The Chief Executive of Beauty In Virginity, (BIV) a Sunyani based virgins club, Mrs Theodora Asubonteng, has reiterated that poverty has a direct linkage with the risk of women becoming sick and dying from conditions that are often preventable.

She added that the beginning of the poverty-disease cycle may start from any point of the life span, from the parental period to shortly before death.

She has therefore called on stakeholders to step up the fight against poverty especially in rural communities to ensure a healthy nation.

The Chief Executive said a woman’s income and education, nutritional status and access to antenatal care and delivery services may all be related to the survival chances of a foetus or a child.

Mrs Asubonteng was speaking at the opening of a one day seminar for women leaders on the theme, “Poverty and the Heath of a Woman” in Sunyani.

It was organized by Beauty In Virginity in partnership with African Media Aid,(AFRIMA) another NGO in Sunyani, and attended by over two hundred women drawn from the Sunyani Municipality . She noted that the presence of high-risk factors increase the chances of miscarriages, congenital malformations, delivery complications, low birth weight babies and related conditions. “Similarly, malnutrition during childhood may result in irreversible growth and developmental disadvantages”, she added.

The Chief Executive pointed out that malnutrition may interact with unhealthy living conditions to increase the risk of childhood infections.

She said poor nutrition in adults may severely affect productivity and income, especially in physically demanding jobs. “Serious illness of a key brad winner can push a household into abject poverty”, she emphasized.

Mrs Asubonteng noted that the transition can be accelerated by the cost of treatment, thus while good health is desirable in itself, it is a particularly important asset for poor people since they usually have few other assets.

The Chief Executive of AFRIMA, Mr Raphael Ahenu, commended BIV for educating young women on their rights and responsibilities and urged other organisations in the region to seriously tackle issues affecting women. He noted that poverty and health are issues that have affected women for far too long and that the time has come for women to be completly liberated from those problems.