Hot!
Give attention to women’s health in Ghana – Ms Oppong-Yeboah advocates
Ms Oppong-Yeboah
ACE broadcaster and women’s health advocate, Josephine Oppong-Yeboah, has urged the government to pay more attention to women’s health in Ghana. She said women’s health remains a global public health concern, as the health and wealth of any society largely depend on the health and wealth of its women.
She observed that due to gender inequalities and other social factors, many women in the country are unable to access healthcare, a situation she noted, has led many to their early graves or deteriorated their health.
In an interview with The Spectator, Ms. Oppong-Yeboah, said the health of women was fundamental to the socio-economic development of the country and that “prioritising the health of women will to a large extent help better the lifespan of the general population.
” She recalled that women’s health was emphasised at the fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, and added that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also gave attention to women’s health. Ms. Oppong-Yeboah said gender inequality in accessing care had further been heightened by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which according to her had worsened the existing inequalities.
She also said women and girls have been exposed to sexual and gender-based violence while their health had generally been associated with reproductive health.
She was of the view that many available services and delivery methods do not adequately support women’s access to health care, explaining that many health interventions do not take into account the realities of women’s and girls’ mobility, time, and material resources.
By Benedicta Gyimaah Folley
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
More more more
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
