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To appreciate pregnant women: Men made to demonstrate in pregnancy jacket
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For them to understand how it feels to carry pregnancy for nine months and engage in domestic chores at the same time, some men at Sankana in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region have been made to undertake a demonstration in pregnancy jackets.
The men were made to wear jackets stuffed with fabrics to the size of certain months of pregnancy beginning from six months and above.
They were then made to undertake domestic chores such as fetching firewood, washing and fetching water over long distances in the pregnancy jackets to familiarise themselves with the stress women go through in combining pregnancies with house chores.
The demonstration was mounted by the Community Aid for Rural Development (CARD) Ghana, a Wa-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) in a project dubbed “Maternal and Neonatal Health Project”.
The Project which is being implemented in conjunction with the Ghana Health Service is supported by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to enhance maternal and neonatal health.
The men wore the stuffed jackets for close to two hours attested to the fact that women were doing tremendously well by carrying pregnancies for nine months and engaging in various house chores at the same time.
But they were skeptical of offering assistance to pregnant women as they shared some experiences from some of their colleagues who attempted to help their wives or partners at home.
“Even though we have noticed that it is not easy to carry a pregnancy and work at the same time, we are aware that some men who attempted to help their wives at home were disrespected by them in public”, a pregnancy jacket demonstrator, Mr Timothy Yonye, stated.
He explained that when men empathised with women and helped them during pregnancies and child birth, the women got used to the support and relegated those responsibilities to the men as permanent duties which they did not sign up for.
“Sometimes we are able to support until the child is six months old or even to the time of weaning the baby; but some of the women will still want us to fetch water, take care of the child and will have the guts to embarrass us in public when we are with our friends”, he said.
In response, the Executive Director of Card-Ghana, Ms Leenat Abdul-Rahaman encouraged the men to consider the health of their wives at the time of pregnancy and delivery, particularly for women who went through caesarian sessions, and support them regardless the experience they had shared with the gathering at the programme.
“These experiences can be sorted out at the domestic level before the men assume those responsibilities and we are working hard because we want to promote maternal wellbeing and reduce maternal and neonatal deaths”, she stressed.
Ms Abdul-Rahman appealed to the men to get involved in maternal and neonatal issues and support their women whilst advising them to respect the efforts their husbands made.
For his part, Mr John Maakpe, the Health Promotion Officer at the Regional Health Directorate also encouraged his male colleagues to support the nutritional needs of their wives so that they would be strong enough to carry the pregnancies.
“These jackets are external but we have all experienced how tiring it is, you can imagine blending this stress with hormonal imbalance as many women experience during pregnancy, so we can only appeal to men to support their wives during this time”, he added.
From Lydia Darlington Forjdour, Nadowli
General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong, has filed his nomination to contest the position of General Secretary again as the party begins its rebuilding efforts ahead of the 2028 general elections.
He was accompanied by party stalwarts and supporters who were in high spirits, expressing confidence that he is the right person to hold the position.
Speaking after filing his nomination, Mr Kodua Frimpong assured the rank and file of the party that he would not disappoint them.
“I can assure you that the faith the rank and file of the party have had in me, I will never disappoint them,” he said.
He also pledged to run a clean campaign devoid of personal attacks.
“I can assure you that our internal campaign will be devoid of personal attacks,” he told his fellow contestants and the rank and file of the party as he seeks to retain his position.
His tenure has seen the party through the 2024 general elections, where the NPP lost power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after eight years in government.
The party is currently in a rebuilding phase, with internal elections scheduled to elect new national executives to lead its reorganization towards the 2028 polls.
The General Secretary position is considered one of the most influential in the party’s administrative structure, responsible for the day-to-day running of the party secretariat and implementation of party decisions.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) has disputed claims made on social media by comedian Michael Blackson concerning the treatment given to his late mother, saying a review found that the allegations did not accurately reflect what happened during her stay at the hospital.
In a statement issued in Accra on August 5, 2026, the management of UGMC expressed condolences to Mr. Blackson and his family over the death of his 83-year-old mother, who died at the facility on July 16, 2026.
The hospital said it had taken the concerns raised by Mr. Blackson seriously and conducted a thorough review in line with its clinical and administrative procedures.
According to the statement, the facts presented by Mr. Blackson on social media contained “numerous inaccuracies” and did not accurately reflect the medical care provided to his mother.
UGMC explained that she was referred to the facility from another hospital and received treatment there from May 27 to July 16, 2026, a period of about eight weeks.
The hospital stated that it would not release details of her diagnosis, treatment, medical records or other aspects of her care because it had a duty to protect patient confidentiality, even after death.
It said the decision was intended to respect the dignity of the deceased and the privacy of her family.
UGMC further stated that all clinical decisions at the facility are made by qualified healthcare professionals based on medical judgment, established standards of care and the best interests of the patient.
The statement added that such decisions are made in consultation with authorised family representatives where necessary and that billing and financial procedures are governed by institutional policies and are separate from clinical decision-making.
The hospital noted that it values feedback from patients and their families and considers both positive and negative comments important for improving the quality of care.
Mr. Blackson had earlier used social media to criticise the care his mother received at UGMC, prompting the hospital’s response.
By: Jacob Aggrey
