Preventive Medicine & Public Health

Biography

Dr. Paul Amo Kyeremeh is a Ghanaian, and the President of Mid-North Ghana Conference of Seventh Day Adventist Church. He holds degrees in BA Religions, MPH in Health Ministries, and DrPH in Preventive Health Care. Currently he is pursuing PhD in Development Administration at Philippines Christian University to blend Public Health and Development as a tool towards a Nation building and Life Extension. Dr. Amo is a Pastor of Seventh Day Adventist Church, Public Health Expert in Preventive Health Care (Metabolic Syndrome Risk) who has given several motivational talks on contemporary issues in Public Health, and development to groups, individuals, and institutions in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Philippines, and China. Again he has served as Administrator of SDA Hospital Sunyani – Ghana. On Development, he is known for capacity building and infrastructural developments. Dr. Amo advocates for equity, and social justices. Again he has served on several boards such as ADRA Ghana, Advent Press, Pisgah Advanced Medical Center, as Health Director of Mid-West Ghana Conference of SDA, etc. Interestingly he is a co-founder of Pisgah Advanced Medical Center, & the founder of Center For Life Transforming, all in Ghana. Last but not the least he is adjunct Public Health lecture for the school of graduate studies of Adventist University of Africa, Kenya. Dr. Amo is with the view that African is capable to develop itself with selfless leadership to prolong its life expectancy.

Abstract

Background: Overweight and obesity are cherished in most parts of Africa, it is seemingly considered as a sign of good living to most of the people without counting its health hazards, yet, there are scarcity of data on the prevalence or factors facilitating the risk of high body mass index (BMI) in some parts of Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. This study was conducted from six traditional areas to ascertain whether the residence are at high risk of overweight and obesity to encourage researchers to figure out specific lifestyle medicinal intervention models to mediate the problem.

Method: This data was obtained from the Department of Preventive Healthcare and Lifestyle Medicine at Valley View University, Techiman Campus. The BMI of 500 respondents were obtained, both were males and females between 18 and 59 years old. The respondents were from Techiman, Nkoranza, Atebubu, Kwamedanso, Yeji and Kajiji traditional areas. BMI calculator was used for the assessment.

Study Design & Delimitations: The study is basically cross sessional. This paper is to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in order to introduce lifestyle medicinal measure to prevent arrest and reverse overweight and obesity. It is limited to its causes among the respondents. Also, the respondents were not based on random sampling. The data for this research was obtained from community health screening, and those who were willing were all included in the study.

Results: High BMI was detected among the respondents. 235 (47%) of the sample respondents had normal BMI of 18.5-≤24.9 while 265 (53%) had BMI of ≥25 to ≥30 representing overweight and obesity.

Conclusion: Policies to control and prevent overweight and obesity should be taken into account respectively. Overweight and obesity is gaining deeper grounds in the selected areas for the study. Without standard and proven lifestyle medicinalintervention models, complications due to overweight and obesity may seriously affect both individual and the national economic indicators in the context of health.