Rape victims have lifeline to prevent HIV infection – Medical Doctor
Dr Anthony Ashinyo, a Virologist has urged rape victims to resist all inhibitions about their calamity and rush to medical facilities to pre-empt a possible HIV infection.
He said life-line was effective only within 48 hours of the rape.
Dr Ashinyo, who is the Nkwanta-South District Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), was addressing fresh students of the Ho Polytechnic on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases on Friday.
The lecture, part of a series of talks to orientate the fresh students on independent life as tertiary students, was supported by GUTTMACHER Institute, a US based sexual and reproductive health advocacy group.
Dr Ashinyo also reminded rape victims that health institutions had the capacity to help them prevent pregnancies as a result of rape, if they reported.
Dr Ashinyo used slides to demonstrate manifestations of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Pictures of genital ulcers, skin patches from infections and warts in the mouth were shown to the students.
He said students had the opportunity to avoid infections if they protected themselves during sex and generally become circumspect about their sex lives.
Dr Ashinyo expressed worry about the trend among women to treat their vaginal cavities as “designer wares”. He explained that these women cleaned the vagina area with tooth brushes and other abrasive things, using acerbic detergents and disinfectants and spray it with all manner of products.
He said among every 1,000 Ghanaians, 15 could have HIV/AIDS and that 33.3 million people worldwide had HIV/AIDS and 7,000 also worldwide get infected every day.
On stigmatization, he said, HIV/AIDS carriers had the right to life and that it was against the United Nations Rights Charter to discriminate against them.
Dr Joana Nerquaye-Tetteh, a consultant with GUTTMACHER Institute, Ghana, spoke on contraception, unsafe abortions and the abortion law in Ghana.
She advised doctors, who on the grounds of conscience would refuse to terminate pregnancies, to counsel and refer those clients to other health professionals as abortions in certain cases was legal in Ghana.
Dr Nerquaye-Tetteh said research indicated that peak periods for criminal abortions were January, June and November, suggesting that sexuality was high during festival settings.
She therefore called on safe sex advocacy groups across the country to raise their campaigns to adequately cover those periods.
Dr Nerquaye-Tetteh said the messages of these groups must be clear on where to go for help if women found themselves in that situation.
She observed that incidents of unsafe abortions were surprisingly rife among the educated and also affected girls as young as between 10 and 14 years.
Dr Nerquaye-Tetteh told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that her organisation was taking the campaign to save women from unnecessary deaths through abortions to all tertiary institutions across the country to help reduce the maternal death indices in the country.
Mr Ben Honyenuga, a lecturer at the Polytechnic introduced the fresh students to the Institute’s HIV/AIDS Charter, which creates opportunities for students to learn about the disease and secure help for the affected.
He said the Charter, the first of its kind in a tertiary institution in Ghana, underlined the right of everybody including the HIV/AIDS patient to education and equal treatment.
Mr Ametefee Normanyo, also a lecturer, who presided, advised students to take health issues serious, exercise regularly and keep away from junk food to avoid lifestyle induced diseases.
Source: GNA