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E/R Director for National Culture calls for collaborative effort to end child marriage
The Eastern Regional Director for the Centre for National Culture (CNC), Madam Dorcas Salamatu Alhassan has called for a collaborative effort among stakeholders, especially with parents to help end child marriages in the country.
According to her, child marriages which involved young children being married off, especially young girls, have been recognised as one of the serious challenges in the country.
She indicated that the situation was a personal, life-changing tragedy which had a devastating and long-lasting negative impact on the child. She added that these issues could be solved through collaborative efforts from all stakeholders, especially parents.
Madam Alhassan was speaking at a community engagement organised at Kpone lorry station and Agomanya Roman Catholic Basic School in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern region by the CNC in collaboration with Department of Social Welfare and Community Development and funded by UNICEF, on the theme: For Our Bright Future, End Child Marriage Now! ending child marriages.
The community engagement was done to educate community members on the issue as part of activities and interventions to end the menace in five communities in the Lower Manya Municipality including Asitey, Kojo Nya, Kpone, Nuaso, and Agomenya, where child marriages were prevalent.
The education was done through drama and other performances by the CNC to drum home the message of ending child marriages to the community members.
Madam Alhassan stated that the areas which have been selected in the municipality were ones where such issues of child marriages were prevalent, hence, the community engagements were organised to educate parents on the need to collaborate with other stakeholders to end child marriages.
“Early marriages lead to early childbearing, which is associated with significantly higher maternal mortality and morbidity rates, as well as higher infant mortality rates,” she stated.
She said having many pregnancies at an early age was dangerous for both mother and child, as young mothers bodies are not usually mature enough to carry a baby, adding that since the child married off was not given adequate time to learn how to take care of themselves, let alone to take care of another person.
“Also, child marriages have negative effects on girls’ education and life opportunities and often such marriages put an end to a girl’s education. Hence, we need to put in strategies, intervention and activities as well as intensify the education on the issues to prevent parents from giving their children into such marriages,” she said.
For her part, the Municipal Director for Social Welfare and Community Department at Krobo-Odumase, Madam Grace Ama Baiden, said child marriage was as a result of economic hardship on the part of poor families who sell off their children to wealthy ones, and added that the situation passes on cycles of poverty, poor health, and low education from generation to generation.
“Early child marriage is a crime and anyone who is caught to engage in it would be dealt with by law and so we are educating parents and children themselves to rather focus on their education to give their children and themselves a better life.”
From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Kpone
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
