RNA VIRUSES & HUMAN SPILLOVER INFECTIONS, BY NANA DADZIE GHANSAH

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Note: this is a really basic discussion of a very complex and still-evolving topic. The genetic information that codes for traits in all living organisms are found in DNA or RNA or a combination of the two. Even viruses, not really seen as living organisms, have genetic material. They either code them in RNA (RNA viruses) eg. Influenza or DNA (DNA viruses) eg. Herpes.Where DNA viruses are quite big, RNA ones are much smaller. Also, RNA viruses replicate (multiply) way more than DNA virusRead More…

A Tribute to Mr. Rudolf Darko, Are We Witnessing The Passing of an Era, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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I have a lot of memories of medical school, some pleasant and some that I would rather not remember. Most of these memories are associated with faculty who have had some impact or other on my time in training. After all what is the purpose of medical school and residency but a highly structured apprenticeship program, and what good is an apprentice who fails to take a piece of the master with them.
I know very well that most of my colleagues who have all gone on into different fields of medicineRead More…

On the HPV Vaccine Debate; What I Learned About Sexual Risk from a Colleague in Medical School, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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Anytime I hear any debate on the HPV vaccine Gardasil, I remember a fact that most of us tend to forget.  This simple piece of common sense was brought to my attention by a classmate in a class on sexual risk and cervical cancer. I can still hear his voice ringing in my ears; “Sowee; de ting ino bi how many people the chick sleep with, sometimes all you need is one bad dick” He went on to explain this with an analogy using cars, he compared 50,000 miles on the German Autobahn to Read More…

Addressing the Risk of Anal Cancer in Baltimore City, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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On the first approach by our division chief to work on a project to develop an anal cancer screening program I must admit I was a skeptic. Like most physicians I believed high resolution anoscopies were not really supported by any good evidence and did not support the need for the procedure. Over the course of several months however a close evaluation of the medical literature left me with more questions than answers.
In 2014 as it is now there was no clear evidence supporting the benefit of anaRead More…

The Ambulance Conundrum in Ghana, Commissioning or Deployment; Which is More Important? By Dr. Teddy Totimeh

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I passed by those ambulances on a daily basis. Lined up in neat rows on the parking lots of power. The controversy swirled around them. The need beckoned. The death data swelled. And still they sat, waiting for the word to be given. The dust accumulated. The rust must have started already, the salt breeze wafting off the coast just miles away.
So a few weeks ago, I was in traffic, trying to make my way across lanes without being hit by a motorbike, when I heard the siren. There was an ambulance Read More…

The Benefits of Boarding Schools in Ghana from the point of view of a Current Student, By Jacob Nii Adjetey

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I deem it a great privilege to have the opportunity to express my opinion on the boarding system of education. Though the boarding system has its own demerits, its advantages convince me to opt for it rather than the day system.
To set the ball rolling is national integration, an indispensable factor in human development. As youthful as our population is, the hope of the nation thriving, depends greatly on us. Fortunately, the boarding system, among its numerous benefits, binds us together as a Read More…

When we Encroach, By Nana Dadzie Ghansah

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He is seen as the first patient who got sick but some researchers believe the virus had already started raging earlier than that December 1st when he was admitted to a hospital in Wuhan, China with pneumonia. By December 10, there were 3 more patients and by the end of the month, there were 40 cases.
Soon the world would hear of a virus that was making people sick in Wuhan, China and was going to spread even beyond China.
Initial work by Chinese virologist soon showed what the causative agent waRead More…

Sleeping Rough in America Today, By Leonard Sowah

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In my early days as a physician in Baltimore city I worked briefly with Healthcare for the Homeless and had many patients who were homeless. One thing that I learned was that the homeless in America have many varied life experiences beyond the common belief that mental illness and substance abuse are the most common causes of homelessness.
I still remember the mother of three who worked daily and lived at The House of Ruth a local shelter for women. Then there were a few who were chronically homRead More…

Preventing cervical cancer in Ghana: Education should be geared towards solving problems of the society, By Dr. Kofi Effah 

