Gender
‘Domestic abuse still rife in Upper West amid COVID-19 pandemic’
Whilst frontline workers are battling to save the lives of patients from the deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection in the country, some wives in the Upper West Region are also battling their husbands over too much sexual demands as a result of the CODVID-19 stay-home protocol.
The high demand for sex has been fueled by the inability of some men to patronise other women such as commercial sex workers and ‘side chics’ in addition to their wives, due to the fear of contracting the disease in the process, and therefore have to rely solely on their wives for sexual satisfaction.
A Station Officer at the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Upper West Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service, Inspector Stella Niabi, who disclosed this at a meeting at Wa said this had led to physical abuse of some of the women who had refused their husbands sex.
Inspector Niabi was speaking at the launch of a Reproductive Health programme dubbed “Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence” (SRHR/SGBV) campaign by a non-governmental organisation, Plan International Ghana, at Wa last week.
The campaign would among other things ensure access to SRHR services as well as protect vulnerable groups, such as women and girls from abuse, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Wives have been sexually abused by their husbands because they denied them access to their bodies after they had had enough of the” stay-home” sex, especially during the lock down because of the fear of contracting the disease, the men say they are unable to patronise other women,” she said.
She stated that most of those cases were treated as civil cases and were resolved through counselling and other negotiation alternatives that had yielded positive results to the satisfaction of the parties.
Inspector Niabi explained that the CODVID-19 break from school had also led to quite a number of teenage pregnancies and sexual abuse of children in the region.
“Most of these teenage pregnancy cases come to us because the victims come to report the men who deny the pregnancies after they have put those innocent girls in the family way,” she said.
Touching on other abuses, the Station Officer said girls had become more vulnerable in the CODVID-19 season as they were over burdened with house chores and other responsibilities whilst their male counterparts idled about.
She explained that the girls were in some cases subjected to beating when they were unable to perform the many responsibilities they were assigned to at home whilst the males went scot free even after doing nothing the whole day.
“We have these and several other reports of abuses at home due to CODVID-19 pandemic, and so we are very grateful to Plan International Ghana for introducing a programme that would cater for these developments,” she added.
On his part, the District Development Coordinator of the Upper West Regional Programme Unit of Plan International Ghana, Mr Kamaldeen Iddrisu, hinted that the rampant media reportage on sexual and gender-based abuse informed their decision as an organisation to introduce a programme to address these issues.
“We have trained some young ladies from Wa, Sissala East, Wa West, Wa East and Sissala West Municipal and District Assemblies on the making of re-usable nose masks as well as sanitary pads to help them earn income in this CODVID-19 season to limit their dependence on men and subsequently limit abuse,” he said.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
When Ama Serwaa stepped out of her room that night, she paused at the doorway and looked back. Her two-year-old son was asleep, his tiny chest rising and falling gently. She bent, kissed his forehead and whispered, “Mummy will be back soon.”
It was a promise she never kept.
Ama was 28, seven months pregnant, and hopeful. She had been feeling unwell all day, but as many women do, she tried to endure it. When the bleeding started, fear crept in.
By the time her husband and neighbours realised it was serious, night had fallen and transport was hard to find. The nearest health facility was far away. Every minute felt like an hour.
By the time Ama arrived at the Ada district hospital, she was barely conscious. Within minutes, she was gone. Her unborn baby died with her.
In one night, a child lost his mother, a husband lost his wife, and a family lost its future. Ama became another silent statistics- another woman who left home pregnant and never returned alive.
Maternal mortality remains a challenge as far as reproductive healthcare services in Ghana are concerned.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines it as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, regardless of the duration of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.
This continues to be a great concern with majority of all maternal deaths occurring in developing Africa with more than half in Sub- Saharan Africa.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says, the country has recorded a slight increase in the institutional maternal mortality rate for 2024.
Data presented by the Director for Family Health, Dr Kennedy Brightson, at the Fifth National Maternal, Child Health, and Nutrition Conference in Accra shows a rise from 109.22 per 100,000 live births in 2023 to 110 per 100,000 live births in 2024.
