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‘Don’t use COVID-19 as excuse to stop attending child welfare clinics’
Following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the rising number of cases in the country, health experts say there has been a decline in the number of nursing mothers who are supposed to attend child welfare clinics.
According to practitioners, some mothers say they fear exposing themselves and their babies to the virus, hence the slow patronage in routine services.
However, the Head of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Accra Regional Hospital, Dr Nana Okai Brako, believes mothers should not put up such excuses for themselves.
The paediatrician, speaking to The Spectator, said that different forms of post natal care remained an essential part of a child’s wellbeing, therefore, mothers should not use coronavirus as a cover up against attending child welfare clinics.
He maintained that mothers could still observe the necessary health protocols and take good care of their children in the wake of the pandemic.
Touching on jaundice as one of the common diseases in babies, he said that the disease still accounted for a chunk of out-patient admissions at the pediatrics department.
The month of May each year is set aside to create awareness on jaundice in newborn babies.
Though statistics were not readily available, Dr Brako noted that the effect of neonatal jaundice in babies could still be dire if not detected and treated early.
He explained Neonatal jaundice as the “yellowing of the eyes or the skin of a baby which is caused by increase in a substance known as “bilirubin” in the baby’s bloodstream.”
He noted that the condition occurred within the first 28 days after a baby is born, adding that, the disease had varied effects on babies, including visual and hearing impairments as well as brain disorders.
“The first two weeks is very critical when it comes to detection and treatment of neonatal jaundice and it is one of the conditions mothers must look out for,” he said.
Differences in blood group between the mother and baby, infections and the use of camphor by some mothers, he noted, were among the causes of jaundice in babies.
Dr Brako, also the Focal Person of New Born Care in the Greater Accra Region, therefore advised mothers to always bring their babies out to properly lit areas for early signs of neonatal jaundice.
He further urged mothers to ensure their children were vaccinated against preventable diseases at the hospitals and child welfare clinics.
“Mothers should try to keep their babies warm at all times and also abide by the exclusive six months breastfeeding guideline as recommended.
“Babies should only be separated from their mothers only when mothers, due to a peculiar condition, are too weak to handle them,” he stressed.
Mothers, he said, should expect that they would be admitted at the hospital when they came to hospital with signs of jaundice in their babies.
Dr Brako insisted that nursing mothers should follow appropriate safety precautions and continue to breastfeed their babies as efforts were being made to combat the pandemic.
By Ernest Nutsugah
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
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