Journalists trained on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights

Selected journalists from various media houses in the country have been trained on how to effectively communicate and report on issues surrounding Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

The three-day workshop was organised by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), in Accra..

The training was to equip the journalists with the needed skills to enhance their reportage on SRHR and its related issues and also play advocacy roles as partners in health delivery.

It was also to ensure that priority is placed on related stories that advance the cause of women and girls and to also ensure that the government lives up to its commitments.

The participants were taken through topics such as overview of SRHR, teenage pregnancy and contraceptives, human rights and comprehensive abortion care, communicating abortion, sexual and gender-based violence, reproductive health education (RHE), service delivery, advocacy and gender-transformative advocacy (GTA) for RHE.

The Director of Programmes and Service Delivery, Emmanuel Okanta Akoto, at the close of the training reaffirmed PPAG’s commitment to working with the media to sustain conversations around SRHR and to ensure that policies and programmes reflected the needs of vulnerable groups, especially women and girls.

He urged journalists and media practitioners to actively advocate Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) education and services, ensuring that women and young people could access these essential services without fear or discrimination.

Mr Akoto stressed the need to create an enabling environment where women and young girls could access SRH services without stigma or discrimination.

Non-stigmatising language

On how to communicate abortion-related issues, the Communication Specialist, PPAG, Naa Atswei Nee-Okpey, encouraged journalists to use non-stigmatising language when reporting on SRHR, emphasising the need for accuracy and sensitivity in public discourse.

She said that certain phrases should be replaced with more neutral alternatives to foster a supportive environment for individuals considering their reproductive options.

“Some terms like ‘abort the child,’ ‘baby,’ ‘unborn child,’ or ‘dead foetus’ and ‘terminate the pregnancy’ carry unintended negative connotations.

They are not only medically inaccurate but also contribute to stigma,” she added.

She said phrases such as “end the pregnancy” or “have an abortion” “foetus” or simply “pregnancy” were more appropriate and neutral terms.

GTA

The Project Lead for the EmpowHER project, Naadu Awuradwoa Addico, said responsible and well-informed reporting on SRHR could help dismantle myths, reduce stigma, and encourage policies that safeguarded reproductive rights.

“The media has the power to bridge this knowledge gap, ensuring that young people receive the right information to make informed choices about their health and future,” she added.

Ms Addico urged journalists to integrate gender-transformative advocacy into their reporting, challenge harmful stereotypes and create narratives that empower individuals to make informed reproductive health decisions.

“If you are adopting a gender-transformative approach, make sure that whatever you are doing is challenging norms or transforming unequal power structures,” she added.

She also stressed that reproductive education must be scientific, evidence-based and context-specific.

“The stories we tell can either improve access to reproductive health services or create more barriers. It’s up to us to ensure that reproductive health education is factual, inclusive and culturally relevant,” she added.

Safe Abortion

The Advocacy Officer, PPAG, Michael Tagoe, urged the media to lead the campaign against unsafe abortions which continue to claim the lives of women and young girls.

Contrary to common belief, he explained that abortion was not entirely illegal in the country.

Referencing the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), Sections 58 and 59, he said that legal grounds for abortion included cases of rape, incest, foetal abnormalities or situations where the pregnancy posed a risk to the physical or mental health of the woman.