Owing to the still high levels of maternal mortality in developing countries, especially Africa, it is now increasingly being recognised that actions required to achieve improvements in maternal health should involve comprehensive, multi-faceted approach.
Across Ghana, stories like Ama’s unfold quietly. There are no sirens, no headlines, no public mourning. Just hurried burials, unanswered questions and children growing up with fading memories of a mother’s voice.
It is this painful reality that formed the backdrop to a high-level Maternal Mortality Roundtable attended by the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, as Ghana intensifies efforts to end preventable maternal deaths.
The roundtable, convened by the Office of the President through the SDGs Advisory Unit, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), was held under the theme: “No woman should lose her life to give a life.”
But for families like Ama’s, these words must mean more than fine speeches and conference banners. They must mean real change that reaches the last woman in the last village.
Speaking with emotion and urgency, Dr Lartey reminded participants that maternal mortality is not just a medical failure, but a failure of care, equity and accountability.
“Saving women’s lives must go beyond rhetoric,” she stressed. “It must be seen, felt and materialised in our communities, our clinics and our homes.”
She called for strong community accountability mechanisms, warning that when maternal deaths are normalised or hidden, society becomes complicit in the loss. Every woman who dies in childbirth, she noted, leaves behind a trail of grief that does not end at the grave.
“History will not judge us by the speeches we deliver today,” the Minister said quietly, “but by the lives we save through the path we take.”
She urged all stakeholders, government agencies, development partners, traditional and religious leaders to move beyond promises to clear commitments, timelines and responsibility, insisting that maternal health cannot remain an annual discussion while women continue to die daily.
Yet Dr Lartey was equally clear that the fight against maternal deaths also begins with women themselves. She urged pregnant women to take antenatal and postnatal care seriously, noting that many complications are preventable or manageable if detected early.
Health experts present acknowledged a painful truth: some women delay or skip antenatal visits because of distance, cost, fear or cultural beliefs. But these visits can be the thin line between life and death the place where danger signs are noticed before it is too late.
Dr Lartey reminded the nation that maternal health is not the burden of one ministry alone, but a shared moral responsibility — from policy makers to health workers, from chiefs to pastors, from husbands to neighbours.
“When women survive, children are born, families thrive, communities prosper and nations grow,” she said. “Saving women’s lives is not charity. It is justice.”
Today, Ama’s son calls his grandmother “Mama.” Her husband still keeps her cloth folded neatly in a box.
Her absence is felt in small, crushing ways an empty seat, an unanswered call, a child asking questions no one can answer.
Ama’s death should not be just another story told and forgotten. It should be a reminder and a warning.
If Ghana’s commitments remain words on paper, more women will leave home pregnant and never return. But if action replaces rhetoric, if women are supported to seek care, and if communities refuse to stay silent, then fewer families will have to whisper goodbye at a graveside.
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
Dr. Akua Gyima Asante, the Medical Superintendent of the LEKMA Hospital, has urged pregnant women to attend regular antenatal clinics, adhere strictly to medical advice, and report early to health facilities when they notice any unusual signs.
She advised nursing mothers to practise exclusive breastfeeding, maintain good hygiene, and attend postnatal clinics to ensure the health and wellbeing of both mother and child.
Dr. Asante gave the advice after the LEKMA Hospital recorded nine successful deliveries on New Year’s Day, marking a positive start to the year.
She said the first delivery was recorded at 12:30 a.m., with five male babies and four female babies delivered during the day.
Six of the deliveries were normal, while three were conducted through caesarean section, Dr. Asante said, adding that the mothers and babies were in stable condition and responding well to medical care.
She commended the dedication and professionalism of the hospital’s healthcare staff for their role in ensuring safe deliveries and quality maternal care.
She reaffirmed LEKMA Hospital’s commitment to providing quality maternal and child healthcare services to residents of the Ledzokuku Krowor municipality and called for continued support to help the facility sustain its services. –GNA
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