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January is being celebrated in Ghana as cervical cancer awareness month. This is laudable considering the fact that cervical cancer, a very preventable disease, kills many Ghanaian women. It is great to create awareness about cervical cancer leading to action (lifestyle modifications, vaccination, screening and treatment of precancerous lesions of the cervix) to prevent cervical cancer. Unfortunately, many times, people will forget about cervical cancer till we are in January when this is brougRead More…

How Do We Get Together to Conquer Our Problems?, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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In the US and across the world things can appear very chaotic nowadays and many have expressed concern over the nature of the divisive political rhetoric in Washington. The attempts at impeachment of Trump Administration has not helped this situation in any manner and only served to rev things up a few notches.
The question on the minds of most people is how long the dysfunction in our political climate can last without any adverse impact on our long-term economic and sociopolitical alliances? IRead More…

Mass Incarceration and Prison Gerrymandering, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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In the last 2 decades most new jail and prison developments in the US a country with one of the highest prison populations in the world are in rural and suburban districts. Data reported by the London Institute of Criminal Policy Research reports our incarceration rate as 655 per 100,000 the highest rate in the world similar to countries like El Salvador, Thailand and Turkmenistan at 618, 553 and 552 per 100,000 persons respectively. When considering how many of our citizens we keep locked up, oRead More…

The Ravages of Addiction, By Nana Dadzie Ghansah

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They are not hard to miss. There is just a look about them – haggard and emaciated. Besides, they carry the stigmata of their affliction like badges.
Their hair is often stringy and unkempt. Their faces bear marks of acne, scratches, cuts… The eyes are sunken into the sockets like there is nothing to hold them in place.
When they open their mouths, the dentition is always a dead giveaway. Terrible! The teeth are broken, carious, missing or loose.
Their lips are often parched and look whitish aRead More…

Should We Be Doing Virginity Checks?

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I spent all of Friday making the video below after hearing rapper T.I. say he had accompanied his daughter now 18 years on each birthday to a gynecologist to check if she is still a virgin. I have heard so much ignorant comments on this subject that I had to make this 6 minute long video to dispel myths and misconceptions surrounding the hymen as well as the dangers virginity checks have on women everywhere in the world. Illustrations of vagina showing different state of the hymen For thoRead More…

Can we allow women to control their own bodies? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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The examination room gets cleaned at least 3 times a day however the ever pungent smell of blood appears to defy all the efforts of our ever zealous cleaning staff. The smell was strong and overpowering. Even as I entered the curtained area of the room which afforded some privacy for our clients I could tell there was something different about this lady’s condition. This was not the run of the mill incomplete and threatened abortions that flood our emergency room all day long.
The malodorous aroRead More…

Sex for Grades Controversy in Two Major Universities in West Africa, Recommendations for University of Ghana, By Emefa Gadze

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A BBC report on sexual harassment and some blatant trading of sex for grades has raised a lot of concern within different levels of communities in Ghana and Nigeria. A Nigerian professor and pastor has been suspended from his church and university on this issue. In Ghana a lecturer of the University of Ghana cited in this report also faces suspension.
Whilst this has only been reported in University of Ghana and University of Lagos when these things happen we must as a society accept full responRead More…

How Worried Should We Be About Bernie’s Heart Attack? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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The Senator from Vermont and Democratic Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders had a heart attack whilst on the Campaign trail. Such events in US Presidential campaigns are usually very major issues however fortunately or unfortunately Bernie’s heart attack was relegated to back pages of the political news on account of issues related to Trump’s impeachment inquiry.
Sander’s ended up in a hospital in Nevada and spent two days in hospital getting out on Friday, October 4th 2019. On his discharge BerRead More…

The Opioid Epidemic, Are Pharmaceutical Companies Responsible? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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Today in the United States many families, cities and communities are going through significant turmoil, heartache and despair from the scourge of opioid abuse and addiction. This epidemic which ran amok and unchecked for about 2 decades is pervasive and permeates many aspects of our lives. As a physician in Maryland in 2008/2009 I had heard and read about addicts and dealers in Appalachia traveling to poorly regulated pain clinics in Florida to stock up on Oxycontin. This situation had been enabRead More…

