to the president elect. Though we all have our differences, we should all accept him as our president and pray for God’s strength, support and favour on him and Ghana. Mr. President Elect, I strongly believe you will deliver your promise and won’t let Ghanaians down. Long live Ghana, God bless our homeland Ghana. JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO GIJ ACCRA

KUDOS TO EVERY GHANAIAN Ghanaians have shown a lot of maturity in this year’s general elections. Most people thought there would be chaos because most candidates were desperate to come into power. Everything has come to a closure. As usual we have had another peaceful and successful general election. I want to use this opportunity to congratulate all parliamentarians who have been elected into parliament. To the other presidential candidates, good work done, indeed they have shown leadership by setting examples in so many ways. Congrats to the president elect. Though we all have our differences, we should all accept him as our president and pray for God’s strength, support and favour on him and Ghana. Mr. President Elect, I strongly believe you will deliver your promise and won’t let Ghanaians down. Long live Ghana, God bless our homeland Ghana. JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO GIJ ACCRA

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM, ECG? My meat is spoilt in the refrigerator! Most of my electrical appliances are spoilt! Thanks to Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). Most people lament on these. All their cry boils down to the fact that there is constant power failure or ‘on and off’ low schedule from ECG. At first, you would know when your area might go off and when the lights would be back, but now, you can hardly predict. Power goes off virtually everyday and one can hardly predict when it would be back. Recently, Dansoman, where I live, our lights went off from 6pm and the lights came around 10am the following day. Most phones were left uncharged, dressers not ironed and most gadgets were faulty due to the numerous power failure. What at all is the problem that cannot be rectified? For how long are we going to experience this? Is there a problem at the dam? There are basically a lot of questions that has been left unanswered. At least there should be a programme or forum to enlighten us on the exact problem and the measures being taken and if possible inform us the time and date electricity would be on and off to avoid any surprises and causes of damages. Most businesses like hairdressing, café operating and companies that lack generator are collapsing and most cannot operate. They rather rely on ECG for power. In a case where power would be off almost the whole day, that means such business cannot operate. It is my greatest wish that drastic measures would be taken. Josephine Araba Aidoo GIJ

