Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Rally round the flag

Saturday, June 12, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 3)

By Rebecca Kwei
STILL having the notion that football is an exclusive men’s sport? Wrong.
In the past few years, the world’s most widely-followed sport has expanded its fan base as ladies have also been hit by the football bug as much as the men.
At various tournaments around the world, women have suddenly assumed the role of cheerleaders, beautifying the stands in their chic, colourful, national colours to cheer their teams to victory. Not just that, they seem to also understand the rules of the game.
As the 19th historic World Cup kicked off in South Africa yesterday with 32 teams, thousands of beautiful ladies lent their support to their teams.
It may not be official, but Miss Malaika 2009, Gezelle Maame Konadu Addai, sees herself as a chief cheerleader for the Black Stars and is optimistic that the Stars will shine during this tournament and particularly, when they play Serbia in their opening Group D game tomorrow.
“I can feel it in my heart. I’ve watched them play and I think they play very well and with a lot of determination” she said with a lot of passion in an interview with The Mirror.
The Black Stars have received a lot of flak about their performance and preparation towards the world cup, especially, after the Ghana and The Netherlands friendly match which Ghana lost 4-1.
But Gezelle said it was important that all Ghanaians supported the Black Stars through thick and thin.
Gezelle, who rode on US President Barrack Obama’s audacious phrase “Yes, we can” to win the Malaika crown, said that phrase is still as relevant as when it first spoken.
“It is sad that we only have confidence in the team when they win, but we have to support them whether good or bad. We have to cheer them on and also remember them in our prayers.
“ They had proven when hopes were down that yes they could, and I want to remain optmistic that they can do very well at this World Cup. Yes, they can!”
Gezelle who leaves Ghana for South Africa today to cheer the Black Stars said she was hopeful the Black Stars will thrash their Serbian counterparts by at least three goals to nil.
She said Dominic Adiyiah, Asamoah Gyan, Kwadwo Asamoah, Matthew Amoah and Prince Kelvin Boateng, whom she described as the new kid on the bloc, were her favourite Black Stars players.
She encouraged the Black Stars to play as a team , listen to the coach’s instructions and stay focused adding “ I believe in my heart they will make Ghana proud and make the nation stand out on the international map. Go Black Stars, Go!”
Eighteen-year-old Gezelle entered the Miss Malaika Ghana competition with an ambition. Then a graduate of Holy Child Senior High school, she described herself as confident and ambitious — traits that proved useful which won her the crown as Miss Malaika 2009 over 16 other contestants. 
Months down the line after winning the coveted crown, Gezelle, who aspires to be an International Journalist and a model, has been on the war path against malaria in Ghana — a responsibility that comes with winning the crown. 
Winning Miss Malaika has opened a lot of doors to greater heights for the ambitious young lady and she has not taken the responsibility lightly.
She began not long after her crowning by hosting a Christmas party for the pupils of the Dzorwulu Special School and immediately followed it up with painting the Princess Marie Louis Hospital (Children’s Hospital), donated artworks to the wards, painted the walls of the wards in cartoon characters to encourage them to heal quickly. 
It is interesting to note that, all this effort was before she took on full responsibility as the Malaria Youth Ambassador attached to the National Malaria Control Programme.
Gezelle also participated in the MTN 21 days of Yello’ Care for community enhancement project.
This community- based programme included distribution of mosquito nets, painting of selected hospitals, indoor residual spraying, tree-planting exercises and a malaria awareness talk in all the 10 regions.
Aside supporting the Black Stars,she took on other responsibilities such as the Malaria Youth Ambassador and a role as a Charity Icon for MTN. One will find a very active young woman who is constantly on the move to make her community a better place. 

Maternal mortality rate still high

Saturday, June 5, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 13)

By Rebecca Kwei
Ghana has one of the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. The Ghana 2007 Maternal Health Survey revealed that about 451 women per 100,000 live births died in the country due to pregnancy, unsafe abortion or complications of labour (GSS 2007).
According to the 2008 Ghana Demographic Health Survey, the total fertility rate (TFR) in Ghana is as high as 4.0, but the modern contraception usage rate is quite low at 17 per cent among married women.
The use of modern methods slightly declined from 19 per cent in 2003 to 17 per cent in 2008. The modern method distribution among married women is as follows: Tubal ligation - 1.6 per cent; Pill - 4.7 per cent; Intrauterine Device (IUD) - 0.2 per cent; Injectables - 6.2 per cent; Implants - 0.9 per cent; male condom - 2.4 per cent and female condom - 0.1 per cent
Although the government of Ghana has made some gains in the area of reproductive health services, the low levels of family planning practices and in particular, underutilisation of long-acting and permanent methods continue to indicate a lack of information about reproductive health as well as lack of access to these methods.
To support government’s response towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 of eliminating maternal deaths due to unsafe abortion in Ghana, a consortium of five agencies initiated a programme dubbed; Reducing Maternal Mortality and Morbidity (R3M) in September 2006.
The five agencies are EngenderHealth, Ipas, Marie Stopes International, Population Council and the Willows Foundation, all international non- governmental organisations that work to improve women’s reproductive health.
The R3M programme provide financial and technical resources that enable the government to significantly expand women’s access to modern family planning and comprehensive abortion care (CAC), reduce unwanted fertility and severe complications and deaths caused by unsafe abortion.
Additionally, it is working to help achieve the government’s contraceptive prevalence goal of 39 per cent by 2015; make family planning services, especially, long acting and permanent methods and comprehensive abortion care routinely available and utilised at all levels of the Ghana health system.
Furthermore, it aims at reducing mortality and morbidity due to unsafe abortion by 2015, by eliminating the majority of the severe complications and make abortion services available to the extent permitted by the Ghanaian Law of 1985, and to educate providers and communities on the law.
The initial three-year phase of the R3M programme ended in December 2009 and was implemented in three regions namely; Greater Accra, Eastern and Ashanti regions.
According to Mr Placide Tapsoba, Country Director of the Population Council, the organisation that co-ordinates the activities of the R3M, the consortium members have met their original objectives of training, promoting community behavioural change, and the use of long acting or permanent family planning methods and providing comprehensive abortion care in both private and public health facilities.
Mr Tapsoba indicated that, the second phase of the programme will run from January 2010 to December 2011.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Civil society train on CEAL guide

Saturday, May 29, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 34)

By Rebecca Kwei
A workshop to train representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs) on the Citizens' Education Action Learning (CEAL) Guide has been held in Accra.
The CEAL guide, which was inspired by the Commonwealth Foundation's Citizens and Governance programme, provides practical ways of bringing about the greater participation of people in the governance of the things that affect their lives.
About 25 participants from countries in West Africa and Cameroon took part in the five-day workshop, which was hosted by Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) and sponsored by the Commonwealth Foundation.
The facilitator was the Executive Director of Dignity International, Jerald Joseph.
According to Mr Frank Bodza of WiLDAF Ghana, the Commonwealth Foundation was formed to strengthen CSOs across the Commonwealth as the CSOs promoted democracy, advanced sustainable development and fostered inter-cultural understanding.
The CEAL Guide, he said, would enable members of CSOs to better engage with citizens and their beneficiary audience for development.
He said the training was at the same time being held in East Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Mr Bodza said the training workshop would enable CSOs to develop knowledge and skills and involve citizens as active participants in the governance process.
He noted that if people participated in governance, better decision-making processes would be formulated and that would ultimately lead to more effective development and a better society.
He said the CEAL Guide was primarily written for facilitators, trainers or community leaders in the field of citizenship and governance education.
However, it could be used as a resource material for anyone who might be interested in citizenship and governance, he added.