Tema-Ghana, April 29, CDA Consult – Men’s lax attitudes towards sexual health treatment, according to Dr. Barbara Ayesha Anawana Karbo, Head of the Accident and Emergency Department at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH), must change.
She expressed worry that most men conceal or avoid expressing their health requirements, and that when they visit health facilities, they are sometimes hesitant to have an honest talk about their sexual health history and present concerns.
Dr. Karbo continued, “Most men do not seek immediate care for a variety of health issues, and when they do, they do not open up about their problems, particularly those involving their reproductive systems.”
Dr. Karbo, an Emergency Medicine Physician, issued the warning during the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility,” a Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative aimed at promoting health-related communication and providing a platform for health information dissemination to influence personal health choices through improved health literacy.
The Tema Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency created the public health advocacy platform “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility” to examine the aspects of four health communication approaches: informing, instructing, persuading, and urging.
Dr. Karbo, speaking on the topic of “First aid at home and basic life support,” stated that male mortality is higher than female mortality because women confront their concerns openly without hiding anything, but males keep them hidden, sometimes even from their families.
Dr. Karbo went on to say that health practitioners relied on the information they were provided to conduct therapy, therefore accurate and precise information made it easier for healthcare workers to get to the root of the sickness.
She went on to say that males had a tendency to self-manage their health problems, which frequently compounded their situation, and that men needed to change their mindset and get regular health examinations.
According to the IMaH Accident and Emergency Specialist, there are a lot more males in the health sector, and as a result, they may prefer to be cared for by someone with whom they feel comfortable discussing their health situation in depth.
She claims that men’s reluctance to seek healthcare is one of the reasons they die younger than women, despite the fact that public health services are more easily available to women in the country.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Regional Manager of Ghana News Agency Tema, asked health workers to create a welcoming environment for men to discuss their health issues in both informal and formal settings.
He stated that there is a need for a better knowledge of the male gender, underlining the importance of health institutions developing distinctive, gender-sensitive approaches to male healthcare.
Mr. Ameyibor stressed that most healthcare facilities are gender-sensitive, and he asked for a paradigm shift to better accommodate men and their health requirements.
He also urged the media to start a broad discussion about men’s health difficulties as a public health booster that can help raise awareness of a health problem, improve knowledge of health topics, and make a health topic or problem more relevant, sensitizing the public.
