Gender
Work from home – Frontline workers advocate
Some frontline workers have appealed to those who could work from home to stay home to reduce the rate of infections, from the coronavirus pandemic.
According to them, staying home is the surest way to avoid being exposed to the virus, which is wreaking havoc globally.
Speaking to The Spectator, the Director of Medical Affairs at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), one of the COVID-19 treatment facilities in the country, Dr Kwame Anim-Boamah, said the best way to prevent an infection is to avoid crowds, adding that if one did not have a vehicle, and had to join the public transport all the time to work, it exposes the fellow to the virus.
According to him, the public should take the precautionary measures seriously because the virus is real, and people are getting infected on daily basis.
“COVID-19 is real, patients come in everyday, it is with us, you don’t have to get it before you know it is true,” he said.
Dr Anim-Boamah said, currently, the UGMC is treating a number of COVID-19 patients, with others at intensive care.
He advised those who have chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes and others to periodically go for checkup as scheduled with their doctors, because their condition could be aggravated after contracting the virus, and urged the public to observe the prevention protocols.
The Greater Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Afia Tengey also urged Ghanaians who have the means to work from home “because, we have been made to understand that the virus does not move, rather it is those infected who move to spread it.
“People who do not need to be present in their work places, should be made to stay home, because one risks getting infected when moving about,” she said.
She said that, the police would enforce various preventive directives issued by the state to ensure lives were protected.
DSP Afia Tengey appealed to the public to always wear face masks when moving out, constantly wash their hands, use hand sanitisers, and ensure physical distancing to slow the rate of infections in the country.
She also called on organisations to ensure all the preventive measures put in place by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) were adhered to.
Mr Frederick Drah,53 years, who is a COVID-19 survivor also pleaded with Ghanaians not to take the virus for granted, and urged people to diligently observe all the precautionary measures to slow infection.
“At times I see people gathered and behaving as if we are in normal times, and I ask myself, whether people are aware of what is happening,” he said.
He also appealed to the public to desist from stigmatising those who have recovered from the COVID-19, because he had become a victim of the disease.
Mr Frederick Drah is a trader at the Tema port, who through his daily trek to and from the port caught the deadly coronavirus, and consequently spent 22 days at the Ga East Municipal Hospital where he was treated and discharged.
Currently, over 10,000 people have been infected by the virus, with about 3,755 recoveries and 48 deaths as at the time of reporting.
The country has been championing the mandatory wearing of face masks, hand washing, use of sanitisers and social distancing among others.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Gender
WiSA launched to accelerate growth, close gender inequality gap
Women in Sustainability Africa (WiSA) has been launched in Accra with an aim to accelerate growth and the closure of gender inequality gap.
Speaking at the launch, the Convenor for WiSA, Nana Yaa Serwaa Sarpong, said that, “Gender inequality gap cannot be closed by women alone, calling for catalytic efforts to cause a revolution in order to achieve such goal.”
Madam Sarpong also stated that, “this is the new beginning of gender empowerment and the new wave which must be propagated across Africa without any antagonism.”
She said the key to bridging gender inequality gap is two sided, saying that, “First is men standing side by side with women and secondly, the recognition of women as a source of labour with positive return on every investment that is made to build capacity in women.”
Additionally, Madam Sarpong underlined that the organisation will work with men, ‘he or she’ champions, CSOs, Corporate Institutions, local and International Development Organisations to bring all women and women groups together (especially those at the grassroots level) to foster the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across Africa.
The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, said recognising the proportionate impact of climate change on women, the Ministry has developed a roadmap to strengthen gender responsiveness of social protection programmes.
According to her, this initiative aims to ensure that their interventions were inclusive, equitable and effective in building resilience among vulnerable populations.
The campaign will be celebrated as part of the activities of May 1, and throughout the month of May every year.
She disclosed that in partnership with WiSA and other stakeholders.
Dr Lartey again indicated that he Ministry will use the campaign to recognise women nationally and continentally as sources of labour and agents of sustainability.
Furthermore, the Minister stated that the campaign would be rolled out in schools, media platforms and community spaces.
The Minister of State in charge of Climate Change and Sustainability, Issifu Seidu, on his part said, “African women have always been the backbone of our communities, playing key roles in agriculture, healthcare, education, and the informal economy.
However, he noted that their contributions remain undervalued and underappreciated in many spheres of society.
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
Gender
Plan International Ghana’s intervention enhances girls’ education
Plan International Ghana’s adolescent girls’ intervention in some communities in northern Ghana has helped retain adolescent girls in school and enhance their education to enable them to achieve their life aspirations.
These interventions included the adolescent Drop-in Centres, school Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, improved access to and use of sanitary pads and changing rooms for girls.
The Drop-in Centres had been equipped with indoor and outdoor games, including ludu, oware, and footballs and a television set, to keep the girls lively while going through mentorship and sensitisation at the Centre.
That became known during a field visit to the Mimima, Sagadugu and Guabuliga communities in the North East Region, where those interventions were being implemented to ascertain the impact of the projects on the people.
The visit was to climax a three-day capacity-building workshop for some journalists and media practitioners in northern Ghana organised by Plan International Ghana, a development and humanitarian Non-governmental Organisation (NGO).
At the Mimima community, where a Drop-in Centre had been constructed, some adolescent girls told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the Centre was empowering them to take responsibility for their bodies.
Agnes, 14 (not her real name), said they were receiving Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR) education, including menstrual hygiene management, which had enhanced their dignity.
She noted that had enabled them stay in school during their menstrual periods, ensuring their effective participation in academic activities and improving their educational performances.
Ms Hamdya Baaba, the facilitator at the Drop-in Centre at Mimima, said she had been teaching the girls good menstrual hygiene management and SRHR to prevent them from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Some parents in the community also praised the interventions as they saved their girl children from using rags to manage their menstruation.
“Some of us used to fold rags for our girl children during their menstrual periods, and because of that, they sometimes stained themselves with blood. But when Plan International Ghana came to this community, it taught the girls how to use sanitary pads.”
The NGO also gave the girls some reusable sanitary pads that they can always wash and use, and because of that, the girls are always in school even during their menstrual periods,” Madam Abena Miyanga, a parent, stated.
The Mimima community is also benefiting from the Educational Outcome Fund (EOF) project, where out-of-school children from the age of eight to 16 receive a nine-month cycle of literacy and numeracy training through Complementary Basic Education (CBE) and were integrated into the mainstream education.
Madam Miyanga told the GNA that her child, who dropped out of school, had returned and was currently in basic five through the EOF’s CBE programme.
Eleven-year-old Magdalene, a participant of the project and currently in basic six, expressed gratitude to Plan International Ghana for the intervention, as it had given her the opportunity to acquire formal education.
The Integrated Package for Sustainable Development (IPADEV) project constructed a WASH facility and girls’ changing rooms at the Sagadugu R/C Basic School to ensure safe access to WASH services and a place for menstrual hygiene management while in school. —GNA
