MARCH 22

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
22/03/2018
TUESDAY. DAILY HERITAGE
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MzVee, Marie Stopes launch
‘Time to Talk’ Campaign
BY RAMSON ACQUAH-HAYFORD
hayfordramson@gmail.com
SENSATIONAL dancehall
artiste, MzVee has been
appointed ambassador for
Marie Stopes International, a
global organisation that
provides contraceptive and
sexual reproductive health services.
She was presented with an “ambassadorial
T-shirt” at a short ceremony at the
organisation’s headquarters at Tesano in
Accra to mark the beginning of her
assignment.
As an ambassador, MzVee also known
as Vera Hamenoo-Kpeda, is expected to
help Marie Stopes to offer accurate advice,
information and support to girls and
women who are faced with issues related
to pregnancy and sexual reproductive
health in general. This will be done
under a campaign dubbed “Time to
Talk”.
MzVee told the DAILY
HERITAGE shortly after
receiving her “ambassadorial T-
shirt” that she accepted the
appointment because she wants to
help to educate women and the
many young girls growing up in all
parts of the country and also learn
at first hand, some of the
difficulties that the people faced in
respect of sexual reproductive
health and unsafe abortion in
particular.
She added that during her recent
High School Tour that took her to parts
of the Northern Region, she observed that
many of the teenagers in the area had
different negative perceptions about some of
the changes that puberty brought to their
bodies, which girls in the urban areas found
to be normal.
“For instance, when we went to Tumu to
talk to some of the girls about the menstrual
cycle, most of them had various
misconceptions about the cycle; they either
found it an abomination or found it
uncomfortable to be around boys when they
were bleeding,” MzVee said.
These, she said, were some of the
experiences that encouraged her to partner
Marie Stopes to save girls and women from
all the negative things associated with sexual
reproductive health, particularly unsafe
abortion.
MzVee admonished pregnant girls and
women to not engage in drug and alcohol
….to promote sexual
reproductive health
abuse during and after pregnancy as that
could have negative repercussions on their
born and unborn children.
Time to Talk Campaign
Maries Stopes is an International
NGO headquartered in
the UK. In Ghana it
• MzVee (left) receiving a T-shirt from Ms Anne
Coolen, Country Director of Marie Stopes Intl.
Ghana, to signify the beginning of her
ambassadorial assignment
operates as Marie Stopes International
Ghana. The NGO has been working in
Ghana since 2006, providing family planning
and sexual reproductive health services to
help more than 115,000 women each
year to choose when they want to
have children.
Its focus is on providing all
clients with a comfortable and
reassuring experience wherever
and whenever they visit. The
organisation also adopts the
Marie Stopes International
approach of reaching
women and men who
cannot afford or
access services.
Marie Stopes
Ghana will today,
Thursday, March
22, 2018
commence a
campaign dubbed
TIME TO TALK.
The rationale for
the campaign is
centred on the fact
that women in
Ghana are not
getting accurate
advice, information
and support when
faced with issues
related to pregnancy.
Many women aren’t
even aware of the
• MzVee interacting with
Ms Elizabeth Amissah, Centre Manager at
Marie Stopes clinic, Kokomlemle and Mr
Osman Seidu, Regional Manager, South East
services that are legally available to them.
Pregnancy and unsafe abortion
For instance, just 3% of pregnant women
and 6% of women seeking an abortion are
aware of the legal status of abortion in
Ghana.
When women don’t have the information
that they need to deal with an issue around
pregnancy, the consequences can be
devastating.
Thousands of women die from unsafe
abortion every year and thousands more face
serious injury because they didn’t know that
there is a safe, legal alternative.
Unsafe abortion is one of the top causes
of maternal deaths in Ghana.
“We see the horrific results of unsafe
abortions in our clinics across Ghana every
single day. We believe that knowledge is
power, so we’ve launched this national
campaign, called Time to talk, to help women
to get the information they need when it
comes to pregnancy issues,” an official of
Marie Stopes pointed out.
The campaign is aimed at any woman or
girl who is facing a pregnancy issue and
wants to get information, advice or support.
“Whether you’re pregnant and want to
talk through all the options or you want to
avoid getting pregnant in the first place, we’ll
be able to give you information and
support,” the officer said.
About Marie Stopes
Marie Stopes International is a global
organisation with 12,000 team members working
in 37 countries to deliver quality services.
Starting from one single clinic in London, the
organisation has grown from one clinic in
Central London to become one of the world’s
largest providers of high quality, affordable
contraception and safe abortion services.
Over the last 40 years,
they have touched the
lives of more than 120
million women and
girls, giving them the
power to take control
of their future. Today,
there are 214 million
women who want to use
contraception but
cannot and that number
continues to grow.
It is the outfit’s aim
to provide services to
214 million women in
developing countries
who do not have
access to
contraception.