Women, Media and Change (WOMEC), a non-governmental organisation that helps in shaping the lives of women in the society launched a gender-transformative programme in Kpone Katamanso Municipality in the Greater Accra Region, last week.
Abuses, including sexual harassment from stepfathers and older boys and domestic violence are some of the challenges adolescent girls have to contend with in Kpone-Katamanso.
According Ms. Dulcie Delali Attipoe, Projects Coordinator of WOMEC, a situational analysis report based on a study conducted through focus group discussions among residents in the area found that, some teachers in the municipality were sexually involved with female students.
She said the limited knowledge on sexual and reproductive health issues among adolescent girls were other pressing issues hampering the well-being and progress of girls in the community.
Ms. Attipoe revealed these findings during the launch of a Gender Transformative Programming (GTP) Turning Point Project, which sought to empower adolescent girls and a limited number of boys with knowledge in gender issues and other life skills in selected schools in the Kpone Katamanso municipality.
She said the project would run until 2022 and Women, Media and Change (WOMEC) implementing it. Global Affairs Canada and Plan International under the Women’s Voice and Leadership (WVL) Ghana Project is funding it.
During the presentation, data showed that teenage pregnancy and school dropout rates were very high among teenagers and adolescent girls in the area.
Dr. Charity Binka, Executive Director of WOMEC reiterated that, the Turning Point project would use innovative approaches to strengthen 14 gender clubs in the schools to empower the teenage girls in the formative years to make informed choices about their lives.
She indicated that, the project would also sensitise selected senior secondary school students, especially boys to become gender champions so they could positively influence their peers to become gender sensitive.
The Executive Secretary pleaded for strong collaboration with stakeholders to help empower adolescent girls in order to turn their lives around for a brighter future.
Dr. Esther Danquah, Director of the Municipal Health Directorate, launched the project, under the theme, “building the capacity of the girl-child for national development,” during an interface meeting, which was attended by teachers, health workers and officials from the Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education Service.
Findings from the report showed that adolescents abused contraceptives and, therefore, recommended that education on sexual and reproductive health must be intensified.
In addition, parents should to establish a strong relationship or bond with their children to know what goes on in their lives.
The report again showed that the COVID-19 had made the situation of gender disparity worse as the rate of teenage pregnancy had increased due to the pandemic and brought all forms of hardship with the rate of crime increasing in the community.
Mrs. Millicent Caesar, Deputy Director at the Education Directorate urged the teachers to support the project to ensure a paradigm shift in the lives of women and to enable them to get their voices heard.

By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah

The corona virus pandemic has really wreaked havoc in the world, causing many deaths and making others sick and putting a huge burden on healthcare systems.
Luckily, a number of vaccines have been developed and are being administered to people in various countries to help control this deadly disease which has now become an albatross around our necks in the world.
Keeping safe
Everybody is doing their best to keep safe. People are managing with the “new normal” regarding the safety protocols such as social distancing, not hugging or shaking hands, wearing of masks, regularly washing of hands or using hand sanitisers, etc.
The need to adhere strictly to the safety protocols has become even more necessary because of the different variants of the virus and how they are spreading quickly. According to health experts, a number of different variants of the corona virus are now circulating around the world.
There are many reports where people have accidentally become infected after all their diligence with the safety protocols. You never know, actually.
Boosting one’s immunity
Health and nutrition experts have been advising on the need to boost one’s immune system with healthy foods rich in vitamins, exercises or physical activities to keep the body strong and help to fight sickness.
A good immune system, it is said, helps to fight the virus and prevents it from doing damage to our health. We are advised to eat leafy greens such as spinach, and other foodstuffs such as fruits and vegetables that are rich in vitamins, zinc, and other immune boosting nutrients.
Our own kontomire and other greens used for soups and stews are very healthy. These days because I cannot get kontomire here (Finland). I use spinach to prepare green kontomire-like soup. I enjoy the more of this and other foodstuffs, such as plantains (I usually mash the plantain into an oto with smoked dried fish to give it an aromatic touch, accompanied with slices of avocado pear, which I eat straight from the apotoyewa).
A friend here recently told me that in their home they had made it a point to eat salad (with other vegetables) every Saturday morning. No room for complacency oo.
Why I will get vaccinated
Luckily, a number of vaccines are being administered to people in many countries to help control this deadly epidemic which has now become an albatross around our necks in the world.
I cannot wait to receive my vaccination. Some friends elsewhere have taken the first and second shots and are doing okay. They are so elated to have had that opportunity.
Ghana has taken delivery of its initial vaccines recently and has started administering. That’s good.
According to key health institutions and experts, vaccines are an important part of stopping the spread of COVID-19 as they reduce the severity of the symptoms in case one becomes infected.
This is one important reason I will not delay at all to take the vaccine. I will take it sharp, sharp. Again, who knows what happens should hoarding set in or if demand for the vaccines exceeds supply at a point in time? That means it will then become difficult to get vaccinated. A word to the wise…
The conspiracy theories
It is sad that there seems to be vaccine hesitancy in Ghana because of conspiracy theories, cynicism, ignorance, and worse of all, sheer mischief by some people. All this has resulted in casting doubts about the efficacy of the vaccines brought to Ghana and other African countries.
Some people think the vaccines for African countries are different from the ones for the Western nations; therefore, the ones brought to Africa could be dangerous and meant to depopulate the Black race. Some have even claimed without any proof that the vaccines would leave people with sexual dysfunction.
Such conspiracy theories remind me about HIV/AIDS. Conspiracy theories were rife about the disease in Africa with some people claiming that HIV/AIDS had been created in laboratories in the West to kill Blacks, that it affects only urban dwellers, etc.
In the end, HIV/AIDS saw many infections and deaths in Ghana and other African countries. Sub-Saharan Africa actually remains the most affected region in the global HIV epidemic and bears more than two-thirds of the global HIV burden, according to the UNAIDS.
Increasing the education
There is the need to intensify education about the vaccines to help control COVID-19. The key stakeholders—government/state institutions, health authorities, religious leaders, traditional authorities, non-governmental organisations in Ghana should all come in even more strongly than before to educate people in our localities. The media should be one of the leading groups in this endeavour.
Finally, let’s all follow the safety measures, especially the wearing of masks. Let the authorities constantly drum it home to us to help control the virus. Thank you!

The writer is a Ghanaian lecturer at University of Helsinki, Finland