Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Miss Ghana starts in Wa

Saturday, June 20, 2009 (The Mirror Pg 46)

By Rebecca Kwei
Wa, the capital of the Upper West Region will tonight host the first of the regional events of the Miss Ghana and National Dance Championship.
Media Whizzkids, the original franchise holders of the Miss Ghana pageant who has taken over the management and production of the popular event from Sparrow Productions at the end of a five-year deal, has promised a well repackaged event which it hopes will produce a Miss World from Ghana by the end of 2011.
The regional nation-wide public format of the event which made it one of the best entertainment shows in the country, was lost during the last five editions of the event and according to the Managing Director of Media Whizzkids, Mr Christopher Adama, the company was ready to go to all 10 regions of the country in search of a worthy beauty queen and a dance champ.
Mr Adama said further that the public will this time have some say in who represents them at the Miss Ghana final. Unlike previous editions where judges selected two beauties to represent each region, three contestants will now be selected and the public will vote to choose the one to go through to the final event in Accra.
“Our aim is to make the event more interactive by giving the public a chance to make an input,” Mr Adama said in a chat with The Mirror. “We think it would be exciting for everyone to participate in coming up with who wears the regional crown and eventually, the national crown.”
For the dance segment, individuals or groups can register to participate.
Musicians King Ayisoba, Kawa Stone and Sherifatu Gunu will perform at Wa.
This year, the winner of the beauty contest will drive away a fresh Tata Safari four-wheel drive as well as represent Ghana at the Miss World contest and sponsors’ products while the dance champ receives GH¢5,000 plus sponsors’ products.
The next regional event will be in Bolgatanga on Friday, June 26 while the Northern Region will take its turn on Saturday, June 27, in Tamale.
This year’s Miss Ghana and National Dance Championship is sponsored by PHC Motors, DDP, Bonaqua, Labadi Beach Hotel, ABL, Danny’s Decoration, GTV, Somovision, Soundcheck, Trendsetters and Graphic Showbiz.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

12 Wannabe stars unveiled

Saturday, June 13, 2009 (The Mirror Pg 46)

By Rebecca Kwei
For the next 13 weeks, 12 wannabe music stars will pit their talents against one another for the title of Star of the Future.
The 12, comprising seven ladies and five gentlemen, who were unveiled at the National Theatre on Tuesday, are Akosua Kyeremanten, Rachel Cochrane, Lillian Lanquaye-Tetteh, Pearl Farkye, Daniel Essel and Bright Korley Martey,
The rest are Christian Owusu, Rose Pomaney, Enoch Larbi, Nelson Narh, Bertha Bridget Kankam and Nyaneba Attuah.
Twenty contestants made it out of the over 700 who auditioned for the series and the number pruned to the final 12.
If their performances at the launch were anything to go by, then the judges face an uphill task because the contestants have real musical talents.
Although it was the first time many of the 12 contestants were performing live to a large audience, they managed to excite the audience with their joint performance.
The contestants were given pep-talks by some industry gurus such as Abraham Ohene Gyan, Amandzeba and Sammi Helwani on what to expect once they enter the competition and how to conduct themselves in order to survive in the music industry.
The next 13 weeks promise to be exciting in the search for the voice of a new generation, and to determine this the contestants will be put through different tests, with themes like Pop Night, Highlife Night, Gospel Night and Oldies Night. The number of contestants will be reduced till the final show which has been slated for August 22, 2009.
According to Ms Juno Turkson, the Public Relations Executive of Charterhouse, the National Theatre will be the home of the Stars of the Future as the weekly performances will be recorded to a live audience at 7 p.m. every Friday for the duration of the series.
She said the contestants would also be coached on stage performance, song writing, choreography and basic knowledge in copyright and artistes management.
The judges for this season are ace radio presenter, Doreen Andoh; producer extraordinaire, Zapp Mallet, and the CEO of EKB records, Kiki Banson.
The Music Director of the series is Mr Johny Fingers, while Master Mix Studios will provide sound, with music by the resident band, the Shabo Crew.
The series is currently airing on GTV, with the performance show airing at 3 p.m. every Sunday and the eviction show at 9.30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Those who miss these shows can look forward to the Stars of the Future radio edition.
Stars of the Future series is a Charterhouse production, with sponsorship from MTN, Coca Cola, Castle Milk Stout and Somovision.
Fans of the various contestants are urged to vote for their favourites to stay in the competition by sending their names to MTN short code 1750. The public makes 70 per cent of the decision of who leaves the show and who stays on till the finals.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

HIV prevalence rate drops

Saturday, June 6, 2009 (The Mirror Pg 28)

