By
James Amoh Jnr, GNA
Tema, Dec. 31, GNA –
Madam Sabine Nolke, Acting Canadian Ambassador, has expressed satisfaction at
the on-going implementation of the Girls’ Iron-Folate Tablet Supplementation
(GIFTS) programme in the Ningo-Prampram District.
She said in spite of
the few instances where some girls had blatantly refused to take the
supplements, the programme was making significant progress since anaemia
affected women and women throughout their lifecycle.
The Ambassador was
speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) when she joined a
team from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA), Ghana Health Service (GHS), and the Ghana Education
Service (GES) to monitor the progress of work in Dawhenya in the Ningo Prampram
Municipal Assembly.
The GIFTS programme,
with funding from the Canadian Government, is a public health intervention and
collaboration between the GHS, GES and other partners designed to provide
in-school and out-of-school adolescent girls aged between 10-19 years with
weekly iron and folic acid tablets free of charge through schools to help them
prevent anemia.
Whiles demonstrating
the efficacy of the supplements at the Dawhenya Methodist Basic ‘B’ School
after taking a tablet, Madam Nolke said her adolescent daughter was on the same
supplement as it had accelerated her rapid growth and development.
She indicated that
the supplements were safe for use for adolescent girls since the periodic blood
loss through menstruation for adolescent girls imposed additional need for iron
and other essential nutrients.
In spite of the
challenges, the programme had encountered since the start of its implementation
in June 2019, she intimated that the on-going programme was making head way
since a higher number of the target groups were taking the supplements.
She added that
there’s urgent need reach out to a lot more through communication to generate a
demand and encourage parents to allow their wards to take the supplements in school
to improve their iron status and reduce the risk of developing iron deficiency
and anaemia.
She called on the
stakeholders to intensify education and awareness creation at the community
level to demystify the misconception that the supplements were birth control
pills or medications meant to harm their wards.
Mrs Gifty Ofori
Ansah, District Director of Health, Ningo-Prampram, said anaemia was prevalent
in the District and it was a common problem in adolescent girls and women which
resulted in low attention span and short memory, affecting their academic
performance.
She therefore added
that there was need to address anaemia in adolescent girls to lower the
prevalence in adolescent girls by reducing its consequences to it barest minimum
and give girls new lease of life.
The intervention by
partner agencies, she said was applaudable and further explained that the
supplements had somewhat resolved incidents of anaemia in pregnant women and
its associated consequences including; premature births, low birth weight
babies, pre-natal and maternal mortality.
She said “the only
challenges we are encountering in this district is the outright refusal of
girls to take the supplements because they say their parents have advised
against its intake, so we have intensified education at the community level and
in schools through the PTAs.”
Mrs Ofori Ansah
mentioned reduction in anaemia prevalence in adolescent girls, improved
knowledge o and educational performance of adolescent girls and improved
pregnancy outcomes in women amongst others as some benefits of taking iron and
folic acid supplements.
Mr Jonathan Teye
Doku, District Chief Executive, pledged support for the programme by ensuring
that intensified education and awareness is carried out throughout the
district.
“Being the head of
the assembly, it is necessary to come up with a comprehensive strategy to
ensure that opinion leaders, churches, mosques and tradition authority are
educated on the programme which would is should trickle-down to the people,
“he told the GNA in an interview.
He admitted that
teenage pregnancy was prevalent in the district and together with the GES and
GHS and other stakeholders in the district, the assembly was instituting
measures to address it.
GNA
