SEPTEMBER 03

02
DAILY QUOTE
Honor is not the exclusive
property of
any political party
— Herbert Hoover
CONTENT
ANNIVERSARIES
Fri. Sept. 21 — Founders’ Day
Fri. Dec. 7 — Farmer’s Day
Tues. Dec. 25 — Christmas
Wed. Dec. 26 — Boxing Day
DAILY HERITAGE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2018
Published by: EIB
Network / Heritage
Communications Ltd.
Managing Editor:
William Asiedu:
0208156974
Editor:
Kofi Enchill:
0265653335
ISSN: 0855-52307
VOL 7
Location: Meridian
House (Starr FM) Ring
Road. Box AD 676,
Adabraka, Accra,Ghana.
Telephone: +233-0302-
236051, 020-8156974
026-5653335
www.dailyheritage.com.gh
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Email:
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FOREIGN
BUSINESS
Merkel
pledges to
help Nigerian
youth
PG.04
Auto Plaza
launches 2019
‘Hyundai Santa
Fe’ in Ghana
PG.10
ARTS
& ENT
SPORTS
Season III of Live 91.9
FM’s ‘Girl Code’
launched
PG.14
Asante
Kotoko is 83
years old
PG.15
Ghanaian women dying
of male hormones
BY PHILIP ANTOH
philip.antoh@dailyheritage.com.gh
GHANA IS gradually losing her female
human capital to Polycystic
Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a
condition where there is an increase
in male hormones in
women which affects the eggs and consequently
leads to barrenness.
With PCOS, the male hormones are dominant
in women to the point that they affect the
formation of the female eggs, cause the victims
to have irregular menses, and make them have it
difficult to get pregnant or suffer miscarriages or
sometimes lead to the birth of pre-term babies.
This condition, according to experts, is killing
many Ghanaians silently because there are no
data or records in the country’s health system on
the condition as many professionals have not
taken keen interest in studies related to this topic.
Speaking to the DAILY HERITAGE in
Accra last Friday, a public health nurse at
Adabraka Polyclinic and founder of Laurel
Women Health Foundation, Ms Cindy Ofori-Appiah,
said PCOS is a silent killer among a number
of Ghanaian women resulting in many pre-mature
births.
Ms Ofori-Appiah said the condition affects
women at puberty level - that is the first period of
menstruation to the ages of 45-50 years because
many people are not aware of the disease so “we
want to create the awareness this September.”
She said because many people are not aware
of the condition or fear victimisation from health
professionals, they pass through the backdoor to
seek healthcare while others do not discuss at all.
“There are others who have been diagnosed
and gone through every treatment but it looks
like there is no hope for them and so are waiting
for the disease to kill them while others are fighting
the condition,” she stated.
According to her, the causes of this condition
are unknown and research is currently ongoing
•Ms Cindy Ofori-Appiah, public health
nurse at Adabraka Polyclinic and founder
of Laurel Women Health Foundation
to determine the cause, but there are predisposing
factors such as genetic, environmental factors
and lifestyle.
Global overview of disease
Ms Ofori-Appiah added that research had revealed
that there were currently over four million
more women globally suffering this condition
more than those with breast cancer, lupus and diabetes
because it starts from puberty.
It further states that between five to 10% of
women of childbearing age in the United States
of America, or roughly five million, have PCOS,
adding that less than 50% of the victims are
properly diagnosed, leaving millions of women
living with PCOS undiagnosed, which is
the most common cause of female infertility.
Signs and symptoms
The public health nurse said one clear sign of
PCOS is irregular period in which case the menstrual
cycle changes totally without following any
pattern.
“Another cause is spotting of blood during
your period instead of experiencing normal flow
of blood where the pad is not well soaked,” she
said.
She stated prolonged bleeding was also a situation
where one could have continuous blood
flow for about one to six months or more, forcing
people to wear big diapers, adding that there
could also be intermittent bleeding over a period.
Ms Ofori-Appiah mentioned that when
women grow hairs on the chest and face, for instance,
it simply means there are unusually male
hormones in the body.
She said PCOS could cause depression, anxiety,
sleep disorders and anger in victims.
Ms Ofori-Appiah said other symptoms include
loneliness, mood swings, oily face, disorder
in eating, hair loss, boldness, high insulin level,
dark skin patches (armpit, under the breast),
darkening, frequent headaches, gaining weight
unnecessarily, poor memory, dry eyes, and fatigue.
NGO
She said her foundation is reaching out to all
women with this condition to come out boldly to
fight the condition in order to give it attention.
Ms Ofori-Appiah said she started to develop
the interest to campaign against PCOS when “I
got the admission to do my MPhil at University
of Ghana and, as part of my thesis, decided to
prove to the supervisor that the condition exists
and ever since started the campaign on Facebook,
many women have come to confess.”
She called on all Ghanaians, especially
women, to join the campaign this month (September)
to fight and march against the disease to
create the awareness to all that there is hope for
those who are battling that condition.
Man, wife
fight over
twins
BY PHILIP ANTOH
philip.antoh@dailyheritage.com.gh
A LOTTO writer, Mr Francis Mensah, a resident
of Gbawe CP in the Ga South Municipality
in the Greater Accra Region, is accusing
his wife, Ms Adjoa Yeboah, of selling their
twin babies (a boy and a girl) for
GH20,000.00 to one Ms Sheila Darko under
the guise of surrogacy.
However, Ms Yeboah has refuted the accusation,
maintaining that the twin babies are
not for Mr Mensah but Ms Darko as she entered
into agreement with Ms Darko to go
through the process of surrogacy.
Speaking to the DAILY HERITAGE in
Accra, Mr Mensah said on November 16,
2016, his wife, Ms Yeboah, told him she had
taken seed and that she had decided to terminate
the baby.
He called for the intervention of her wife’s
mother and Ms Yeboah agreed to keep the
pregnancy.
Mr Mensah said before then Ms Yeboah
used to go to Ms Darko’s house to help with
house chores and when along the line he had
some quarrel with the wife, she temporarily
moved to live with Ms Darko.
He said while all attempts to bring his wife
back home failed, “I went to her hometown,
Agona Odoben, to report the case to the family,
where she was summoned and the case
was settled between us so she was tasked to
move quickly to the house upon leaving the
village but she refused to obey the family.”
He added that the last thing she heard
about her was that the wife was seen at Anyaa
Market pregnant and “on September 5, 2017
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