The Africa Health (AHS) Supplies Limited in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) will on Friday, April 23, host the second Neonatal Jaundice Conference in Accra.

The conference which would be hosted virtually will also include; the Paediatric Society of Ghana, Day one health, MTTS and other health sector stakeholders to understand the impact COVID-19 has had on Ghana's health care system and newborn issues as a whole.

The conference will also focus on neonatal jaundice and an assessment on whether progress is being made on the fight against neonatal jaundice.
Speakers of the conference include; Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, GHS Director-General, Dr. Isabella Sagoe-Moses, GHS Deputy Director on Family Health and Dr. John Adabie Appiah, President of the Paediatric Society of Ghana,
"Other speakers are Dan Fritzpatrick, President of Day One Health, and Greg Dajer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Medical Technology Transfer Services (MTTS) and Mr Albert Ankrah, CEO, AHS.

The maiden conference was held last year on the theme: “Reducing Infant, Mortality Through Neonatal Jaundice Awareness” with the pledge of the government’s consent and support to promote the campaign agenda of neonatal jaundice prevention and management in Ghana by Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, the Presidential Advisor on Health.

The maiden conference advocated quality management of care for newborns especially those with Neonatal Jaundice and reassured that government would give the necessary support to AHS to assemble locally Neonatal Jaundice Treatment kits in Ghana, particularly the Firefly Phototherapy equipment.

Neonatal Jaundice is a major cause of death of neonates in Ghana and which is largely attributed to the lack of awareness, late detection and even in some cases non-detection and proper management of Neonatal Jaundice.

Government as part of plans to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is focused on reducing Infant Mortality in Ghana to achieve SDG 3 by 2030.

The Global Coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly brought to the fore loopholes in healthcare services and systems globally with Ghana not being an exception.
Countries thought to be self-sufficient in the provision of medical supplies and services were crippled during this pandemic as evidenced by how overwhelmed the health system had been.

Most countries are now putting in place measures to address some of the loopholes in health services and infrastructure.