One out of every 2,000 born is a victim of intersex. Globally, it is estimated that 1.7 per cent are intersex and can’t be classified as male or female. The executive director of Key Watch Ghana / Intersex Ghana expressed this as a worrying situation.
He said the killing of the newborns intersex and discrimination make them dejected. In their presentation, it was clear most of them had dropped out of school. This is a serious issue and needs to be addressed. The CEO, Shone Adjei said this in Techiman during their encounter with the traditional queen mothers and chiefs.
Key Watch Ghana group is advocating to end unnecessary operations and killing early-born intersex babies. Many of them, denying admission to boarding school and dropping from school are bitter and painful, he said.
The key Watch Ghana / Intersex Ghana say having a vagina and penis at the same time is a terrible situation as people see them as demonic. A male with the breast, a woman with the penis and beard. These are some of the few challenges that compel some of them to end their education.
Another challenge that they encounter is marriage, about 90 per cent of intersex people hardly get married, and they see this as a big blow. Again they suffer when it comes to the sporting activities since they do not belong to any of the sex groups. In Kenya, they have accepted the intersex as the third sex people.
In their advocacy with the Queen Mother Association of Ghana, they have already visited four regions, including Techiman in the Bono East region.
The good news is that Key Watch Association established in 2015 has now made it known that intersex is not demonic, not a disease or an infection, it is the maker’s own decision that made them so. They should be accepted without any discrimination.
The CEO, of the Key Watch Ghana, Shone Adjei says the ignorance had ended up killing innocent children born intersex since their parents thought they were demonic to the family. He was happy that through their advocacy the trend has changed. He pleaded for more support to propagate the message to the people of Ghana and beyond.
The occasion was packed with traditional queen mothers and chiefs including the Bono East regional house of Chiefs president, Pimapim Yaw Kabrese and the acting president of the Techiman, Nana Owusu Agyare who is also the Akwaunmuhene of the Techiman Traditional Area chaired the occasion.
Nana Owusu Agyare suggests that the operations of the intersex person should be taken care of by the NHIS since it involves a large sum of money. He said that people should avoid discrimination, and mothers should identify these challenges in their infancy to address their challenges on time.
The president of the Bono East Regional House of Chiefs Pimapim Yaw Kabrese says addressing the challenges of the intersex should be the responsibility of all people. He promised, that both the traditional queen mothers and the chiefs would help to champion the agenda.
The president of the national Queen Mothers platform, Nana Amponsah Dokua III, pleaded with the traditional leaders, the government and NGOs to come to the aid of the intersex persons.
For support and suggestions, kindly connect to info@keywatchghana.org.
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