GIFTS will not sterilize girls - Nutritionist

By Sumaiya Salifu Saeed, GNA

Ave-Dzalele (VR), Aug. 02, GNA - Ms Xoese Ashigbi, Nutrition Officer, Akatsi North District, has debunked rumours that the Girls Iron Folate Tablet Supplementation (GIFTS) could sterilize girls.

The GIFTS initiative, the first of its kind in Africa, provides free iron and folic acid supplementation to menstruating girls and women aged 10-19 years.

Ms Ashigbi in an interview with the Ghana News Agency GNA on the sidelines of a community durbar on adolescent health and development organized by the Volta Regional Health directorate in collaboration with the Volta Regional Coordinating Council and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said contrary to the benefit of the supplement, the Assembly was facing challenges with some parents and adolescents who took it to be a contraceptive.

The GIFTS project was launched by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akuffo Addo in 2017 to address the alarming rate of anaemia among adolescent girls in Ghana.

Research showed that of, the two million girls aged between 15 and 19 years old in Ghana, around one million were anaemic causing dizziness, tiredness and headaches and affecting their education.

The Nutritionist said though there had been enough sensitization, the misconception was affecting the regular intake of the supplements.

Ms Ashigbi said some parents categorically asked their wards not to partake in the weekly ritual as they saw it as a means of making their wards barren.

She said due to the misconception, some girls got pregnant, having had unprotected sex thinking they were covered with the tablet. 

Ms Ashigbi called on parents and community leaders to allow their wards to take the supplement because it was good for their wellbeing and had no side effects. 

Anaemia’s long-term negative effects on the health and wellbeing of adolescent girls, is said to underline the need for systematic action at all levels to ensure girls’ futures were not compromised.

The repercussions could leave adolescent girls feeling unwell, not able to take part in physical activities and set them back at school, reducing school performance and sometimes causing girls to drop out of school.

Ms Ashigbi said though there had been outreach programmes in homes, community durbars, PTA, among others to encourage intake of the supplements, the numbers were reducing as compared to when it was first introduced.

She appealed for a nationwide campaign on the advantages of the supplements and behavioural change to whip up interest again.

GNA

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