Koforidua (Greater Accra), 12 Feb. '99 -

Koforidua will host delegates to the Joint 33rd World Tourism Organisation (WTO) Commission for Africa meeting and the 24th Africa Travel Association (ATA) annual congress on May four, this year. The six-day annual congress is expected to attract 1,500 delegates including tour operators and travel writers from North America as well as national and private tourism practitioners in Africa. The Eastern regional minister, Miss Patience Adow, announced this at the maiden "Meet the Press" series organised by the Eastern regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) at Koforidua yesterday. She appealed for public co-operation with the Regional Co- ordinating Council (RCC) and the New Juaben Municipal Assembly to ensure the success of the programme. Miss Adow said, as part of a regional tourism development programme, the Akuapem South and Yilo Krobo districts have been selected for a pilot project which is a collaborative effort between the Ghana Tourism Board and the US Peace Corps to develop structures for community-based nature tourism. On health, she said the region has instituted a 24-hour emergency service at the Koforidua Regional Hospital while the other district hospitals, except Kibi, Donkorkrom and Akwatia St Dominic Hospitals, have set up "Quality Assurance Teams" to provide specialised services. The region currently has 19 hospitals, 10 clinics, 42 health posts/centres and 79 maternal/child health units with 90 doctors, 15 pharmacists and 1,643 nurses. Miss Adow said 67 cases of buruli ulcer were reported in the region last year with the Akuapem South district topping with 49 cases, while 120 cases of guinea worm cases were reported out of which 81 were from the Afram Plains. Miss Adow said the government had drawn up a programme to improve roads, agriculture, and environmental protection in the and urged the media to help educate the public on their civic responsibilities and accelerate the rate of development in the region. The Eastern Regional chairman of the GJA, Mr Edmund Quaynor, in his welcoming address, explained that the programme was to promote an encounter between the media and public functionaries, the private sector and individuals who have contributions to make towards the development of the region. During an open forum, the Regional Director of the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation, Mr Emmanuel Fosu, told a questioner that work on the 10-million dollar Koforidua water rehabilitation project was being expected in the region soon to start work. On efforts to bridge the disparity between urban and rural schools, the acting regional director of education, Mrs Susan Kennedy, said a pilot package of interventions under a "whole school development process" was being implemented in 30 selected schools countrywide three of which are in the region. Under it, the schools are to be provided with infrastructure, textbooks, furniture as well as incentives to teachers. GRi.../