By Rebecca Kwei
The national HIV prevalence rate dropped from 1.9 per cent in 2007 to 1.7 per cent in 2008.
The national median HIV prevalence also declined to 2.2 per cent in 2008.
This was made known at the dissemination of 2008 HIV Sentinel Survey Report and National HIV and AIDS Prevalence Estimates and Projections in Accra last Tuesday.
The HIV Sentinel Survey is a cross-sectional survey targeting pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in selected antenatal clinics in Ghana.
According to the Programme Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme, Dr Nii Akwei Addo, who presented the results, the consecutive decline of the HIV prevalence was also witnessed in 2004 and 2005.
He said the Eastern Region continued to be the region with the highest prevalence level of 4.2 per cent, while the Northern Region had the lowest prevalence of 1.1 per cent.
However, all the regions, with the exception of the Eastern Region, recorded a decrease in prevalence from 2007. Three regions, namely, the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern, had prevalence rates of three per cent and above.
The Upper West Region recorded the highest decline from 3.3 per cent to 1.6 per cent, while three regions, Volta, Western and Upper East, had also witnessed consistent decline in prevalence since 2006.
According to the report, HIV prevalence in urban areas was higher than in rural areas. The mean HIV prevalence of urban communities is 2.6 per cent, compared to 2.3 per cent in rural areas.
For the age group, the highest prevalence of 3.0 per cent is recorded within the 25-29 year group, while the least of 1.2 per cent is recorded in the 15-19 year group.
The prevalence rate among the 15-24 year group, which is used as a marker for new infections, is 1.9 per cent.
The report indicated that 94.5 per cent of the HIV positive samples were HIV type I, while 3.8 per cent was HIV type II, with dual infection of HIV types I and II being 1.7 per cent.
For syphilis, the median prevalence for 2008 was 3.8 per cent, showing a decrease from 2007 which was 5.1 per cent.
The Central Region remained the region with the highest syphilis prevalence, with an increase in the rate from 18.6 per cent to 20.5 per cent.
The region with the lowest syphilis prevalence was Northern, following a decline in prevalence from 2.1 per cent to 1.7 per cent.
HIV prevalence among sexually transmitted infection (STI) clients almost doubled from 5.7 per cent to 10.5 per cent in 2008.
The Adabraka and Kumasi STI sites recorded a prevalence of 15 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively. The prevalence among females (11.8 per cent) is still higher than that of males (7.8 per cent) and high in the 35-39 year group (15.9 per cent).
On estimations and projections of the HIV prevalence, Dr Addo said an estimated 236,151 people, comprising 98,306 males and 137,845 females, live with HIV and AIDS in Ghana.
He said there were 22,541 new infections and 18,082 AIDS deaths, out of which 2,241 were children.
It was projected that while the number of AIDS deaths was expected to decline, the number of people living with HIV was expected to increase gradually with improved access to anti-retroviral therapy (ART), coupled with resulting new infections.
On the challenges, Dr Addo said there was the need to sustain prevention education targeted at the youth and other special groups.
He said the persistence of syphilis in some sites for the past years required further examination to explain its influence on the overall regional HIV prevalence, adding that STI services must be strengthened to ensure that all clients were tested for HIV.
The Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, said the country must not be complacent due to the decline of the HIV prevalence rate but maximise efforts to attain a further reduction in the HIV disease, adding that “a single case of HIV anywhere is HIV everywhere”.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Fashion trade fair for Sept

Saturday, May 30, 2009 (The Mirror Pg 46)

By Rebecca Kwei
Come September this year, a trade fair that will help Ghanaian designers meet, network and trade directly with international buyers will take place at the Accra International Conference Centre.
Dubbed ‘Clothes Show Live! Ghana ’09 it will operate as a fashion road show brand (Clothes Show Live) which has been running in the UK for more than 20 years where local fashion designers sell their apparel on the spot to buyers from the large chain of retail shops.
Speaking at the press launch in Accra, the event organiser, Eric Manu of the London Designers Fashion Show Limited, explained that the event is not a fashion show but rather a trade fair which will run for two days.
Although, there will be a catwalk show, Mr Manu maintained that it is a trade fair where participants will set stalls and show their new collections to fashion consumers.
“During the day, there will be a 10-minute catwalk show every hour by various designers, but there will be many stalls with exciting exhibits for everyone,” he said.
So far about 30 international designers of African descent are preparing to come and join other local designers for the exhibition.
Some of the designers are Kofi Ansah, Ghana, Imane Ayissi, Cameroon, House of Ole, Kluk CGDT, Thula Sindi, David Tlale all from South Africa, Bantu Wax, Ethiopia (based in US), Sika Designs, Ghana (based in UK), Deola Sagoe, House of Jole, both from Nigeria and Mustafa, Tanzania.
He said the event is open all — seamstresses, tailors, fashion designers, fashion accessories producers, shoe designers and makers, textile manufacturers and any industry that has a link to fashion from Africa.
According to Mr Manu who has been in the fashion business in the UK for close to 10 years, his vision came about as a result of a deep passion to help stimulate the fashion industry in Africa.
“Being from Ghana, I chose to make Ghana the home for this event, so that we may hold the exhibition periodically and bring in many participants from all over the world, thereby building on our tourism receipts too.”
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hanna Tetteh, said the fashion industry in Ghana has a great future if the private sector collaborates with government to create a platform to showcase Ghana’s potential to the global market.
Additionally, she said the industry has the potential of creating job opportunities for the many unemployed youth and urged the organisers of the event to link up with our tertiary institutions to discover the numerous talents in the industry that are produced yearly and create a platform for them to showcase their talent.