Features
PRIORITIZING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND GENDER EQUALITY FOR A BETTER GHANA
In 1968, a group of world leaders proclaimed that the public had a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. As a result, in 1989, World Population Day was established by the Governing Council of the United National Development Programme as an outgrowth of the Day of Five Billion which was observed on 11th July, 1987. This initiative was necessary to generate awareness among public about the population issues such as family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, human rights, environment and its impact on development and the impact they have on development and environment.
Interestingly, approximately 83 million people are being added to the world’s population every year. Hence, it is expected that by 2030, World population would hit a whopping 8.6 billion, and 9.8 billion by 2050. The World Population Day (WPD) has been marked in Ghana with a call on the government to make a conscious effort to make family planning available and accessible to people of reproductive age, particularly women and adolescent girls.
Last year’s celebration being the 30th year running in Ghana’s participation of the day pays tribute to the landmark International Conference on Population and Development which took place in 1994 in Cairo. This year’s global theme “ICPD at 25: Accelerating the Promise” offers countries signatory to the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA) including Ghana, the perfect opportunity to review the achievements and challenges of the 25 years’ journey of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). In the case of Ghana, a National theme, “Reproductive Health and Gender Equality for Sustainable Development” has been adopted to enable us reflect as a country how far we have come in terms of upholding the three (3) key ideals of the ICPD PoA namely human rights, health & wellbeing and sexual and reproductive health. This, according to the Executive Director of the National Population Council (NPC), Dr Leticia Adelaide Appiah, would yield socio-economic gains that could propel the country’s development forward.
According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ,Sustainable Development 2030 agenda is the world’s blueprint for a better future for all on a healthy planet. On World Population Day it is recognized that this mission is closely interrelated with demographic trends including population growth, ageing, migration and urbanization.
Besides, World Population Day focuses on the importance of reproductive health and how it affects overall growth and development plans and programmes. Population issues include family planning, gender equality, child marriage, human rights, right to health, baby’s health etc. This programme basically focuses on comprehensive reproductive health care including family planning, safe pregnancy, childbirth services, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.
Last year’s World Population Day celebration was held at Mantse Agbonaa in Accra on Thursday, 11th July 2019 which kicked off with a float through the principal streets of Ga Mashie, Accra featuring the National Population Council and its partners accompanied by school children. Various messages on family planning, personal hygiene, healthy living among others were disseminated to the public to create awareness on the need for gender equality and reproductive health issues.
The mayor of Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Honourable Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, delivered the keynote address indicating that WPD celebrations aims to focus on the need to accelerate the promise of meeting the goals of ICPD and other global and regional development agenda like SDGs and AU Agenda 2063. According to him, the year’s celebration calls on all stakeholders to strive to meet the reproductive health rights and needs of individuals and also put in place measures to bridge the gender equality gap existing in the country.
He added that, in spite of the progress made by Ghana after 25 years of the ICPD, maternal deaths were still high, unmet need for family planning was still on the rise while gender violence was still prevalent. Hon. Nii Adjei Sowah reiterated that these issues were what was considered as the ‘unfinished business’ that Ghana was supposed to address if it was to meet the goals of the ICPD and other development agenda commitments like the SDGs and AU Agenda 2063.
Furthermore, the Executive Director of NPC, Dr. Leticia Adelaide Appiah made it known that for any country to make gains in the field of population and health there was the need to expand reproductive health rights and services to reach every individual in the country. According to her, this can only be possible if stakeholders increased their efforts and adapted tried and tested strategies like the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) which levelled the playing ground in terms of access to polio vaccination and was effective in reaching all and sundry including hard-to-reach areas with the polio vaccine.
She indicated that today, polio has been eradicated in all but three countries worldwide. As such there was the need for stakeholders to consider using this approach in the delivery of reproductive health information and services since the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) had massive support from both international and national stakeholders and was delivered in a well-coordinated and equitable manner all in a bid to safeguard individuals’ right to health.
Dr. Appiah therefore called on all stakeholders to formulate policies and programmes which would tackle poverty and inequality in society since these are the main issues that limit people’s access to SRH information and services. When issues relating to poverty and inequality are dealt with, we would have a world where no one is left behind thus pave the way for unprecedented economic development due to the presence of a healthy and vibrant human populace. She established that stakeholders are to act swiftly in initiating change in the area of reproductive health and gender equality since it affects Ghana’s chances of meeting set goals in international and regional development agenda such as the SDGs and the Africa Union Agenda 2063, ‘the Africa We Want’.
