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Group pledges to eradicate menstrual poverty in Volta Region by 2030
Some students displaying their sanitary pads
Mr Yonah Keleku, the Executive Director and Project Lead at Developers Net, has pledged that his outfit will work towards the eradication of menstrual poverty and related problems among young girls in the Volta Region by 2030.
Developers Net is a youth empowerment and community development-related Non-Government Organisation (NGO).
Mr Keleku said: “There is a huge menstrual poverty in this area, where young girls are either ignorant of menstrual hygiene issues or lack the requisite access to menstrual hygiene products to take care of themselves during such periods.”
Mr Keleku gave the revelation during an outreach programme held on July 15, 2024, where the NGO donated menstrual hygiene products to some adolescent female students at Adzido Basic School with the Keta Municipality.
He disclosed to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the situation has a lot of tendencies to lure the girls into immoral temptations.
“All stakeholders must come on board to help our young girls overcome this situation. That is why Developers Net projected menstrual poverty eradication in the Volta Region by 2030,” he added.
Mr Keleku also explained that a new project would soon be launched to reach out to other parts of the region, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas, for a similar outreach programme.
Madam Miracle Gidimadzor, a Public Health student, who took the students through sexual reproductive health and menstrual hygiene, said the exercise was timely.
“This will motivate the young ones who have just completed Junior High School.”
Over 40 adolescent girls have benefited from the gesture, with each receiving five packs of sanitary pads, coupled with the education on adolescent sexual reproductive health, and menstrual hygiene.
The team comprised health professionals from the Public Health Unit at the Keta Municipal Hospital and some students of the Keta Nursing and Midwifery Training College (NMTC).
-GNA
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GFP founder Akua Donkor passes on
Akua Donkor
The founder and leader of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Madam Akua Donkor, has passed away.
She died at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital on Monday, October 28 at 72.
Reports gathered by The Spectator indicated that she was diagnosed with respiratory issues at the Nsawam Government Hospital and was referred to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital where she died.
Known for her spirited presence in Ghanaian politics, Akua Donkor was a staunch advocate for the rights of farmers and women.
Her bold and outspoken demeanour enabled her to capture public attention and significantly impact the grassroots communities she aimed to represent.
Throughout her political journey, she distinguished herself by running for the presidency multiple ti mes, demonstrating remarkable resilience despite financial challenges.
Akua Donkor was listed as the third candidate on the ballot for the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
Her political career began with her election as the Assemblywoman for Herman in the Ashanti region, and she made her first bid for the presidency in 2012 as an independent candidate.
She was, however, disqualified by the Electoral Commission in 2012 and 2016 for the reason that she did not meet the eligibility requirements.
News
Stop using breast enhancing creams …they expose females to breast cancer
Mrs Enyonam Abiti making a presentation
Women have been cautioned to stop using of breast enhancing creams which is said to contain estrogen, predisposing them to the breast cancer disease.
Using such creams over time increases estrogen levels in patrons of such products thereby exposing them to the disease.
Estrogen is a type of sex hormone responsible for development and regulation of female reproductive system and secondary sex chart.
Mrs Enyonam Abiti, a medical officer at Madina Pentecost Hospital, said this at a day’s seminar and breast cancer awareness creation day at Sunyani in the Bono Region.
The programme, organised by the Bono Regional office of COCOBOD, forms part of activities to mark this year’s World Breast Cancer Day celebrations held every year in October.
Some staff of COCOBOD and women in cocoa farming used the opportunity to have their breast screened.
Mrs Abiti during a presentation revealed that one in every eight women was diagnosed of breast cancer while 1 from 1,000 men contract the disease.
She noted that early detection and regular screening was the surest way to salvage the situation.
She mentioned that habits such as excessive smoking and alcohol intake predisposes women to breast cancer.
Moreover, she added that people advanced in age, past history, past ovarian cancer case as well as young girls that menstruate early, among others stands the risk of contracting the disease.
The Bono Regional Administrator of COCOBOD, Michael Paddy Kwesi Asumanu, stated that the decision to organise the breast screening was to ensure that women in cocoa farming were healthy at all times to go about their farming activities in order to increase productivity.
“We don’t want a situation where our women in cocoa farming are infected with breast cancer disease to jeopardise the cocoa sector,” he said.
According him, the Regional Office of COCOBOD in partnership with the Bono Regional Teaching hospital would organised screening for about 4,000 women on October 31, 2024 at Goaso in the Ahafo Region.
The move, he said, was part of their corporate social responsibility towards women as the world mark breast cancer awareness creation this month.
Some of the women who spoke to The Spectator commended COCOBOD for the gesture and called on other institutions of state to emulate the example.
The organisers later held a float on the principal streets of Sunyani to create awareness on the breast cancer disease.
From Daniel Dzirasah, Sunyani
