Kumasi, March 2, GNA - The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) at the weekend organized a durbar to sensitize students in second cycle institutions in the Ashanti Region on fire prevention and basic first aid techniques.

The durbar formed part of activities lined up by the NADMO to commemorate this year's World Civil Defence Day which is being celebrated on the theme: "Civil Defence and Basic First Aid Techniques".

In an address read for him, the Secretary-General of the International Defence Organisation Nawaf Al-Sleibi expressed concern about the increasing rate of disasters worldwide. He said the only economically viable solution to the problem was to increase first aid training among individuals and the public to know essential life-saving techniques.

Mr Al-Sleibi appealed to policy makers to implement the necessary procedures to make basic first aid training widely accessible so that everybody would know what to do when faced with a victim of an emergency situation.

He called on civil defence agents to undertake daily rescue operations to help spread the message to the entire population to instil in them the best practice procedures to undertake before the arrival of emergency services. This, he said, would not only benefit the health and wellbeing of the public, but also simply serve to enhance the image of the Civil Defence Organization.

Dr John Adabie Appiah of the Child Health Care Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, who spoke on "Cholera, its causes and prevention," said it was very important to check the spread of the disease before it got out of control. He explained the symptoms associated with the disease as vomiting and diarrhoea and advised the people to ensure proper hygiene and sanitary conditions in their environment at all times. Mr Issifu Alhassan, Assistant Divisional Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service in Kumasi, who took the participants through some techniques in fire prevention, stressed the need for individuals and institutions to have fire extinguishers around them. Mr Kofi Osei Amponsah, Ashanti Regional Coordinator of NADMO, said the objective of the ICDO was to help member states to develop structures to ensure the protection of lives, property and the environment.

He called on member states to create the awareness on basic first aid techniques which every citizen should know as a civic responsibility.