By Isaac Arkoh
Cape Coast, March 09, GNA – Female Journalists for Women and Rural Development in Africa (FJ-WoRDA), has commended women for their tremendous contribution to sustain humanity regardless of their little access to innovative technologies to improve themselves.
Celebrating women on this year’s International Women’s Day, FJ-WoRDA said women must be consciously supported with tools and appropriate technologies that enhance their jobs and roles.
In a release, Mrs. Shirley Asiedu-Addo, the Executive Director of FJ-WoRDA said “in a developing economy such us ours, the efforts of women remain critical to our homes, communities, and country.
“From the farmer to the Koko (Porridge) seller, market women, journalists, technicians to the corporate executive women and politicians, women continue to make immense contributions to the development of the country.”
Mrs Asiedu-Addo questioned the inability of mothers in the hinterland to reach a health service provider faster using technology.
“Can the koko seller gain some training and access to a technology that will enable her to access customers easily. It is important to stress that the impact of these roles could be maximized using appropriate technologies,” she said.
She commended the government for efforts to empower women, in areas that were previously a preserve for men such as technical and vocational education.
In addition, the many technology training fora by government agencies and non-governmental organizations were helping to bridge the technological know-how for both genders, but still much needed to be done, Mrs Asiedu-Addo said.
On health, she expressed regret about the country’s maternal mortality rate that stood at 310 per 100,000 live births and impeded women’s growth and urged the government to work to improve the maternal mortality rate by strategizing to improve access to health care facilities.
“Women dying while giving birth is a worrying concern for us as a nation,” she said.
She urged the government to go all out to resolve the issue regarding the shortage of vaccines for infants, including the polio and measles vaccines with urgency to give mothers some peace of mind.
“Mothers continue to go in and out of hospitals seeking to vaccinate their wards, but to no avail. The hours spent and the psychological effect on mothers are overwhelming.
“We again urge the government and other abled organizations to bring health care services closer to all people and ask women to continue to selflessly contribute to improving their communities,” she added.
GNA