Accra, May 9, GNA - As part of its role within the UN agencies to support government to mobilise the required resources to carry out census, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Friday presented 20 Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and accessories to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to help in its cartographic work in the 2010 census.

The equipment, used to pick localities, hospitals, communities, boreholes, among other things, is needed for effective and viable census.

It is also to help produce benchmark data that are essential for measuring achievement not only for the MDGs, but also government policies, programmes and priorities as contained in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) and other development frameworks. According to the UNFPA Representative, Mr. Makane Kane, the Fund supported countries which used population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy was wanted, every birth was safe, very person was free of HIV/AIDS and every girl and woman was treated with dignity and respect.

He said the cartographic work was one of the activities agreed upon with the GSS, adding that, strict adherence to the schedule was mandatory to successfully carry out the Ghana 2010 population and housing census. Government Statistician, Dr. Grace Bediako, expressed appreciation to the UNFPA for the assistance and noted that it would make the work of the GSS easier, especially in the collection of data from hard to reach areas. With the state of the art equipment the 2010 census can take off on a sound footing, she added.