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Some elders from the community
During their eighth month of pregnancy, women living in Mafi-Dove, a town in Tongu District, central Volta Region, are forced to flee to find a safer place where their babies will be born. .
For centuries, these women, victims of birth and settlement, have been under the spell of losing their babies from birth or accepting to raise children with mysterious diseases if they give birth by birth. mistake in their community.
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Due to the taboo's implications, Mafi-Dove pregnant women are forced to leave their husbands and embark on a winding journey through Lake Volta to Adidome, the district capital, as well as in neighboring cities where they can give birth peacefully.
This has been the generational test of women at Mafi-Dove since her founder, Gbesi Akiti, a hunter, declared holy land and therefore banned the birth of a child, breeding of animals and burial of the dead in the city.
The conviction was maintained to the extent that, even when a clinic was built in 2018 and located on the outskirts of the city, to which a maternity hospital is attached, some women in the area still feared to go to the center. to give birth.
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"I was born and raised in this city. I saw at least two women lose their babies when they challenged the taboo and gave birth in secret. Once that fits the tradition, I think it must be respected and obeyed, "said Esther Gator, a native of the city.
She was speaking when the Minister of Gender, Child Protection and Social Protection and UNFPA visited the community to donate health facilities to the Mafi-Dove clinic.
Teenage pregnancy
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Although it's taboo to give birth in the community, the irony is that teenage pregnancy in Mafi-Dove is surprisingly high.
Statistics from the Central Tongu District Health Directorate indicate that the district, made up of more than 340 communities with an estimated population of 60,000, recorded 490 teenage pregnancy cases in 2016.
Also in 2017, 522 cases were registered, representing 19% of the total number of cases recorded in the entire Volta Region, which comprises 25 districts.
Ms. Justine Sefakor Alornyo, Director of Health Services, Tongu Central District, who received the articles from the Mafi Dove Clinic, described the trend of early pregnancy as an attack on the district's successes in the area of childbirth. maternal health years.
"Teenage pregnancy is one of the most troubling problems in this district, and we do not have data on how many of these cases are due to Mafi-Dove, but the problem concerns all the communities in the district. we had to walk in the community, we will identify mothers from the age of 14, "she said.
MP for the region, Moses Kwasi Awukuvi-Davanyevor, confirmed that teenage pregnancy was prevalent in the Mafi-Dove community.
He mentioned the lack of parental control, inadequate education on the subject and growing economic difficulties as the main factors contributing to the rise of chancre.
An elder in the community, whose 18-year-old daughter has a three-year-old son, said, "Today's children are very difficult to control, especially when you can not support them. I think my daughter has now learned her lessons. "
Minister worried
Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare Cynthia Morrison, who was obviously worried about statistics on early pregnancy in the district, called the statistics shameful and unacceptable.
Ms. Cynthia Morrison, Minister of Gender Equality, addressing community alumni
She emphasized that mothers in the region had a major role to play in ensuring the well-being of their daughters, regardless of their husband's negligence.
She has, however, instructed the MP for Central Tongu, Alexander Hottordze, and Mafi-Dove's queen mother, Mama Hlorfasi II, to take urgent action to reverse this "devastating trend".
The measures to be taken, she said, included the intensification of education on the subject, the constant incitement of adolescent girls to solve their problems and the punishment of men who indulged in immoral badual practices with teenage girls.
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