TO MY DEAR DOCTORS Anytime government officials go on nation-wide strike, it is purposely because of money. Either they are not content with what they have or are not paid at all. Whenever there is strike, it is the recipients who suffer in return. If it is teachers, the students suffer and if doctors, patients. I plead with our dear doctors to exercise patience and take the patients lives into consideration. I would also like to know if doctors swear an oath to save lives of people. If yes, then why are they allowing money to come between it. If their grievances are taken long, they should write their petitions to the government. I was so sad when I witnessed an emergency case at Korle-Bu and there was no doctor to attend to him. It is almost a week now since they embarked on strike and I believe that people have lost their lives through that, either there was no money to go to a private hospital or died in the process of going. I also plead with the government to attend to them for the sake of the patients. Strike should never be the only way to resolve problems. JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO ACCRA MTN WHAT IS THE PROBLEM I write with much sadness to realize that one of the top most communication networks in Africa nowadays have poor service. When you call MTN hotline (111), it takes about twenty minutes before someone assist to you. If you don’t have much patience, you might hang up without telling them your intentions. Sometimes, after waiting for long, you might have forgot what you wanted to say when someone picks up. It irritates me when I want information and they take very long to put me through. I once confronted them and one of their staffs told me that it is because they have a lot of customers. Again, their internet browsing rate had increased drastically. They did it without informing their customers. They could have advertised it to inform us. You can buy one Ghana cedis worth of credit but by the time you browse for sometime more than a quarter of it is gone. They did not communicate their intentions and reasons with us. I know they have contributed their quota in the country and I say ayeekoo to that but they should work on their flaws to maintain and gain more customers or they might end up losing them. I pray that my plea would be taken into consideration. JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO ACCRA CHECK EXPIRY DATE OF PRODUCTS Most products life span is due but they are still on the market. I bought Muscatella quite recently and the expiry date was last year. I told the seller and advised her to take it out from the market since it’s spoilt. I later saw her selling it to someone else. I questioned her but the only thing she said was she will tell the whole-sellers when they come. I bought another one from a different place but it had a different expiry date. I write to inform the general public to be more cautious about the product they buy and its expiry date since most of its life spans are due. Also, manufacturers should stop producing it if their products have expired. Our lives are more important than the money they receive from the product. JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO ACCRA TRIBUTE TO MY HUMBLE PRESIDENT “When we live, we live for the Lord, and when we die, we die for the Lord”. Tears have filled my eyes as I write this. I wish I could just wake up and all I could hear is, “it’s not true”, but what can I say? God knows best. Who are we to question our Maker? His ways are not our ways neither His thoughts our thought. I personally don’t know the late president like most of us but because of his publicity I’ve known some characteristics about him. My question is, “what one word would you use to describe our late president”? Humble, God-fearing, generous, peacemaker, name them. And what bad thing can you say about him? Nothing. He left a legacy in this country that will be very difficult to forget. More than these words can describe him. All these back-biting will now cease. A person who never outer a word when things were being said about him. Most Ghanaians took his kindness to be his weakness and criticize him on that. Now that he’s gone, we will then know what we have lost. You never know what you have until you lose it. He did as a president, fulfilling his dream as a president. What will you die for or what will you be before you die? God will forever bless my humble president. His hard work, humility and self esteem will forever live on his memory will forever live on. Rest in peace father for all, Da yie Mr. President, sleep well asomdwee hene. Josephine Araba Aidoo Accra KUDOS TO ALL GHANAIANS I’m highly excited about the roles most Ghanaians played in ensuring a be-fitting burial for our late president. Starting from the funeral committees, I say a big congrats to them for a good work-done. They have indeed done their maximum best. From the chairman, to protocol and to the last person in the committee God richly bless them. They have really ensured that our late president’s final celebration has been the best. Also, to the security persons, God bless them. The ceremony would have not been successful if they were not well organized in ensuring safety. The roles they played were very relevant, guarding of the corpse, lifting of the casket, parade, etc. and able to maintain peace. To the reverend ministers, how could the whole service be done without the presence of God? And knowing how religious our president was. Their order of service, prayer, homily, etc was also appreciated. With the angelic voices by the mass choir was also superb. Their choice of songs was great. I was very much amazed when over fifteen dignitaries from different countries were present to honour our late president. Their attendance was deeply cherished. Watching the live burial from TV, I also noticed the distribution of the brochure, thumps up to the publishers for bringing out quality booklet of our late prez. To those who donated in kind or cash especially rlg have really showed their support and care for the families and Ghana. How can I forget our media? Till the time that the demise of the prez was publicized, there has not been a single day that any media station reports on issues concerning our late prez. Right from the day of pronouncement, there has been enough coverage on issues, documentary, press release and others concerning the late president. At the comfort of our homes, one can watch the ceremony live coverage as if he or she was there. I was really impressed at their turnout. Cleanliness they say is next to Godliness. The city could not have been tidy after the ceremony if zoom lion had not turned out. Good work done. Lastly to all Ghanaians, God bless us all for maintaining peace and stability and united as prof would love us to be. To wrap up, the vacuum that has been left behind, I pray that God be our comforter especially to the wife, son, families, government and NDC. God bless us all; rest in peace His Excellency Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills. JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO ACCRA

