uniCredit deepens customer service

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

uniCredit Ghana Limited has pledged it commitment to remain innovative to meet the changing demands of its customers.

“Financial institutions should not only be interested in sanctioning persons who default in loans repayments, but should find new ways of rewarding loyal customers who pay their loans promptly.

“The company is committed to providing incentives that will promote a savings culture among Ghanaians,” Mr. Stephen Ameyaw, Managing Director, uniCredit said.

Mr. Ameyaw made this statement in Accra during the final draw of savings raffle organized by the company and was aimed at deepening customer relations.

The savings promotion which was launched in April was meant to encourage savings and also to reward loyal customers.

The ultimate prize of GH¢ 5,000 was won by Mr. Frederick Ackah Mensah of the Dome branch. The second and third prizes were also won by Mr. John T. Blufono and Mr. Dominic Gomez. They took home an LCD TV and a refrigerator respectively.

The ultimate prize winner, Mr. Ackah Mensah, expressed excitement at the gesture by uniCredit and said the prize was going to boost his business.

He expressed confidence in the promotion and said uniCredit has lived its brand promise of being a caring partner and encouraged fellow businessmen to partner with uniCredit for the success of their businesses.

FDB orders Pfizer to recall drugs

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

The Food and Drugs Board has ordered Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company to recall its Camoquine-Plus Suspension drug, fearing the drug is substandard and may lead to severe life- threatening complications or death if administered to patients.

“The FDB after subjecting the drug to several tests in the laboratory realised it lacked the active ingredients in the right quantities.

“Pfizer should therefore recall all the drugs from the market for destruction under the supervision of the FDB,” James Lartey, Public Relations Officer of the FDB, told the Business and Financial Times in an interview.

Mr. Lartey explained that the drug, which is an anti-malaria medicine for children with batch numbers 985 and 986 and expiry date of November 2011, was manufactured by Pfizer in Senegal with an address as Pfizer Afrique de l’Quest, BP 3857 – Dakar R.P-Senegal.

Healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics, pharmacists, chemist, licenced chemical shops and parents are advised not to administer the drugs to patients with the above mentioned batch numbers since that would lead to therapeutic failure in the treatment of malaria, he said.

He added even though the drug is registered with the FDB, its post-market surveillance unit during its routine checks discovered that the ones currently on the market are substandard.

However, the Public Affairs and Communications Director of Pfizer in her response said even though the FDB did not contact Pfizer before the press release was issued, they (Pfizer) are doing everything possible to clarify the situation.

“We are doing all we can to recall the drugs but it is proving difficult. Pfizer does not encourage substandard drugs and these drugs can even be fake products.

“We want to assure the general public that patient safety is a priority for us and (want to) emphasize Pfizer’s commitment to safe and good quality medicine.

“We will continue to work with the relevant authorities to support further investigation into this case.”

ADB boost lending to agric

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

The Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) raised its lending to agriculture to Ghc63.29 million in the first half of the year, almost double the size of the portfolio in the same period of last year.

In the second quarter of 2010, a total of GHc28.48 million was approved for the agricultural sector; this increased to GHc42.92 million in the same quarter in 2011. Cumulatively, approvals for agricultural credit in January to June in 2010 came to GHc37.34 million, but shot up to Ghc63.29 million in the first half of 2011.

“ADB is well on the way to double its financing of the agricultural sector to support the government’s economic development agenda based on modernised and mechanised agriculture,” said Stephen Kpordzih, the bank’s Managing Director, in Accra.

He made this known at the launch of the third Food and Agricultural Show (FAGRO, 2011) in Accra, of which ADB is a major financier, and believes in the objectives and potential of the event to impact positively on the agricultural sector.

“I have no doubt that you do agree with me that one cannot talk of successful modern agriculture in Ghana without reference to ADB, which has been the mainstay of agricultural financing in the country since its establishment.

“In the last two years, we have adopted various measures to sharpen the focus of ADB on the financing of the agricultural sector and to ensure that ADB is highly efficient in agricultural policy lending for the development of agriculture and agro-based businesses.”

He said apart from direct credit, the bank also offers asset finance facilities to facilitate the growth and expansion of agro-businesses.

“Another significant policy measure is that ADB has positioned itself to lead in the design and implementation of collaboration and cooperation among key stakeholders in agriculture and development finance and will identify potential synergies and sharing of information to improve business delivery and strategic policy implementation.

“The essence is to improve on the entire value-chain process -- production, processing and marketing of agriculture produce,” he said.

He presented a sponsorship package of GHc25,000 to FAGRO, and said he expected the show will facilitate the exhibition of innovative production techniques to the participants and visitors, and enable the discussion of issues pertinent to agricultural operations.

Pfizer holds cardiovascular summit

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, has held its annual healthcare summit in Accra.

The theme for this year’s summit was ‘Think Heart,’ a call to action on caring for the heart.

The summit provided an elaborate platform for healthcare practitioners to engage in a robust scientific discussion on latest trends in cardiovascular disease and its management.

According to the Country Manager of Pfizer NEAR, Enrico Liggeri, the cardiovascular summit exemplifies the commitment of Pfizer to world-class medical education, capacity building and excellent services to the healthcare sector.

Statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) about cardiovascular disease are alarming.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death globally: more people die annually from CVDs than from any other cause.

An estimated 17.1 million people die every year, representing 29% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, an estimated 7.2million are due to coronary heart disease and 5.7million are due to stroke.

Low and middle-income countries are disproportionally affected: 82% of CVD deaths take place in low and middle-income countries and occur almost equally in men and women.

WHO also forecasts that by 2030, almost 23.6million people will die from CVDs, mainly from heart disease and stroke. These are projected to remain the single leading causes of death. The largest percentage increase will occur in the Eastern Mediterranean Region while the largest increase in number of deaths will occur in the South-East Asia Region.

A Consultant Cardiologist at the National Cardiothoracic Centre, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Rada Bulley, said there several risk factors for cardiovascular disease

The behavioural risk factors of heart disease and stroke are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use.

The effects of unhealthy diet and physical inactivity may show up in individuals as raised blood pressure, raised blood glucose, raised blood lipids and overweight or obesity.

There are also a number of underlying determinants of CVDs. These are a reflection of the major forces driving social, economic and cultural change – globalisation, urbanisation and population ageing. Other determinants of CVDs are poverty and stress.

Public Affairs and Communications Director, Pfizer, Maggie Olele, said the dismal statistics from the WHO underscore the need to generate more awareness on the ways CVDs can be managed, considering the increase in habits such as unhealthy diet and physical inactivity which increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

She added that the burden of cardiovascular diseases can be reduced. Individuals can reduce their risk of CVDs by engaging in regular physical activities, avoiding tobacco use and second-hand smoke, choosing a diet rich in fruit and vegetables and avoiding foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt, and maintaining a healthy body weight.

There are also several treatments for CVDs. Survivors of a heart attack or stroke are at high risk of recurrences and at high risk of dying from them. But the risk of recurrence or death can be substantially lowered with a combination of drugs – statins to lower cholesterol, drugs to lower blood pressure, and aspirin.

Operations used to treat CVDs include coronary artery bypass, balloon angioplasty, valve repair and replacement, heart transplantation, and artificial heart operations.

Africa Youth Confab to open in Accra.

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

The 3^rd African Youth and Governance Conference (AYGC) has been launched in Accra.

This year’s event is dubbed the African Youth Economic Forum, and takes place under the theme, Dialogue and Mutual Understanding: Our Year Our Voice, which was adopted by the UN in celebration of its 2011 International Year of Youth.

The conference seeks to evaluate five economic development focus areas: education, ICT, natural resources and environment, employment and entrepreneurship, and agriculture. These areas have been identified as key catalyst for sustaining growth and prosperity.

At the launch of the conference, which begins from August 10^th to 12^th at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Programmes Manager and Senior Research Officer, Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Mr. Kojo Asante, said the focus and aim of the conference is to get the youth who form the majority of the population into economic development.

“With the highest birth rate of any continent, Africa’s population is projected to grow to two billion by 2050. More than half of Africa’s population is under 25 years and 36% of the working-age population is made up of young people between the ages of 15-24 years in Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

He added, because of the youth bulge on the continent, the number of young people looking for work and other life supporting opportunities such as quality education, good health and proper housing is expected to increase by 28%.

This therefore puts enormous pressure on policy makers to develop policies that can take advantage of the youth to propel the development of the continent. Failure to address youth employment issues will have serious consequences for Africa’s economies and societies.

Several countries in the region have identified youth employment as an important challenge in the development agenda, particularly as these relates to the issues of skills development, the growth agenda and empowerment agenda.

The continent has therefore developed the African Youth Charter which has been signed by 37 countries and also introduced other policy initiatives to address the problem.

“Africa therefore has the opportunity to build a workforce to bring the development that we want. The aim of this conference is to groom the youth into becoming intellectuals and entrepreneurs who will develop the continent to match up to the status of the developed world,” he said.

The conference, will submit its deliberations and recommendations to the October 2011 African Forum in Addis Ababa with support of the UN Economic Commission for African for consideration and appraisal.

Mr. Seth Oteng, the Executive Director, Youth Bridge Foundation also added that, the forum will take the form of discussions between the youth and experts in economic development.

“The discussions and sessions will be very detailed so that participants can benefit immensely from the conference. The experts will be having one on one session with the participants, this will make the participants learn more and the experts can also impact their knowledge accordingly,” he said.

Panelists for the opening session are expected to get to the bottom of the key challenges to taking advantage of the Africa’s youth bump and ways to address it. Panelists will discuss the challenges and opportunities around the five focus areas of the conference.

The Head of Corporate Affairs, rLG Communications, Mr. Samuel Fletcher, said rLG is interested in youthful activities and Information Technology and will therefore present its knowledge to the participants through the provision of laptops, mobile phones and internet access for browsing.

The conference will be attended by 250 participants from about 37 African countries. Some of the moderators include Dr. Lloyd Amoah, Ashesi University Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Joy Fm, and Roland Agambire, rLG Communications, Dr. Anthony Cudjoe, UNDP and UNFPA. The Guest of Honour is the Vice President. John Dramani Mahama.