Outmoded, cruel, customs killing women in Bawku East

Asiakwa (Eastern Region), 4th May ?99,

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has been asked to save women and children in the Bawku East district in the Upper East region, whose lives are threatened by outmoded customary beliefs and practices.

Ms Elsie Ayeh, Manageress of the Garu Presbyterian Agriculture Station in Bawku East, made the call in an interview at the Asiakwa SOS Village on Saturday.

According to her, babies whose mothers die during delivery are held responsible for their death and are abandoned or left to die for fear that they could kill other members of the family.

Ms Ayeh said when such babies do not get people to adopt them, they are taken away by members of their families only to leave them to die due to lack of care.

Ms Ayeh had brought a four-week old baby girl from the District for adoption at the SOS Village.

She said the child's family had rejected her because the mother died during her delivery as a result of placenta retention and delay in getting medical care.

Ms Ayeh said in some parts of the Bawku East district, when a woman in labour fails to bring out the placenta after delivering the baby, it is believed that she got pregnant through an extra-marital relationship.

If the delivery occurs outside a health institution, pressure is put on the labouring mother to mention the names of people with whom she had an affair, and in some cases, the women die from excessive bleeding or delayed medical attention.

In most of the communities in the district, twins and triplets are regarded as fairies that have powers to decide how long they will stay on earth. They are, therefore not given parental attention as given to ordinary children.

Most twins and triplets, she said, are not properly taken care of, resulting in the death of many of them.

Ms Ayeh, therefore, appealed to the CHRAJ to launch an education campaign in the area to put an end to such outmoded and cruel customary practices.