BY INDY MAEALASIA
MISS Guadalcanal, Ezinma Kausua, has emphasised the critical need for a strategic and holistic approach to improving women’s and girls’ health across the nation.
She highlighted this during the pre-pageant speech competition at the Pacific Crown Hotel (PCH) last week.
Kausua said that raising awareness and advocacy are strategic approaches that can bring about changes.
“Raising awareness and advocacy about reproductive health can have profound impacts on individuals, communities, and societies,” Kausua stated. “Through effective awareness and advocacy, our women and girls will have increased self-esteem and confidence in making informed decisions.”
Highlighting the role of women as “primary homemakers and caregivers,” she noted that their unwavering dedication often leads to neglecting their health.
“Most often, women prioritize the health of their children and families and neglect their own. It is important to ensure that our women’s health is prioritized because a sick mother cannot perform her primary roles,” Kausua explained.
She also pointed out that enhancing knowledge among women and girls will increase demand for quality reproductive health services, particularly family planning.
Moreover, Kausua emphasized that improving awareness and access to reproductive health services will lead to significant reductions in infant and maternal mortality, lower rates of STIs and other life-threatening conditions affecting women and girls.
“By investing in awareness raising and advocacy on reproductive health, we will be investing in the primary prevention of the many health issues that our women and girls face.” she said.
Kausua added that such an approach will lead to a prosperous nation, “In turn, we will be investing in being a wealthy nation because our women will be healthy. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation”.
