Chiefs, queens pledge to fight against sexual violence in C/R
About 40 traditional authorities, including chiefs, queens and opinion leaders in the Central Region have pledged support for the education and campaign against all forms of domestic violence in communities.
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They have therefore called for effective collaboration to promote intensive education on the canker and its prevention in communities.
Speaking at a two-day summit organised by the Domestic Violence Secretariat under the auspices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in collaboration with the Christian Health Association of Ghana in Cape Coast, the participants called for intensified education on all fronts to prevent the canker.
Stigmatisation and discrimination
The summit was also to strengthen community systems to help reduce stigmatisation and discrimination against persons living with tuberculosis.
The capacity building training was for local community leaders in various districts to improve awareness, reporting and providing support for persons affected with HIV or TB and survivors of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) at the Community level.
Facilitators from the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) and Ghana AIDS Commission gave presentations on domestic violence, SGBV, HIV and AIDS prevalence and issues of stigma.
Addressing the participants the Senior Programmes Officer at the Domestic Violence Secretariat of the MoGCSP, Hajia Saphia Tamimu, said the focus on capacity building and leverage was to support community leaders with the aim of enabling their full and effective role in supporting the health and social welfare of communities.
The statistics
She observed that data from the 2016 Ghana Domestic Violence Survey showed that approximately 27.7 per cent of Ghanaian women had experienced at least one form of domestic violence.
She stated that the concept of community involvement was to help improve health outcomes and to protect and support members in the community.
Support campaign
She urged them to support the campaign to curb issues of sexual gender-based violence in the communities and report sexual issues to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit.
The Central Regional Coordinator of DOVVSU, Chief Superintendent of Police George Appiah Sakyi, said DOVVSU would continue to partner the various agencies to educate the public on the effect of SGBV and the need to report such a case to the police, and urged stakeholders to play their respective roles.
He also touched on the various laws that addressed SGBV in the country, and advised stakeholders not to hesitate in reporting related cases to the police for the appropriate action to be taken.
The Regional Technical Coordinator for the Ghana AIDS Commission, William Kwaku Yeboah, indicated that the Central Region had 18,127 persons living with HIV out of which 12,119, representing 66 per cent, were women, with 4,365 being men, and children from zero to 14 with HIV being 1,443.
The Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Richlove Amamoo, for her part said the gender ministry would not relent in its efforts in the fight against SGBV, and called on various stakeholders to support it to achieve its goals.