More so, the representative of the Parliamentary Caucus on Population and Development laid emphasis on women and girls because they suffer all kinds of sexual abuse and gender discrimination in societies. Women empowerment, investment in education, quality and accessible health care delivery for women and girls are essential to promote a healthy living and bring forth healthy offspring. It is therefore important to uphold women’s rights to reproductive health and some cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), early child marriage abolished from our societies. According to him, the Parliamentary Caucus on Population and Development will help the National Population Council (N.P.C) to address issues on Reproductive Health and Gender Equality for a sustainable development.
Again, Ms. Anne Coolen, the Country Director of Marie Stopes International Ghana, reiterated that, there is unfinished business when it comes to population issues. Equality means ensuring that people have equal opportunities to make the most out of their lives and talents. As such gender equality is a pre-condition for meeting the challenges of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.
However, most West African government lack the commitment towards reducing inequality as women and girls are the most affected. This is as a result of the lack of commitment to funding of public services such as investment in health care, and education by most governments. She bemoaned the inadequate contribution of the government of Ghana towards health care financing since the Abuja declaration in 2001 which Ghana has agreed to make a commitment of 15 percent of annual budget to health.
She continued by indicating that, in 2017, the total budgetary allocation to health was under 8 percent of which public health received only 4 percent which includes family planning and reproductive health. In as much as Ghana has good policy on family planning, little allocation of resources is being made towards its implementation thus, investment in sexual and reproductive health is a major tool for sustainable development. She then said that, Marie Stopes International Ghana will continue to support NPC and its partners to make this a reality.
In Conclusion, the chair, Dr. Gladys Norley Ashitey informed all partners gathered that NPC was committed to strengthening its collaboration with the private sector so as to enable it execute its mandate as the lead coordinating agency for all population programmes in the country.
It would be of great benefit to the nation if various partners strive to assist the NPC to meet its targets. The success story of EPI shows that with the right tools backed with commitment there was the chance that we will have a world where everyone’s right to reproductive health information and services is upheld and prioritized regardless of location, economic status or background.
Writer: Solace Esi Amanka
(PRO, National Population Council)
Source: Ghanaian Times
Features
A focus on Mr Edmund Armar
Happy New Year to you all! Today, I am back with my narration of personalities and their accomplishments as members of the Ghanaian Diaspora in Finland with a focus on Mr Edmund Armar.
Mr Armar, affectionately called ‘Eddie’ by his peers, is a well-respected senior member of the Ghanaian community in Finland.
He moved to Finland in the early 1990s. He has lived in other places in Finland but now lives in Vantaa, a part of the greater Helsinki region.
Accomplishments and honours
It is important to recount accomplishments as part of the success stories of the personalities of Ghanaian descent in Finland to highlight their exploits both within the Ghanaian migrant community and in the wider Finnish society.
Mr Armar has been an active member of the Ghana Union Finland, which is a non-governmental organisation for the Ghanaian migrant community in Finland. He is always present at events organised by the Union and contributes to the various activities at such events.
Mr Armar has other accomplishments. He is the proud father of an adult (18 year-old) son.
Other unique characteristics
Mr Armar is a Ga from Accra. It may interest you to know that Mr Armar’s maternal lineage is traced from the royal family of the Ga Mantse. His late mother is a direct descendant of King Tackie Tawiah III.
On his paternal side, Mr Armar’s late grandfather was an astute and prominent businessman who also lived and was well-known in Calabar, Nigeria. Mr Armar also comes from a well-known family of educated elites. One of his uncles was a well-known mathematician who co-authored maths books used for schools in Ghana, approved by Ghana’s education services in the 1970s and 1980s as mathematics textbooks in schools.
Recently, I got to know that Mr Armar was a school mate of former Vice President, Dr Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, whom he affectionately called Mahamudu.
They both attended Sakasaka Primary School, where Mrs Benefo served as the headmistress.
Working life in Finland
Mr Edmund Armar has worked in various companies in Finland. He currently works with the Post group, Finland Posti, where he has been for many years now.
He has risen to a high rank at his workplace and has helped others to find jobs at that place and others elsewhere.
His role in the Ghanaian community
As I have mentioned already, Mr Edmund Armar has been very active in the Ghanaian community. He is still very active in the Ghana Union Finland and other smaller Ghanaian associations.
Apart from being an active member of the Ghana Union Finland, Mr Armar was once an executive member of the Brong Ahafo Association.
He has been a counsellor and mentor who has guided many young Ghanaian migrants on their career paths and has also been part of helping them to settle in Finland.