BE PASSIONATE ABOUT YOUR WORK!
There is the need to be passionate about the profession you choose. Being it a journalist, teacher, labourer or a doctor.
Most people delve into professions they least expected. Either for fun or that was the only option they had or for the money.
Every profession is very important and has a quota to play in the country.
A friend once told me that, she would be a nurse because she did not get admission to the university. I asked her whether she had the passion for it or she would be dedicated. There was no response.
I have been to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for about some weeks now and can confidently conclude that some nurses and some few medical students (student’s doctors) are impatience.
Some patients need time to recover whilst others need much attention but some of the nurses do not do so. They take certain things for granted. They should bare in mind that, they want to save life that is why they are there.
I plead with all nurses and doctors all over the country to exercise patience as they have always been doing to save life of our dear ones.
JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO
ACCRA




NATIONAL SERVICE POSTING
Every year, students complain about the national service posting. Either they have been posted to a place they do not know of or to do something that is not related to their course.
My sister was posted to a school which had been closed down for some years. Meanwhile she was a biology student.
I asked those in authority at NSS to please post us to places that are convenient.
They do not consider the fact that the person studied a particular course and ought to be posted at an appropriate place.
Most people are being posted to teach whilst they do not know how to do so. It is the students who suffer in return.
I pray this batch and the rest would be posted at vantage places.
JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO
ACCRA

CREATE AWARENESS ON KIDNEY FAILURE
Sickness does not know young or old. It affects everyone and brings sadness to relatives.
People pay more attention to sicknesses like malaria, cholera and others but forget that the liver, kidney, heart and others contribute to other sickness.
I did not know anything about renal (kidney) failure until a close relative of my relative was diagnosed.
In her case, the doctors were scared to tell her earlier so they kept it from her and gave her medicines for some time. For some years, they told her that her kidneys are not functioning properly. If the doctors had told her earlier she could have been acute, meaning, she can come for dialysis from time to time and her sickness would not be severe.
The question is, what is Chronic Renal Failure, what are the causes, symptoms, effects and preventions? Renal failure is "loss of renal function, either acute or chronic, that results in azotemia and syndrome of uremia.” (Medilexicon's medical dictionary)
Chronic kidney failure, also known as chronic renal failure, chronic renal disease, or chronic kidney disease, is a slow progressive loss of kidney function over a period of several years. Eventually the patient has permanent kidney failure. Chronic kidney failure is much more common than people realize, and often goes undetected and undiagnosed until the disease is well advanced and kidney failure is fairly imminent. It is not unusual for people to realize they have chronic kidney failure only when their kidney function is down to 25% of normal.
As kidney failure advances and the organ's function is seriously impaired, dangerous levels of waste and fluid can rapidly build up in the body. Treatment is aimed at stopping or slowing down the progression of the disease - this is usually done by controlling its underlying cause.
If chronic kidney failure ends in end-stage kidney disease, the patient will not survive without dialysis (artificial filtering) or a kidney transplant.
According to the National Health Service (NHS), UK, approximately 1 to 4 in every 1,000 British people is affected by chronic kidney disease.
Our kidneys carry out the complex system of filtration in our bodies - excess waste and fluid material are removed from the blood and excreted from the body. Our kidneys get their blood and oxygen supply from the renal arteries, which are branches of the abdominal aorta (another artery). When it enters the kidneys, blood goes through smaller and smaller blood vessels - the smallest ones being the glomeruli (tiny capillary blood vessels which are arranged in tufts).

It is in the glomeruli that blood is filtered - waste, fluids and other substances are extracted and cross into miniscule tubules, from which the bloodstream reabsorbs what the body is able to reuse. What the body cannot reuse - waste - is excreted in our urine.

In most cases our kidneys are able to eliminate all waste materials that our body produces. However, if the blood flow to the kidneys is affected, of the tubules or glomeruli are not working properly because of damage or disease, or if urine outflow is obstructed, problems can occur.
Diabetes and hypertension are among the leading causes of chronic kidney disease.
Diabetes - chronic kidney failure is linked to both Diabetes Types I and II. If the patient's diabetes is not well controlled, excess sugar (glucose) can accumulate in the blood. Glucose can damage the glomeruli. The risk of chronic kidney failure is higher among patients with Diabetes Type I. Doctors say that approximately 20% to 40% of patients with Diabetes Type I develop kidney disease by the time they are 50 years of age.

