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Girls’ Clubs: The bridge from better health to finishing school

Keeping girls in school can sometimes be as simple as giving a girl a routine blood test, or as complex as rescuing a teenager from a violent home. In the impoverished urban settings where WomenStrong International works, we clearly see every day the direct link between health and education among the adolescent girls who are part of our Girls’ Clubs in Ghana, Haiti, India, and Kenya.

At Women’s Health to Wealth (WHW) in Kumasi, Ghana, a member of the WomenStrong Consortium, we run 34 Clubs in junior high schools where, in line with Ghana School Health Policy, School Health Education Program Coordinators liaise with the Ghana Health Service to educate adolescent girls on a variety of topics. Adolescent girls are taught about personal hygiene, dental health, nutrition, fitness, human sexuality, pregnancy prevention, and prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Girls also learn about the dangers of tobacco and drug use and about avoiding gender-based violence.

When WHW saw that neither Ghana’s Health Service nor Education Service were conducting health screenings, they began offering essential tests for visual, aural, and dental health, as well as testing for STIs and anemia. Hundreds of girls have been screened through the Clubs.

None of the girls had ever had a health screening before, and we received the full support of education and health staff at the district and local level, who understood the importance of basic health services for young girls but had been unable to offer them.

Testing revealed that more than half the girls between 14 and 16 years of age were moderately anemic.

The immediate impact of anemia is extreme fatigue and an inability to focus, both of which, obviously, impact a girl’s ability to study and learn. Longer term, if left untreated, anemia leads to difficult or dangerous pregnancies and low birthweight, sickly babies. Globally, anemia is the leading cause of maternal mortality. Most often, in poor settings, it is the result of not getting enough nutritious food to eat.

Not surprisingly, the screenings in Ghana found that one-third of the girls tested were malnourished, with a BMI of less than 18.5.

Girls receive the results of their screenings right away, and for those diagnosed as anemic, a 90-day course of treatment with iron-folate supplements is provided. After treatment, their blood is checked again. All girls in the Clubs are given folate supplements each school term.

In addition to treatment, we took on the root causes of anemia by offering nutrition education classes and the planting of kitchen gardens to help provide girls with one nutritious snack or meal each and every school day.

Girls needing additional care, such as the removal of a tooth or glasses, are given referral letters from WHW to school officials explaining what the girls need, so that the schools can work with parents to obtain medical care through doctors at district hospitals.

WHW’s own medical team working at the Girls’ Clubs includes a dentist and a dental assistant, an optometrist, an eye nurse and assistant, and two WHW staff members who conduct some tests and teach lessons in nutrition.

As a result of the health education and screenings done through WHW’s Girls’ Clubs, we have seen a 45% reduction in school absenteeism due to ill health. Teachers report that girls are more attentive and are eager participants in class activities. Fewer girls are reporting menstrual disorders, such as scanty blood flow and painful menses.

For high-school aged girls, WHW and WomenStrong offer adolescent reproductive health fora, held each year to address such topics as sexual reproduction, STIs, unsafe abortions, menstruation, mental health, and contraception.

About 85% of the forum participants are well into their late teens and are sexually active. As many as 18% have given birth to at least one child, in fact, while 37% have terminated at least one pregnancy. We have seen that reducing unwanted pregnancies means making more and better information available on contraception. The Adolescent Reproductive Fora are designed to fill this information gap, all within the context of the importance of staying in school.

Our meetings are held in safe spaces where girls hear from speakers from the health ministry, interspersed with skits and other tactics designed to create a relaxed environment where girls feel comfortable expressing their fears and asking their questions. Girls participating in the fora benefit from one-on-one counseling with adults who can answer their most pressing sexual health questions. In these individual sessions, counselors hear from frightened girls who are pregnant or carrying an STI, such as Candidiasis and Trichomoniasis. Treatment is provided on the spot.

The private sessions also have helped identify girls in abusive relationships. Over the last two years, WHW has rescued nearly a dozen girls from abuse, including girls facing violence at the hands of close relatives, and even one girl who was selling sex in a desperate effort to earn enough money to pay her high school fees.

WHW partners with Marie Stopes International, to provide sexually active girls with condoms or longer-term contraceptive options, as well as support if they find they are pregnant.

Not all those referred to Marie Stopes are in trouble; indeed, some are leaders. At the end of each year’s reproductive health forum, about 10 -15 girls volunteer to become trained Peer Educators. The Peer Educators are given hotlines to WHW’s Health Coordinator, as well as the Youth Coordinator at Marie Stopes, and are taught to give the phone numbers to any of their high school peers who may need help.

Above all, the collaboration between WomenStrong and WHW means that hundreds of girls are able to remove many of the health-related obstacles to finishing school, so that they have a real chance for a better life and a better, healthier future for their children.

Girls Leadership Camp

WHW is organizing its first ever leadership camp for  56 girls and 11 facilitators drawn from 18  out of the 36 WHW Girls Clubs in schools in the Atwima Nwabiagya, Afigya Kwabre, Bosomtwe and Kwabre East districts of the Ashanti Region.

The seven day workshop starts on Monday August 7 and ends on Sunday August 13, 2017.

Topics  to be covered include the following i) Vision and Goal setting, ii)The Principles of Leadership iii) Good Nutrition and Exercise, iv)Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health matters, v)Communication in Healthy Relationships vi)Financial literacy and the Social Capital Credits Programme  vii) Gender and Human Rights and  viii) A panel of Women in Unusual Jobs.

The girls will also visit second cycle institutions, the library and ICT centre at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the Kumasi Airport and Kumasi Mall, the Palace Museum and a local hospital.

Speakers and facilitators for sessions include the Ashanti Regional Director of Gender Affairs and Mrs Philomena Frimpong the first female  accomplished casket maker  in Ghana.

