Accra, March 12, GNA – The Manipal Hospitals, India, has mobilised a team of experts to sensitise women worldwide on varied healthcare disorders and the need to safeguard their physical wellbeing as part of outlined activities to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day.
Participants including Journalists via a virtual platform were schooled on heart diseases, kidney problems, reproductive health challenges, nutrition and diet, and breast disorders among other conditions on the theme: “Circle of Care: Women’s Health.”
Dr Tasneem N. Shah, a Consultant, Obstetrics and Gynecology, said many a time, pregnant women and those who had given birth reported cases of miscarriages, hypertension in pre and post-delivery and gestational diabetes, as well as depression and critical psychological problems.
She advised pregnant women to eat a nutritious diet and seek medical attention regularly before and after delivery to ensure their safety and that of their unborn or born babies.
“Always try to have your rainbow coloured food on your plate,” she added.
Dr Shah said between 20 and 30 years was the best time for pregnancy and advised that they sought medical attention to take folic acid and calcium before delivery.
Another problem often reported by women she said was vaginal yeast infections, and advised women to always keep their underparts clean and avoid multiple sex partners.
She also entreated women to have breast examinations frequently and encouraged those between 40 and 50 years to undergo pap smears and other tests to ensure they were safe from cervical cancer.
Dr Ashish Nandwani, a Consultant, Nephrology and Renal Transplant, Manipal Hospitals, speaking on kidney diseases, said it was important to diagnose them early in children in order to give them the best management.
“It is difficult to diagnose in adolescents because of their reproductive activities and hormonal changes. Symptoms and clinical tests may not early detect it among adolescents,” he said.
He noted that females encountered a lot of health challenges as compared to men, and for instance in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacked its own tissues; was characterised by a 9:1 female to male ratio of disease incidence with an even higher female predominance during peak reproductive year.
“The SLE could affect the joints, skin kidney, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs,” he added.
Dr Nandwani said women also faced a lot of stress from hormonal changes during pregnancy with the most common being hypertension, which might lead to preeclampsia and eclampsia to give patient seizures.
The number of females getting transplant across the globe were many, indicating females were more recipients of kidney transplants than donors, he said and admonished everyone to lead healthy lives.
Dr (Lt Gen.) Cs. Narayanan, VSM, a Consultant, Department of Neurology, speaking about migraine, said it was a condition that needed to be given much attention, especially among women, adding that, women between the ages 20 and 40 tend to have it more than men.
He mentioned Catamenial migraine as one that usually occurred in women during their menstrual cycles.
Speaking on Epilepsy, Dr Narayanan advised pregnant women who had it and those with Multiple Sclerosis to quickly seek the right medication and dose in order not to have complications and effects on the unborn baby.
“We must not put men and women in the same basket as they have different rates of being affected by medical conditions, in order to protect women,” he advised.
Mrs Linda Asante Agyei, the Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association, advised journalists to prioritise their health and desist from overly stressing themselves to ensure their fitness to discharge their duties as expected of them as mothers, wives, and carrier women.
Though the work of journalists is demanding and time-consuming, she admonished women journalists to take some time to relax and exercise a bit after sitting for long hours behind their computers.
GNA