Health Director swallows folic acid tablet before his audience to dispel myths

The Upper East Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi, Monday swallowed the Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablet before his audience to dispel the myth that the medication is a family planning pill, which makes girls bleed heavily during menstruation.

He emphasized that the IFA was not a family planning pill but rather prepared the body for pregnancy.

“Most of the side effects of the IFA tablet can be addressed. For example, the IFA increases the blood volume and so there is enough blood, the reason there is heavy bleeding.”

Dr Dzotsi was addressing the media on the Girls’ Iron and Folic-Acid Tablet Supplementation (GIFTS) Programme, and urged journalists to use their platforms to dispel the myths and increase demand and uptake of the supplement.

Each tablet contains 60 mg elemental iron 400 mcg folic acid.

He said the Upper East Regional Health Directorate and the Ghana Education Service, with support from UNICEF and other development partners, started the implementation of the programme in October 2017 across all districts and municipalities.

The Director said the GIFT programme provided a combined IFA tablet once weekly to adolescent girls in junior and senior high schools as well as technical and vocational training institutions, and adolescent girls not in school.

“Our meeting here should provide us the opportunity to demystify the myths surrounding the programme, thereby increasing demand and uptake of the supplement.”

Dr Dzotsi said the GIFTS programme was adopted by the GHS and its partners as one of several on-going actions to reduce the high rates of anaemia in adolescents and women of childbearing age in Ghana.

In-school adolescent girls took the IFA tablet every Wednesday throughout the term under the supervision of their teachers, whose capacities were built to ensure the effective implementation of the programme.

For out-of-school adolescent girls, he said they were registered at the nearest health facility and given a monthly dosage.

“The intervention aims at reducing the prevalence and severity of anaemia in adolescent girls and women. The programme targets all adolescent girls 10-19 years, both in school and out of school, and women aged 20 years and above and sensitises them to generate demand and encourage them to buy and take IFA supplements,” he said.

Dr Dzotsi said anaemia remained a major public health concern in Ghana, and common among children, adolescent girls and women of childbearing age, and indicated that about 42 per cent of women were anaemic countrywide.

He said of the anaemic women, 45 per cent were pregnant and 48 per cent adolescent girls, according to the Ghana Demographic Health Survey of 2014, “This implies that, for every two women in Ghana, one has anaemia.”

The Region had over the years struggled with high prevalence of anaemia, especially among women of the reproductive age, he said, and further disclosed that 43 per cent of women who reported for Antenatal Care at health facilities in 2021 were anaemic.

Anaemia affects women and children throughout their lifecycle.

“In women, especially during pregnancy, anaemia is associated with premature births, low birth weight, neonatal and maternal mortality.

“In adolescents, anaemia may limit concentration in class and in daily activities, lowers attention span, affecting the performance of the adolescents in school leading to high school drop-out rates. Generally, anaemia reduces physical fitness and work productivity,” Dr Dzotsi said