 

SoCCs “Hemaa” -The Queen of SoCCs

 

by Lord M. Nixon

Meet Agnes Nti, one of the very first women to benefit from health screenings and the SoCCs small loans scheme in the Bantama Market. She sells condiments and a variety of food items. Aggie has proved her mettle and is therefore   seen as a leader amongst her peers who  affectionately call her  “SoCCs Hemaa” ( literally translated as SoCCs Queen) in the Bantama Market. She is a four time beneficiary of the small loan scheme under the SoCCs project.

On a routine tour of the market in March, she invited me to her shop for a brief conversation. After about 4 minutes of conversation, I noticed she was offloading various food items ranging from canned tomato paste to shea butter into a new shop next to her own. I asked if she was helping a friend offload her goods, she smiled and told me that was her new shop. The conversation then got very interesting as she started to explain how the loans had gradually helped her expand her business, create a healthy savings account and allow her to be more financially independent as she does not borrow from loan sharks anymore.

To me, this is a very progressive woman who understands the SoCCs program and has made positive use of the knowledge and skills she has acquired from the program. Furthermore, she is serving as a positive role model for the women in the Bantama community as most of her peers hold her in high regard.

SoCCs Hemaa standing infant of her new stall

 

 

 

 

 

REPORT ON VICTORIA ASAMOAH; WOMEN’S HEALTH TO WEALTH GIRLS’ CLUB MEMBER AT PIASE D/A JHS.

The Women’s Health to Wealth (WHW) is an organisation committed to the health and education of girls in first and second cycle institutions within the Ashanti Region. To achieve this, Girls’ Club program was instituted. There are currently thirty-six (36) girls’ clubs in the Atwima Nwabiagya, Afigya Kwabre, Kwabre East and Bosomtwe Districts in the Ashanti Region. See appendix 1.

The program creates safe environment for girls to express themselves, improve their literacy skills, learn about their biological makeup and associated changes as well as good health practices. The program also has measures to provide support for club members whenever the need arises for their well-being.

In line with this objective, WHW came to the aid of a club member, Victoria Asamoah, from the Piase D/A Junior High in the Bosomtwe District. Victoria fell and broke her leg at the beginning of the 2016/2017 academic year but was not immediately taken to the hospital by her guardians. A Herbalist was contacted to help her. However, her condition deteriorated as a result of the lack of proper medical care.

 Victoria, when she was visited by facilitators.  

Facilitators of the club, Mavis Owusu Ansah and Matilda Animah upon investigations realised Victoria was being denied conventional medical care because of financial problems. They reported to the Executive Director of the WHW, Nana Abena Akuamoa Boateng for assistance. It should be noted that Victoria had by this time been kept at home for over a month. Nana Abena tasked a WHW program officer, Abraham Nkrumah, and the two facilitators to take her to the hospital.

Victoria, after being discharged from the hospital.

On the 28th October, 2016, Victoria was sent to the St. Michael’s hospital, Pramso in the Bosomtwe District. She was however referred to the Komfo Anokye teaching Hospital because the needed medical care at the time of her admission was beyond the capabilities of the District hospital WHW paid about five thousand Ghana Cedis (GH ₵ 5000) for her hospitalisation and medical bills.

 

Due to the due diligence of the club facilitators in attending to the welfare of club members and the timely intervention of the Executive director of the WHW, Victoria has been given the needed medical care and is now back on her feet.

Her legal guardian, also her brother appealed to the WHW for aid in paying her medical bills. This was subsequently done and Victoria went through a successful surgery in November, 2016.

Victoria Asamoah is now well and though she has not completed the therapy needed to regain the full use of her leg, is very grateful to the WHW and her facilitators for the love and commitment to her health. It is therefore expected that she can return to school when it reopens in January 2017 and continue her education.

 

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Donation to Greater Works Restoration Foundation

Greater Works Restoration Foundation (GWRF)  recently held a free surgical outreach to the Upper East Region.

The programme was extremely successful and the impact was significant in the lives of the individuals we operated on.

Thirty (30) successful free reconstructive surgeries were performed. Eighty five( 85%) percent of the patients seen were women and children with all forms of anomalies ranging from birth defects to acquired traumatic events of which post burns deformities were common.

Below is a summary of how the items donated were used.

  • The little teddy bears were given to the children to calm them down before and after the surgeries
  • The pain medication was given to children post-operatively to control pain
  • We donated some boxes of examination gloves and a box of drugs (Advil) to the administration of the regional hospital.
  • On our last day, we made a very long drive to SIRIGU, on challenging terrain to an orphanage for babies and toddlers where we donated some of the blankets and teddy bears you gave us.

Greater Works Restoration Foundation Greater Works Restoration Foundation Greater Works Restoration Foundation Greater Works Restoration Foundation Greater Works Restoration Foundation Greater Works Restoration Foundation

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Empower Change Matrix Activity

From the period of 18th to 29th July, 2016, empower change matrices were conducted for the women of Krobo and the Bantama market. This activity not only helped the women realize what they were gaining from the program but it also helped WHW know where there was significant progress and where there was not and it helped immensely in planning future activities.

 

 

Empower change matrix activity in Krobo

 

Empower change matrix activity in Bantama

 

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Interaction with Womenstrong representative and SoCCs members in Krobo & Wawase

On the 10th of October, 2016, a WomenStrong representative (Julia Nethero) visited WHW to learn more about the organization and its activities.

During this period, she visited Krobo and Wawase where she interacted with some of the women in the SoCCs program. She got to know from the women the benefits, changes and overall developments the program has brought about in their lives. The women were also happy to interact with her as they had not met any member from the consortium before.

 

 

Julia interacting with some of the women in Wawase

 

Julia & WHW staff interacting with the SoCCs women & community leaders in Krobo