The Eastern Regional Director of Health, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyirah, has revealed that there was an increase in cases of diabetes and hypertension in the region. He said 107,701 new cases of hypertension were recorded last year as against 54,582 in 2006. The trend was much similar in the case of diabetes which recorded 54,582 cases in 2007 as against 23,567 in 2006. Dr Appiah-Denkyirah was speaking at this year’s Annual Performance Review Meeting of the Eastern Regional branch of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in Koforidua. He said still births in the region, however, reduced slightly from 1,287 in 2006 to 1,247 last year while under five childhood deaths improved from 560 in 2006 to 486 last year. Dr Appiah-Denkyirah noted that most of the childhood deaths occurred during deliveries. The Health Director indicated that infant mortality was highly prevalent among one month old babies. To reduce the incidence of infant and maternal mortalities, the Eastern Regional Health Administration, he said, had decided that all pregnant women should be visited at home and counselled on how to ensure safe delivery. He stressed the need for pregnant women to eat well and sleep under treated mosquito nets prevent diseases that could affect their newly born babies. According to him, families of pregnant women would also be educated to keep them abreast of the dangers associated with pregnancy. The Presiding Member of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly, Odeefuo Boadi Asiedu, appealed to stakeholders in the oil industry to allocate substantial resources to the health sector. He expressed regret that the health sector had been bedevilled with inadequate allocation of resources. Source: GNA