A GNA feature by Samira Larbie
Accra, 20 Oct., GNA- It was a beautiful Saturday morning and Esther Ahado, a 30-year-old woman, busily prepared breakfast for her husband, Philip Asante, while she hummed her best gospel music.
Philip, an accountant, and Esther, a teacher, have been married for six years but are yet to be blessed with the fruit of the womb.
They have tried various methods for pregnancy but to no avail, after the woman had experienced an ectopic.
Esther was going about her chores after having breakfast with her husband when she felt a sharp pain around the pelvic, which was followed suddenly by bleeding.
She called out to Philip and was rushed to the hospital.
“Not again! Not again!” was all Philip could say when the doctor informed him that his wife had lost the three-month-old pregnancy.
Esther could not hold her tears upon hearing she had miscarried, dashing her hopes of becoming a mother.
She had a history of long-standing lower abdominal pain, but no menstrual abnormalities, vaginal discharge, or urinary symptoms such as dysuria, haematuria, or stress incontinence were experienced.
Esther hails from Anyanui, a community in the Volta Region of Ghana, and as a teenager, she used to swim and do most of her washing in streams that take their sources from the Volta Lake.
Her past contact with water bodies 15 years ago became significant for her treatment when she was diagnosed with Female Genital Schistosomiasis after a series of laboratory tests. The proper treatment plan was then initiated.
Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS), a Neglected Tropical Disease, is a gynaecological disease caused by Schistosoma haematobium, a parasitic worm acquired through skin contact with fresh water contaminated by schistosome cercariae.
This occurs when schistosome eggs lodge in the female reproductive organ - the vagina, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries.
The eggs cause painful lesions, which increase the risk of viral infections, especially HIV and the human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer.
Symptoms of FGS include vaginal bleeding, genital itching or burning sensation, pelvic pain and bleeding during intercourse. This also results in ulcers, tumours, sub-fecundity, infertility, miscarriages, and ectopic pregnancies.
The World Health Organisation says close to 56 million women in Sub-Saharan Africa are currently suffering from FGS.
The Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) also reveals that the prevalence of FGS ranges from 10 to 50 per cent among women, with about one per cent of men affected.
The condition also affects men known as Male Genital Schistosomiasis and occurs when there is the presence of schistosome eggs in the seminal vesicles, which affect the production of sperms, making them sterile.
The infection is common in rural areas where women engage in activities like washing clothes in infested water bodies, but due to migration, the condition is now finding its way into the urban centres.
Dr Joseph Kwadwo Larbi Opare, the Programme Manager of Neglected Tropical Diseases of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, expressed worry over the situation, saying people who live in poor sanitary conditions are mostly affected and urged the public to keep their environments clean and maintain personal hygiene.
To prevent the spread of the disease, the GHS had introduced the mass-drug administration exercise where basic school children and students in senior high schools were dewormed once a year to kill the parasites, he said.
Dr Opare explained that some health professionals often were unable to diagnose the disease because they lacked the requisite knowledge to deal with such complex health conditions.
He gave the assurance that the GHS had developed a manual to train all health professionals on the disease as a preventive measure.
“So far some frontline health workers from six regions have been trained to detect the disease early at the primary level. Soon all health workers in the other 10 regions will be trained,” the health expert assured.
Dr Frank Ewusie Brown, a Consultant Specialist of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Presbyterian Hospital, Donkorkrom in the Eastern Region, said some patients did not present bloody urine as a symptom, which is key among the symptoms of FGS, making health workers miss the right treatment.
He expressed worry that young girls were contracting the disease, affecting their fertility later in life.
Dr Brown, therefore, called for intensified awareness creation among the public to enable them to detect any FGS symptoms early to aid treatment.
He appealed for equipment and resources for health facilities to assist professionals in conducting timely laboratory examinations and urged obstetricians and gynaecologists to make screening for FGS their first point of call, especially when patients present one or two of the symptoms.
Nana Oye Gyimah, the Communications Officer of the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights, said some
women and girls failed to access medical care when they contract FGS for fear of being stigmatised.
She called for investment in the procurement of logistics and training of healthcare professionals, especially those working in rural communities where FGS was endemic to easily diagnose and treat.
She urged other civil society organisations and individuals to drive the advocacy on Female Genital Schistosomiasis for greater impact and advised women to take charge of their health and seek early medical attention when symptoms of the disease persist.
GNA