The government of Spain is to provide Ghana with 60 million dollars for the execution of projects of high priority in the country. Mr. Amponsah-Bediako said the two governments have already signed a framework agreement and the money would be used to undertake a number of projects to improve the welfare of the people.

The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in collaboration with the UNFPA have organized a workshop under the theme 'The Role of the Media in promoting Gender Mainstreaming and the Protection of the Rights of the Child'. They called on the media to step up a vigorous campaign for gender sensitisation in the country, saying to "ignore the issues of gender is to neglect labour, social, economic and political issues."

The number of people over 60 years old in Ghana, as in other African countries, is steadily rising. By 2050, their number will have increased by 500 percent. For many of them the prospect of an old age lived out in poverty is becoming increasingly real, as family support is declining and no adequate pension systems exist. So far, little is being done to stave off the crisis.

The Nkoranza District Assembly is to develop the monkey sanctuaries at Fiema and Boabeng to boost eco-tourism, making the area a "gate-way" to the development of the District.

After more than a decade of digging, researchers in Chad, Central Africa, have made the fossil discovery of a lifetime: a nearly complete skull of the oldest and most primitive member of the human family yet known. Nicknamed Touma - or "hope of life" in the local Goran language - it belongs to an entirely new genus and species of hominid, Sahelanthropus tchadensis. And at almost seven million years old, it has taken scientists several crucial steps closer to the point in time at which humans and chimpanzees diverged. Yet as is the case for most spectacular finds, this one raises as many questions, if not more, than it answers.

Auditors at Korle-Bu, the nation's premier teaching hospital, have uncovered corruption in the hospital's procurement process that may be a cue to massive undetected embezzlement in which supplies that would last 17-years were ordered.

The United States Government has given an amount of $185,000 to fund the activities of five Ghanaian organisations to deal with violence against women and children.

The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs yesterday began a two-day workshop on the situation of women and children in the country. The theme of the workshop "Promoting Gender Mainstreaming and Children's Rights Protection in Ghana" has the objective of creating a good working relationship between the ministry and the media to help educate the public on the harm of gender imbalances.

To ensure that ICTs assume prominence in the mass media, the Ghana Institute of Information Technology (GIIT), in association with the International Institute of ICT Journalism, with support from the Ghana Journalists Association, is organizing the first National Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) seminar for Journalists working in Ghana. This landmark event will take place on 18th July 2002 at Busy Internet, to be attended by 60 selected members of the Ghana Journalists Association.

Tuberculosis is claiming more lives in Ghana than any other diseases including AIDS and kills about 20,000 people each year, Ghana News Agency reported Monday. Dr Mohammed Bin Ibrahim, director of Western Region of Health Services, made the remarks when launching the regional TB campaign on Monday. About 40,000 cases were reported in the year 2000 in the west African country, Ibrahim added.

The Kumasi peri-urban area is characterised by high rates of conversion of agricultural land to private housing. Kumasi, Ghana, is also situated across a major drainage divide, resulting in a range of water quality and supply problems. Collaborative DFID-funded research by Royal Holloway, University of London, with government and NGO partners in Ghana, aims to develop and pilot a sustainable co-management approach to peri-urban watersheds.

Non formal schools in Ghana match education programme with the farming pattern and become a hit among rural children.

The British High Commission in Ghana's has donated 65,000 pounds (about US $95,300) to two human rights projects under its Human Rights Project Fund. The funding is to be given to the Social Enterprise Development Foundation of West Africa (SEND), to implement a gender, human rights and peace education project. The project aims to address the livelihood insecurity of women and children through human rights and gender education and training.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has spurred significant advances in reproductive health policies across Africa. However, governments do not allocate sufficient legal and financial resources to ensure that the policies are effective, according to a report launched by advocates from seven African countries and the U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP). The report is based on two years of collaborative research and analysis of laws and policies related to the reproductive lives of women.

The government of Ghana this week began a major, multi-year initiative to improve the health of Ghanaian children by upgrading home-based care for common childhood illnesses. The first phase of the initiative, the “Home-based Care for Malaria” program, was launched on May 22 by the Director-General of Ghana Health Service (GHS), Agyeman Badu Akosa. Malaria is the reason for almost half of all outpatient visits and over one-third of all in-patients at GHS facilities. The disease is the cause of one of every five deaths in children under age five. The high death rate from malaria is due to a number of factors, but chief among them is improper or incomplete treatment.

USAID has allocated funds to support the yet-to-be implemented Code of Conduct for government officials, said Brooks Anne Robinson, the director of the public affairs office in the US Embassy in Accra. She said Transparency International and its local affiliate in Ghana - the Ghana Integrity Initiative - would organise an Executive Integrity Retreat for government officials to create awareness of, and commitment to the code, and said the US Embassy was ready to consider proposals on activities related to the code of conduct.

At the meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Task Force proposed 3 initiatives to be piloted in Ghana.

The Savings and Credit Opportunity for Women (SCROW), a loans scheme started in the Kaleo area in 1992, is soon to become the first women's rural bank in the Upper West Region.

A legal practitioner, Mr. Akoto Ampaw has demanded the return of stolen wealth of Africa stashed away in foreign banks by some corrupt and unaccountable African rulers and public officials as part of the move to stem the tide of corruption in the continent.

The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) has called on Parliament, the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs and the Ministry of Justice to support the promulgation of the domestic violence bill through Parliament.