Mr Armar lives in Helsinki with his teenage son, after the demise of his wife about nine years ago.
Dear readers, once again, a very happy new year to you all. Expect more of such interesting stories about people of Ghanaian descent in Finland, about Ghana immigrant groups/associations and their accomplishments in the Finnish society in my subsequent narrations. Thank you!
GHANA MATTERS column appears fortnightly. Written in simple, layman’s terms, it concentrates on matters about Ghana and beyond. It focuses on everyday life issues relating to the social, cultural, economic, religious, political, health, sports, youth, gender, etc. It strives to remind us all that Ghana comes first. The column also takes a candid look at the meanings and repercussions of our actions, especially those things we take for granted or even ignore. There are key Ghanaian values we should uphold rather than disregard with impunity. We should not overlook the obvious. We need to search for the hidden or deeply embedded values and try to project them.
perpetual.crentsil@ yahoo.com
By Perpetual Crentsil
Features
Prostitution in Sikaman (Final Part)
Behind any successful prostitution venture is a pimp. A pimp is the official public relations officer of a prostitute. He manages the prostitute, supplies clients, organises the trade to maximise profits from which he earns an income. Occasion- ally, he demands a sexual treat and he is not denied. That is his bush allowance.
Prostitutes hire pimps because the trade is a precarious one. You have men who want hot sex on credit basis. They complete the act, get satisfied, and pretend they have no cash on them, so payment be deferred.
But sex as a commodity cannot be compared with a ball of kenkey which can be credited on a carry-forward basis. So the prostitute informs her pimp to make the customer pay or face an Osama Bin Laden revolutionary action. The pimp, there- fore, has a dual role, one of which is that he is a debt collector.
The collection of debt from a client can sometimes require macho, so the typical pimp is hard-shelled akupa who may not be too intelligent, but has muscle. He can deliver a punch and cause internal bleeding.
So he tells the defaulting client to pay up or save his shoes and shirt and collect them back if he comes to settle. No court case!
Sometimes, the customer cannot accept the terms which include walking home barefoot and half-naked, so he must fight his way out, in the process he can lose an ear, his front teeth and end up in the home with a swollen nose. It’s all part of life.
In Sikaman, most prostitutes do without pimps. They consider pimps as parasites who batten on the income they derive from strenuous work. Fact is that some clients are not normal in terms of the size of their equipment. They can cause collateral damage to the reproductive organs of the human female.
Prostitutes who do without pimps are experts in street-fighting because they face problems when it comes to handling cheating clients. A client requires three rounds and it is granted. Later he says he can only pay for one. Wallahi!
The typical street prostitute develops long finger-nail, in case it comes to teaching a client where power lies. She can scratch your face red and fix a finger-nail into your eye. When you get home, you’re likely to tell your wife that you’ve got Yes, Apollo in one eye!
Servicing a client can take different forms depending on the type of prostitute and caliber of the client. Some do not like fore-play. It wastes time and is bad for business. So they get you on and order start work. They have subtle ways out of making you climax quickly. You settle your fee and make way for someone else. No messing up. No messing up. No extra time. Clients who delay in reaching orgasm are advised in their own interest to “come quickly” or get thrown off.
Clients who want romance pay more. Those who wear condoms pay relatively less than those who want to go ‘raw.’ It all depends on choice. There are some who are prepared to risk AIDS to get sexually satisfied. And they’d tell you, “All die be die.”
The trade in sexual acrobatics and gymnastics is having its toll on Sikaman prostitutes. Prostitutes are getting skin cancer because they use dangerous chemicals agents to bleach the skin. Others get syphilis, gonorrhea and herpes simplex.
By far, the most devastating impact on the flesh trade is the Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV) which causes AIDS. Go to Korle Bu and you’ll find them there. Some have had a stint in La Cote d’Ivoire and come back to Ghana to do some part time distribution of the virus.
Prostitution in Sikaman is becoming a death trade because it is an enterprise that flourishes underground. If it can be legalised and brought to the surface where prostitutes can be educated on the health implications of their trade, it would do the country a lot of good.
This is being done in Namibia where 23 per cent of adults are HIV infected. They are about to get prostitution legalised to help combat the AIDS menace.
Prostitution is an evil trade. But anyone can imagine what will happen if there were no prostitutes. Rapists would abound and the incidence of sexual attacks and defilement will sky-rocket. Many men who would otherwise have been raping women are making do with prostitutes.
I guess to legalise prostitution would raise problems bordering in the moral psyche of the nation. But its practical significance can also not be discounted.
This article was first published on Saturday, February 10, 2001
