News
Two NGOs support school girls in Tema region
• Mr. Derick Mintah (right) presenting the package to Ms Hammond
About 2,000 girls from 25 basic schools in the Greater Accra Region were beneficiaries of a recent sanitary pad distribution initiative by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Share Foundation and Rymas International.
Ms. Lilly Mintah one of the founders of the organisation, said risks and challenges of adolescent reproductive health could impact negatively on school attendance and academic performance, hence the move to support the teenage girls.
She expressed worry over hike in prices of the essential product and asked the appropriate authories to intervene, and make them affordable to the girls.
The girls were selected from schools mainly in Tema, including Tetteh Ocloo School for the Deaf in Ashaiman and the Seventh Day Adventist School in Nungua.
Ms Mintah, passionate about adolescent reproductive health, said young girls must not “fall prey to unscrupulous men” because they could not afford basic necessities.
At the Tema Metropolitan Assembly ‘One’ Basic school where the exercise was climaxed, the Girl Child Coordinator of the school, Mavis Hammond, praised the initiative saying it would help boost the confidence of girls as they study.
She said constant communication and information on adolescent sexual reproductive health would help allay their “fear and anxiety” among teenagers.
From Ken Afedzi, Tema
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) will undertake a nationwide Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination exercise in schools from October to December 2026 to protect eligible girls against cervical cancer and other HPV related diseases.
The exercise, organised in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and its partners through the School Health Education Programme (SHEP), will be conducted in two rounds.
The first round is scheduled for October 19 to 23, 2026, while the second will take place from November 30 to December 4, 2026.
In a press release dated October 19, the GHS explained that health workers would visit schools across the country to vaccinate eligible girls aged 9 to 14 who have not yet received the HPV vaccine.
The exercise forms part of efforts to raise awareness about the routine HPV vaccine, increase vaccination uptake and strengthen the country’s routine immunisation programme.
The GHS has called on school authorities, parents, guardians, teachers and community leaders to cooperate with health teams to ensure the successful implementation of the exercise.
The Service reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the health and well-being of Ghanaians, particularly children, through vaccination and other public health interventions.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has held high-level discussions with organisers of the 2026 Global South Academic Forum in Shanghai, seeking to draw lessons from China’s acclaimed rural revitalisation and poverty reduction drive.
The meeting, led by the Forum Chair, Professor Lu Xinyu, explored practical areas of cooperation and knowledge exchange between Ghana and China, with focus on community-driven development, fisheries and aquaculture, local governance, sports initiatives, and infrastructure development.
According to officials, the engagement is part of a broader effort by the Ghanaian government to study tested development models that can be adapted to the local context to promote inclusive growth, empower local communities, and improve livelihoods across the country.
China’s success in lifting over 800 million people out of poverty through targeted rural policies, investment in agriculture and local infrastructure has become a global reference point for developing nations.
The Vice President’s team says insights from the Forum will help inform policy direction, particularly in strengthening decentralised governance, boosting the fisheries and aquaculture sector, and investing in community-level infrastructure and youth sports development.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang is expected to continue engagements with academic and development institutions while in China.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
