MISS GHANA @50 TAKYI-MENSAH

FRANCES TAKYI-Mensah, Miss Ghana @ 50, has urged families and head of families of pregnant women to encourage their expectant mothers to constantly visit the hospital for treatment and avoid delivering babies in their homes. According to the beauty queen, birth at home mostly prolongs labour and is a recipe for a deadly disease called Obstetric Fistula. “At least try and visit antenatal clinics when pregnant and do well to give birth in a health facility instead of staying home, believing that birth in the home is best for women. Decision makers and head of families should help avert this. Let us give them sufficient rest and encourage them to attend antenatal clinics,” she pleaded. Frances was speaking to natives of some communities in the Upper West Region, as part of her nationwide tour to sensitize the general public about Obstetric Fistula. She was accompanied by Miss Ghana 2007 chaperone, Miss Anita Soku, and Dr. Sebastian Eliason, the Reproductive Health Officer of the United Nations Population Fund, Ghana (UNFPA), the project sponsor. The final year student of the University of Ghana disclosed to the crowd that Fistula was a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged labour, and without prompt medical intervention, it usually ends up in a Caesarean section. “Women are always left with chronic incontinence and in most cases stillborn babies. There is also the leaking of urine or faeces or both which, when not treated could lead to chronic medical problems including ulcerations, kidney disease, and nerve damage in the legs.” Some women, who have been affected by the condition before, volunteered to narrate their experiences to the communities Miss Ghana visited. One of them said she developed the condition during her first birth. As a result, her husband divorced her, and she was ostracized by her community. She moved to live in another community, and this was where she met her current husband who helped her to get treated. Miss Takyi-Mensah, as part of the campaign met with the Upper West Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service. The Regional Director, Dr. Erasmus Agongo briefed them on the work done so far, adding that advocacy for the prevention measures of obstetric fistula was primary to their campaign, since prevention was the key to ending Obstetric Fistula. Also present at this meeting was Dr. Edward Gyader, one of the best 65 doctors in the world. Later Frances and her team met with the Deputy Regional Minister for Upper West Region, Hon. Winifred Dy-Yakah to solicit her support for the campaign. The minister on her part expressed her gratitude to Miss Ghana for her efforts to bring hope to less fortunate women in Ghana, and promised to support the campaign. Miss Ghana pleaded with Ghanaians to contribute to the campaign by simply sending a txt with the word, “HELP” to short code number 1443 on all networks. This costs GH45pesewas. Donations can also be made to Barclays Bank Account number 1058895, Airport City Branch.