Vodafone helps save young girl with womb problem
Vodafone Healthline, the social intervention programme by Vodafone Ghana Limited, has helped a young girl in the Ashanti Region who had health challenges with her womb.
At age 10, Grace was raped several times by a man who lived in the same compound house as she did.
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Narrating her story, she said she fell sick one day and upon seeking medical help, doctors told her she was pregnant.
However, before she could inform anyone else, the young man stopped her adding that he would handle it.
After seeing the doctor, the young man told her she was not pregnant but rather she had a slight defect with her womb which would require a procedure.
“In the morning, I was taken to the theatre, they did what they had to do and I was discharged”, Grace added.
After a month, she realised her period had delayed and upon confronting the man, he threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone.
“Instead, he got me medicines which made my blood flow for only two days”, she said.
Grace’s mother, Esther Fosuwaa, who was not living in the same house at the time of incidence, said she only found out through conversations she had with Grace.
“I didn’t use to live here. I only came here five years ago. When I got here, she narrated the entire story to me” she explained.
According to her mother, Grace had not had her periodic menstrual flow in five years which gave her an erratic health history with her constantly falling ill and collapsing frequently.
“This made me very unhappy and left me questioning myself”, Grace disclosed.
After an episode of her ailment, Grace was rushed to the AI hospital one evening where she was given medical attention and discharged.
Soon after, she started having dizzy spells and according to her mother even fainted once in church.
Following that incident, she was transferred to the Okomfo Anokye hospital where doctors discovered she had severe health challenges with her womb and suggested she undergo a surgery.
Timely Intervention
Madam Fosuwaa indicated that the amount of money required for the surgery was quite large and had become somewhat of a headache because they could not afford it.
Luckily, the doctors managed to reach Vodafone Healthline and soon after they intervened.
“The doctor called my mother and informed her she had informed Vodafone Healthline of all my problems”, Grace said.
Both mother and daughter expressed their deepest appreciation and gratitude to Vodafone Ghana for playing a crucial part in helping to save young Grace.
Depression
In the third episode of the 10 season of the Vodafone Healthline Series, a Psychiatrist from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Richard Dei-Asamoa, discussed mental health with a spotlight focused on depression and its link to suicides cases.
He said that there are two types of depression namely; reactive or situational depression and clinical depression and explained their causes.
According to him, they ranged from environmental factors or occurrences in people’s lives to biological where certain chemicals are lacking and genetic factors (transferred from parents through childbirth).
He explained that extreme sadness which persists longer than usual as well as changes in behaviour are all indicators of depression and therefore medical assistance is necessary.
Dr. Dei-Asamoa noted that alcohol and smoking posed threats to mental health.
He said indulging in such activities affects certain chemicals in the brain.
"Getting high means the chemicals in the brain are changing. In the short term it may seem to help but overtime it depletes the natural chemicals in your brain deepening a person’s dependence on these substances” he said.
Suicide
Dr Dei-Asamoa highlighted the role depression played in suicides explaining that suicide tendencies are a failure of the mind when a person can no longer handle the stress life comes with of which depression is key.
He added that people with suicidal tendencies display a lot of indicators but more often than not relatives fail to notice.
“It’s always a call for help when you hear someone talking about suicide and feeling suicidal and opens their mouths to say it”, the doctor said.
He noted that young people have the highest rate of suicides adding that it was the responsibilities of parents to interact with and get close to their children to be able to determine behavioural changes.
He further noted that in some extreme cases, due to the altercations in brain chemicals, some people tend to hear voices in their heads which could lead them to harm themselves or worse commit suicides.
Dr. Adei-Asamoa therefore encouraged anyone who notices these behaviours in another person not to hesitate in seeking for medical attention.
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The show ended with General Medical Practitioner, Dr. Kwekuma Yalley giving a perspective on a 52 year old woman with mental health issues who swallowed 78 forks and spoons in 2009, and Fremah Asiedu, the host educating viewers on the benefits of garlic.