By Mohamed Vandi in Kenema
Some 160 advocates trained in the sixteen chiefdoms in Kenema district by the UN Population Fund in Community Wellbeing have embarked on an advocacy campaign to promote reproductive health care in their respective communities.
The Regional Gender Desk Officer, East, told community people in Tongo, over the weekend that the campaign focuses on gender-based violence, institutional delivery, family planning and improving the health care of pregnant women.
Agnes Luseni said the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs with funds from UNFPA had trained ten Traditional Birth Attendants in each of the sixteen chiefdoms in the district to play advocacy role in their respective chiefdoms.
She said the advocates should identify issues that affect pregnant women and make necessary referrals to the hospital, something which discourages home delivery.
Agnes called on school-going girls to desist from early pregnancy and focus on schooling which she said would help them become self-reliant. She said educating the girl child would help foster visible development in their respective localities and urged parents to take the education of girls seriously.
The gender officer also admonished women to desist from bearing many children and encouraged them to join family planning which she said was very necessary as too many children had financial implication.
The team leader for the advocates lauded the efforts of UNFPA in saving the lives of pregnant women. She said since they were trained and sent to their communities the issue of home delivery had been reduced. She assured UNFPA of their commitment to achieving the purpose for which they were trained.
Sallu Jalloh who represented the traditional chiefs disclosed that their community was deprived and that the need for such a venture was timely. He assured UNFPA of their fullest support.
(c) Politico 30/08/12
