Ghanaians urged to promote volunteerism

The Chairman of the Southern Zone of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana(PPAG), Mr. Anthony Koranteng Akwafo, has called on Ghanaians to volunteer their knowledge, time and resources for the comfort of their neighbours.

He said more people are needed to volunteer their resources to help others to live better for the good of the country and society.

Mr. Akwafo was speaking at the formal opening of this year’s annual General Meeting of the Southern Zone of PPAG at Accra.

He called on the branches of the Association in the zone to step-up the mobilization of more volunteers to support the promotion of effective reproductive health systems to help reduce the high maternal death facing the country.

Currently, the country records over 3,000 maternal deaths annually.

In a report about the activities of the association for 2013, the Zonal Manager, Nana Ama Oforiwaa Sam, said the Cape Coast Clinic of the Association created awareness on the legal status of abortion in the country and availability of safe abortion services as a way of helping to reduce unsafe abortion and the high rate of maternal death in the country.

She said the clinic offered safe abortion services to 1,111 women and treated 30 women for incomplete abortions.

Nana Ama Oforiwaa Sam said under the community based behavioural change model project of the association, 2,481 people were placed under modern family planning methods in the Nima and Maamobi in Accra.

She said Community Based Service Agents of the association sold 219,394 contraceptives in Yilo Krobo, Dangbe East and Dangbe West Districts.

She said under the Global Fund supported project, the association was able to reach 65,132 inmates of 14 prisons in the country within the zone with HIV prevention and stigma reduction messages and 9,082 inmates were screened for HIV.