In the fifth episode of the Vodafone Healthline Spin-Off series, the Healthline team made their way to Oda Akrofonso in the Eastern Region to check on Comfort, a young girl who received a prosthetic leg two years ago.

Comfort had difficulty using both legs because of a birth defect. Due to financial constraints, her family could not support her to receive medical treatment.

Through Vodafone’s help, Comfort received medical attention and can now move around more easily and even run errands for her mother. In a brief conversation with Comfort’s mother, the team learned that during the past two years, Comfort received help from Vodafone to get a new prosthetic leg as she had outgrown the previous one.

Comfort’s mother appreciated Vodafone’s support, saying, “God bless Vodafone Ghana for helping my daughter and our family.”

During the episode, Dr Aba Folson and Dr Kweku Yalley, in-house health professionals, debunked the myth that visible bleeding during a woman’s first sexual encounter confirms that she is a virgin. According to them, the bleeding may be very minimal and difficult to notice.

“You cannot use the evidence of bleeding after sex to say that one is a virgin or not. The vagina is designed in such a way that if a person has never had sexual intercourse, it has a thin membrane in it. Usually, during the first sexual encounter, this membrane is torn or opened, and that might cause a little bleeding,” Dr Aba Folson stressed.

The episode also featured Dr Ama Ghunney, a gynaecologist/obstetrician who talked about some emergencies that may occur during pregnancy. According to her, the two commonest causes of maternal mortality in Ghana are haemorrhage and hypertensive disorders. She explained that the latter, if unchecked, can lead to pre-eclampsia and eclampsia which can damage the woman’s organs, lead to seizures and even death. Dr Ghunney therefore expressed the importance of going for antenatal check-ups when pregnant.

Through the Vodafone Healthline show, Vodafone Ghana has provided free medical education and interventions to the Ghanaian public. The show keeps giving out useful information through interesting content on selected media outlets and social media.

The Vodafone Healthline Spin-Off edition airs on UTV on Mondays from 9:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and on DGN on Tuesdays from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.