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Don’t limit Women’s Day celebration to empowerment — Physiotherapist
Having monitored the media landscape for a long time specifically on women related issues during International Women’s Day, no light is shed on women’s sexual activities as there are on entrepreneurship and women fitting into the corporate world among other pertinent issues bordering on femininity.
Renowned physiotherapist and specialist in men’s and women’s health, Ms Anna Hughton, who made the observation said that though painful sex was one of the very debilitating conditions that women experienced, it was one of the least conditions mentioned in our part of the world.
Ms Anna Hughton, is the Clinic Director of the Accra Physiotherapy and Sport Injury Clinic,
Accra.
Speaking with The Spectator Gender on gender health related conditions, she said that painful sex (dyspareunia) was an aching or burning pain either during penetration, during sex or even after sex.
She was quick to add that, “the case is even worse for some women who also experience pains during cleaning of the vagina, or inserting tampons, or anything with any kind of internal penetration, so it can be that it’s not only during sex, but could be even cleaning. Even if you use a tampon and you insert, it can cause pain”.
She stressed that, in a lot of instances women just put up with the pains they experienced during sex but Ms Hughton declared that, that status quo must change through education and sentisitisation for women to acknowledge the condition and seek help immediately.
Sexual activities are part of life and women must as well enjoy it just as their husbands and partners do.
“Having good sexual act is part of our life and part of femininity and if that doesn’t function well and you don’t also consider it that it’s an important aspect of you which contributes towards you being a female, then it is very unfortunate”, she said.
Causes
The list of causes and reason some women have painful sex is non exhaustive but Ms Hughton said, “If you’re a virgin, the initial sexual intercourse can be painful but experiencing pains afterwards is not right”.
Though some women could experience painful sex after delivery especially if they had cut,
women in their menopausal age could also have pains during sex. It could be because of endometriosis (a disorder in which tissue that normally lines the uterus grows outside the uterus)
Having had fibroids, medical abortion, prolapse (a bulging or falling out of a body part, such as the rectum or vagina, that commonly occurs because of weakened pelvic muscle), pelvic inflammatory disease could be reasons some women experience painful sex.
Additionally, women who have had hysterectomy, removal of fibroids, or other kinds of surgical procedures can cause a trauma.
Women who have irritable bowel syndrome (repeated pain in your abdomen and changes in your bowel movements, which may cause diarrhoea, constipation, or both) could unlikely experience painful sexual activity.
Again, some women who have very tight pelvic floor muscles or women who have had abortion are also likely to experience pains during sex.
In subsequent write-up, we shall throw more light on the effects of painful sex on women and marriages and the role of husbands and partners during sex and solutions.
By Portia Hutton-Mills
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GEXIM deepens relations with US EXIM Bank
A management team of the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) led by the Acting Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah met with the leadership of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in Washington DC, United States of America.
The Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM, Mr. James C. Cruse and Vice President, International Relations, Ms. Isabel Galdiz received the GEXIM delegation, which included Deputy CEO for Banking, Mr. Moses Klu Mensah and Head of International Cooperation, Mr. Jonathan Christopher Koney at the headquarters of US EXIM.
The meeting offered the GEXIM team the opportunity to share the strategic direction of the Bank in line with the resetting agenda of the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for the repositioning of the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one by providing the requisite investment to Ghanaian businesses.
Mr. James C. Cruse expressed US EXIM’s eagerness to deepen its existing relations with GEXIM and proposed the signing of a new Cooperative Framework Agreement following the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 to utilize US EXIM’s medium term loan guarantees to procure machinery by GEXIM for qualified Ghanaian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Mr.Sylvester Mensah thanked the Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM for hosting the GEXIM delegation and reaffirmed the Ghanaian government’s commitment to strengthening trade and investment between Ghana and its global partners for economic transformation of Ghana with GEXIM playing a pivotal role.
The two teams will be meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 US EXIM Annual Conference on 29th and April 30, 2025 to explore possible areas of collaboration and matching Ghanaian businesses to American companies. The meeting ended with an exchange of gifts.
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Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation –Pres.Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern over the misuse of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for personal financial gain by individuals in leadership positions.
Speaking during a meeting with Chief Executives of specified entities under the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) on Thursday, March 13, the President directly attributed the dire state of SOEs to their leadership, accusing chief executives, management teams, and governing boards of prioritising personal enrichment over organisational efficiency.
He pointed to bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures as factors draining public funds while SOEs continue to rely on government bailouts.
“Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation by appointees. The chief executives, management, and boards of these enterprises are responsible for this situation. Some SOEs have become perennial loss-makers, draining public funds with bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures while relying on government bailouts as if entitled to them. Many of these entities are at their lowest point in the entire history of the Fourth Republic,” he said.
President Mahama further noted that many SOEs have been plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement, leading to consistent financial losses. He cited the 2023 State Ownership Report by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which highlighted systemic inefficiencies and wasteful expenditures within these entities.
He therefore reaffirmed his commitment to reforming under-performing SOEs and ensuring they serve national interests.
He warned that loss-making SOEs will no longer be tolerated and will either be merged, privatised, or closed.
“I will assess you based on your performance. If you do not align with the pace of the reset agenda, you may be asked to step aside. If that adds to the horror movie, so be it,” he added.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
