By Erica Apeatua Addo
Akoon (W/R), October 31, GNA-Dr. Magdalene Bakari, the Lead Specialist for Health Services for Gold Fields Ghana, has appealed to the public to stop tagging women going through menopause as witches.
She said such name calling subjected women to emotional abuse, isolation, and discrimination at a time when they needed care and support from their families and close friends.
Dr. Bakari made the appeal at Akoon when the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) organized breast health and menopause awareness forum for its host community members, employees and their spouses, various corporate bodies, and students in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.
The forum which formed part of the Foundation’s activities to celebrate this year’s breast cancer awareness week was on the theme, “Beyond the Pink: The full Picture”.
The lead specialist stressed that instead of shunning and labelling such women it was time to support and stand with them.
She noted that, “When it comes to menopause, it has become a taboo topic in society. We know every woman will go through it, but we never prepare our minds for it and we do not know how to support people going through it”.
She explained that menopause was a normal part of a woman’s life and that in this phase, women go through emotional and physical changes.
On breast cancer, Dr. Bakari said it was one condition that claimed the lives of many women, adding that if they were able to diagnose it early and start treatment many lives could be saved.
She emphasized that although the GFGF have had a lot of sensitization programmes, more still needed to be done to save their mothers, sisters, and daughters and ensure they lived long and productive lives.
She further revealed that they provided an opportunity for those who attended the forum to interact with specialists in various fields.
“We have a gynaecologist, a surgeon, and a psychologist because we are not only looking at the disease but how best to support affected persons to live healthy lives”.
Dr. Bakari stated that they chose those two topics not because they were relevant for the month, but because they were conditions commonly found in their environment.
Some participants who spoke to the media after the forum lauded the Foundation for the educative programme and encouraged them to bring more groups together every year.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga /Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter Erica Apeatua Addo
Email [email protected]