Kidney disease is not common during the first ten years of diabetes; it more commonly occurs between years 15 to 25 after diagnosis (of diabetes). However, as treatment methods improve, experts say that the number of diabetes patients developing kidney disease is falling.
Hypertension (high blood pressure) - high blood pressure can damage the glomeruli. Hypertension is a frequent cause of chronic kidney disease. Systemic hypertension causes direct damage to small blood vessels in the nephron. The kidneys lose their ability to autoregulate glomerular filtration flow and pressure, with resultant hyperfiltration manifesting as albuminuria and proteinuria. When the proximal convoluted tubule reabsorbs the excess protein, secretion of vasoactive substances further damages the glomerular-tubular apparatus. Nephron damage activates the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, resulting in increased sympathetic tone and fluid overload, which compound the progression of hypertension and nephron loss.
Obstructed urine flow - if urine flow is obstructed it can back up into the kidney from the bladder (vesicoureteral reflux). Blocked urine flow increases pressure on the kidneys, and undermines their function. Possible causes include an enlarged prostate, kidney stones, or a tumor.
Kidney diseases - including polycystic kidney disease, pyelonephritis, or glomerulonephritis.
Kidney artery stenosis - the renal artery narrows or is blocked before it enters the kidney.
Certain toxins - including fuels, solvents (such as carbon tetrachloride), and lead (and lead-based paint, pipes, and soldering materials). Even some types of jewelry have toxins which can lead to chronic kidney failure.
Fetal developmental problem - if the kidneys do not develop properly in the unborn baby while it is developing in the womb.
Systemic lupus erythematosis - an autoimmune disease. The body's own immune system attacks the kidneys as though they were foreign tissue.
Malaria and yellow fever
Some medications - overuse of, for example, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), such as aspirin or ibuprofen.
Illegal drug abuse - such as heroin or cocaine.
Injury - a sharp blow or physical injury to the kidney(s).
At first the percentage of people who go for dialysis were between 13-25% but due to lack of education on it, there are about 46% of people going for dialysis. The percentage has increased drastically.
The machines at the renal dialysis unit are not enough, and also, some are spoilt.
Aside the process, patients are to pay a deposit of GHC5,000 before they start the process. Moreover, they need to pay another injection which causes more than 4million. Each month, patients are to pay a certain amount for dialysis. If they fail to do so, they would be stopped from coming (and it’s obvious they will die).
Of late, the youth are undergoing dialysis, as young as 6years.
I plead with the government to subsidise the fees and also the media and medical practitioners should help create awareness of kidney failure because it is equally important as any other disease, and also the percentage of people who do not know about it is very high.
JOSEPHINE ARABA AIDOO
ACCRA

SOURCES
American Diabetes Association. Clinical practice recommendations 2001. Diabetes Care. 2001;24(suppl):S69–72.
CATHERINE S. SNIVELY, M.D., and CECILIA GUTIERREZ, M.D., University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, California
Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, Cushman WC, Green LA, Izzo JL Jr, et al. Seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. The JNC 7 report [published correction appears in JAMA 2003;290:197]. JAMA. 2003;289:2560–72.
Excerpts from the United States Renal Data System’s 2000 annual data report: atlas of end-stage renal disease in the United States. Am J Kidney Dis. 2000;36(6 suppl 2):S1–137.
Kasiske BL, Kalil RS, Ma JZ, Liao M, Keane WF. Effect of antihypertensive therapy on the kidney in patients with diabetes: a meta-regression analysis. Ann Intern Med. 1993;118:129–38.
Levey AS, Bosch JP, Lewis JB, Greene T, Rogers N, Roth D. A more accurate method to estimate glomerular filtration rate from serum creatinine: a new prediction equation. Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study Group. Ann Intern Med. 1999;130:461–70.