The Rise of Designer Synthetic Cannabinoids, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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Sometime in the 1990s a Harvard educated chemist funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse worked with his colleagues to synthesize compounds that could stimulate the endocannabinoid system. John William Huffman and his colleagues were trying to find an effective cannabinoid that stimulates cannabinoid receptors better than THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) the active euphoria creating hallucinogen in marijuana. This research it was hoped will help in understanding the effects of the cannabinoid rRead More…

The Ghanaian Health System: Hoping for A Better Tomorrow Without Trusting in Hope, Dr. Teddy Totimeh

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When I saw the CT scan my heart sank. The beautiful symmetry that the brain has, the different shades that white and grey matter imprint on the LCD screen were gone. The lines that divide the electrical generating cells, from the transmitting cells, were gone. This was the aftermath of battle, and the brain cells had lost the ultimate war. And now even as the person’s heart and lungs worked together in the unison that is life’s rhythm, the brain was gone. Life had ended. And there was nothinRead More…

E-cigarettes and The Vaping Craze, Is this Safer Than Smoking Tobacco? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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As a physician taking care of a largely HIV positive population in Baltimore, Maryland in the early 2010s, I was surprised to learn that many of my patients who were about my age or a few years older than myself were coming down with strokes and heart attacks. I still remember one gentleman who in his 40s had already had 3 heart attacks and was fortunate to live to tell the tale.
The point of this short tale is that tobacco use is still by far the commonest cause of preventable deaths in most coRead More…

A Little Neglect May Breed Mischief, By Nana Dadzie Ghansah

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Robert Mugabe aka Uncle Bob died last week at the ripe old age of 95. He followed a long list of African leaders who died abroad where they fled to seek treatment after neglecting the medical facilities in their home countries. Mugabe died in the Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore. Over the years, Singapore is where he went for his physicals and treatment while the common Zimbabwean had to make do with the terrible healthcare services at home.
Anytime one of these leaders dies in a hospital abroadRead More…

Maternal Mortality in Rural US and Ghana are there any Similarities? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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As a medical student in Ghana I still clearly remember trips made with my colleagues to parts of rural Volta Region in Ghana to learn about the impact of training of Traditional Birth Attendants on maternal mortality. This experience imprinted in my mind how simple interventions can impact health outcomes. In many parts of Ghana most people live at least a half days walk to the nearest health center. Most of these health centers are under the ministry of health and have facilities for delivery aRead More…

The Silent Killers, Is This Just a Myth?

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Talk of the silent killer has many people worried specifically related to sudden deaths. In health though silent killers abound. For most of us the anxiety related to their impact on our lives is not one that is easily assuaged. In my own life, many friends, family members, and old classmates have died suddenly without any obvious antecedent illness. This unfortunately is more common among friends and family living in Ghana and other low and middle income countries. The phenomenon is hoRead More…

Is Religion Driving Health Policy in The US? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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This summer, on August 19th 2019 the Planned Parenthood Federation of America made a decision to withdraw from Title X funding. This program which is older than most of us was enacted by President Richard Nixon as Public Health Law 91-572 a part of the Public Health Services Act in 1970. The law passed the Senate unanimously and the house voted 298 to 32 to send this Bill on to President Nixon for his signature.
Judging by the voting record this law was very popular in 1970 so why would Planned Read More…

Faith and Government, How Do We Achieve Balance Whilst Respecting All Our Faith Traditions? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

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I grew up in a Christian family so I understand the expectations of a life lived for the honor of God. I understand the concept of Christians supporting each other to good works. I believe in the need for people of faith to pray for the good of their nation and its leaders.
In my life through I have seen and experienced some Christian traditions that go further than what I believed. I have heard and been instructed on the ideology of taking by force in Christian proselytizing which I reject. I hRead More…