GThe Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) will be scaling up the ‘Girls’ Iron-Folate Tablet Supplementation’ (GIFTS) project to the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern and Central Regions.
This follows a GHS study of the initial project, which showed an overall reduction in anaemia levels of girls in junior and senior high schools in the Northern and Volta Regions.
In all, anaemia levels reduced from 24.3 to 20.0 per cent among girls in junior high schools, and from 26.0 to 18.7 per cent among girls at the senior high school levels in 2017.
The Greater Accra Regional Nutrition Officer, Faustina Vimariba Tour, who spoke at a stakeholder sensitisation meeting, indicated that the programme is designed to provide weekly iron folic acid (IFA) supplements for adolescent girls aged 10-19 years through schools for schoolgoing girls and health facilities for out-of-school girls.
The project will also engage women aged 20 years and above through communication to generate demand, and encourage them to buy and take the IFA supplements on their own to reduce high anaemia levels.
According to her, the (IFA) supplementation for menstruating women was adopted as one of several actions going on to improve maternal nutrition, reduce the high rates of anaemia in adolescents and women of childbearing age and contribute to reduction in maternal mortality.
Comfort Kwegir Aggrey, a representative of the GHS, explained that for the out-of-school, the girls will be required to take their first doze under the observation of a health professional and would be given the subsequent dozes for the rest of the month to take home.
She added that the GHS, with support from UNICEF, would ensure sustained supply of commodities to coordinators at regional, district and circuits levels for distribution to the schools and health facilities.
The GIFTS programme is an interventional programme supported by UNICEF and implemented by GHS and GES to reduce anaemia in women and girls of schoolgoing age and out-of-school.
By Abigail Owiredu-Boateng