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Connecting To Advance
By Dr. Kwabena Amponsah-Manager
It is estimated that by 2030, 40% of the world GDP and 85% of the world population will be in regions where water resources exceed supply. Scary? Alarming? I think so. But there are actions we can take now to save the planet for ourselves, our children and their children, or we can bury our heads in the sand. Saving the only planet which offers us home, responsible capitalism, politics and religion should not be at odds with one another. Why should they?
By Dr. Kwabena Amponsah-Manager
There is a popular saying that ‘garbage in, garbage out’. What this means is that if you receive poorly refined instructions, codes, methodology, you act on it as you receive it. When this is true, it reduces one to the level of a robotic machine or a lower level being.
What makes you a superior being, that is if you think you are, is that you are not at the mercy of the external instructions you receive. You have the capacity to refine and filter out the ‘garbage in’ so that the output is not garbage. This is the reason I do not run chemical reactions that explode and burn my laboratory buildings or develop ‘weapons of mass destruction’ despite the myriad of information available to me on the web and the library.
You are the middleman between the instruction, information and codes you receive and the output they are meant to produce. Whether you receive the bulk mixture from your accountant, PTA, spiritual leader, politician, counselor, etc., your role is to filter out the garbage, retrieve and concentrate the fine code to get required output.
There will always be garbage in, but that does not mean there has to be garbage out if you and I pay our part.
by Dr. Kwabena Amponsah-Manager
Doing something and feeling at the end that you did the right thing at the right time gives a kind of a sweet feeling.
Last week I was at Aketenchi, a village in the Western Region of Ghana to help train health workers as part of the Ghana’s grassroots healthcare delivery program. After the training, I had about 2 hours before our team was scheduled to depart from the village. I had a wonderful idea. I did something which was the most fulfilling part of the day. If everything works right, I believe I might have prepared the next presidents, UN Secretaries, teachers, pastors, businessmen and women of the next two decades, hoping every kind of luck under the sun works out too.
I called three kids who were roaming about the streets of the village and started to talk to them about the importance of school and education. Initially I was afraid what their parents would say if they found me talking to these children without the patents’ knowledge. I had no idea what I was getting into. Within minutes of starting, the crowd had grown to over 40 children and 14 adults. I was scared. I was really terrified about someone getting hurt with each child trying to find their way to get as close to me as possible. I had no security personnel for crowd control.
I talked to them about why they need to love school and stay in school. I assured them of the possibility that any of them can become the president, a teacher, a scientist, a pastor, footballer, a businessman or woman or the next PULSE volunteer to come and help their own community in the future. The grins on their faces were beautiful. They listened attentively.
I had some gifts (pencils, crayons, books, balls, games etc) that I carried with me to the village that day. Because I had not planned for such a large crowd, I did not have something for everybody. I therefore gave a quiz and the kids who got the answers right got gifts first and everybody else by chance. It was chaos but so much fun. Continue reading “Motivating Tomorrow’s Leaders: Doing it While the Plane is Still on the Runway”
by Dr. Kwabena Amponsah-Manager
Why do speakers often go over the time offered to them by their host or organizers? The simple answer is that we’re just selfish. We love to take more than we are given. It’s a pleasurable thing to do.
When you’re going to give a speech, one thing you need to remember is that, your audience will remember only a tiny fraction of what you say. If you believe this, then what sense does it make to try to tell them everything you know under the sun? At the end of the day, it’s the rush and the sweat at the end of your speech that will stick.
So if you are given 10 minutes to give a speech, take 9 minutes and end on a very good note, well relaxed and leave a good impression on our audience.
Take less, never more, than what is given to you.
I am currently in Ghana volunteering with Jhpiego to assist the Ghana Health Services in the implementation of a rural health care planning service.
I have mixed impressions on the state of affairs in Ghana, which applies to most of the so called ‘emerging Sub-Saharan economies’. Political stability, infrastructural development, the ‘IMF/World Bank economy’ and the real economy mean different things to different people. The same things will mean different things to the same person depending on whether one takes the ‘glass half full or half empty’ view
By Dr. K Amponsah-Manager
When you are not sure you have something to say, it is better to keep quiet. When you feel you have something to say, say it when the PASSION is high and the moment is HOT. Because this is when your words are going to have the most impact and you are going to have that sugary feeling of fulfillment after you have said what you have to say.
So get the timing right, and the rest will be money.
by Dr. K Amponsah-Manager
I have written on malaria in the past. Since then, much has changed and nothing has changed.
There are more than 400 million cases of malaria annually. Most of malaria infections and deaths occur in Sub-Saharan African where the most vulnerable are infants, pregnant mothers and seniors. In fact, it is estimated that 90% of malaria-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
Significant progress has been made in the fight against malaria as more effective drugs are made available. At the same time, challenges emerge as the plasmodium parasite develops resistance towards existing drugs. For instance, chloroquine which in the past used to be the most commonly prescribed medicine against malaria, even though is still used to treat and prevent malaria, is no longer as effective against the disease because the parasite developed resistance to the drug. There is currently no effective vaccine against malaria but there may be one in the horizon.
Even though malaria has not received global attention required for a killer of such profile, wealthy foundations, some private companies, and smart governments across the world are beginning to wake up and make malaria a priority. One of such foundations is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Malaria can be defeated, albeit, not overnight. The funding available for anti-malaria campaigns, and research and development is tiny compared to the challenges.
While governments, Foundations and private institutions work towards eradication and prevention, it is important for private citizens to join the partnership especially in efforts towards preventing malaria.
In the long run, I believe that prevention of malaria is the cost-effective route to take rather than treatment of the disease. However, for preventive measures to make a dent, individual participation and community involvement would have to be spurred up. Continue reading “Malaria: Focus on Prevention and Get the African Privileged Engaged”
Today is April 25th. It is designated as World Malaria Day. Unlike other celebrated days like New Year, Valentine, Independence, today is meant to remind us of the scourge of a pernicious disease that kills a child every 45 seconds. Malaria Day commemorated with speeches, seminars, symposiums and workshops that are meant to petition all us to put out collective effort together in the fight against malaria.
As a result of the efforts by civil society, foundations and non-governmental organizations, governments around the world, remarkable progress has been made in the assault against malaria. The situation looks more hopeful today than it looked a few years ago. Presently, 9 African countries are on target to achieve 75% malaria cutback by 2015 as a result of effective national policies and preventive actions.
Many challenges remain such as cut back in funding for research from advanced nations due to austerity measures. But the progress happening on malaria in Africa shows that when private citizens, non-profits, NGOs and governments pursue common goals with a common understanding, the results can be amazing.
As a society, when we set simple, specific, measurable goals against malaria and have everyone play their part, we can be hopeful that malaria will be history in our lifetime.
Do we ever say ‘Happy Malaria Day’?