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Tobinco Foundation celebrates UN International Widows Day

By GNA
Social News Tobinco Foundation celebrates UN International Widows Day
JUN 28, 2016 LISTEN

Accra, June 28, GNA - Tobinco Foundation, a subsidiary of the Tobinco Group of Companies, has organised a United Nations (UN) International Widows Day to empower about 200 widows as they undertook responsibilities as single parents.

The celebration, which was held in Accra, also included a health talk on menopause and breast care to enlighten the women on paying specific attention to their health.

Mrs Millicent Akoto, the Executive Director of the Foundation, told the Ghana News Agency that the celebration was to raise awareness about the plight of widows in Ghana; launch a skills training project; and make widows hopeful of acquiring employable skills for better living.

She said as part of the week-long celebration, the Foundation had also put measures in place to organise a health screening exercise and a talk on nutrition for the widows.

Quoting the UN, Mrs Akoto said the abuse of widows and their children currently constituted one of the most serious violations of human rights and obstacles to development.

'Millions of widows over the world endure extreme poverty, ostracism, violence, homelessness, ill health, and discrimination in law and custom as many also suffer from violence and sexual abuse,' she said.

Mrs Akoto said those treatments often made widows found themselves in extreme poverty while their children were deprived of schooling, healthcare and proper nutrition since their mothers could not afford to provide for them.

She said the situation sometimes made traffickers trick the widows into sending their children away, often outside the country, to engage into sexual slavery for their selfish monetary gains.

'It is for this reason that the Tobinco Foundation is celebrating the UN International Widows Day to empower widows in the country and raise awareness about their plight,' she said.

Mrs Evelyn Boakye, a Senior Nursing Officer of the Mallam Atta Government Clinic, who educated the widows on menopause, told them that menopause brought a lot of mental and physical complications to the human system.

She asked them not to resort to constant attribution of the complications to spirituality so they could seek medical advice whenever necessary to restore their health.

Some of the widows asked the health personnel whether having complications like constant joint pains, a feeling of burning feet, high temperature and constant sweating were normal.

Mrs Boakye told them most of the complications were normal, however, she urged them to visit health centres when it was unbearable.

'You should also try to sleep on good beds and undertake a lot of exercise to reduce the complications on menopause on you,' she said.

GNA

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