Child Protection in Ghana

We used the money from the grant to develop posters to be placed in the community advocating against child abuse and listing hotline numbers to make reports, either to the child protection center or to DOVVSU. These were distributed throughout Ghana with the help of DOVVSU. I also developed a 100-page curriculum and study guide for child protection in Ghana that we printed as a manual for any physician wishing to train at the KBTH center.

Funds were also designated for making a training video specific to child protection in Ghana, for distribution of pamphlets about child abuse, and reproduction of already printed materials.

While there have been many challenges to this project, including funding issues on a larger scale, staffing issues for the center, resistance from various organizations to talking openly about abuse, and cultural issues regarding what constitutes abuse, there have been many successes as well. In a relatively short time, an actual child protection center was opened, we went from having no child abuse education to having it incorporated into the pediatric residency curriculum, and we were able to partner with DOVVSU to combine our efforts to fight child abuse. We were also able to expand our teaching to Ridge Hospital in Accra with the help of the director of pediatrics, Dr. Nana Sereboe, and to give lectures to their department as well as continue to give more in-depth lectures at KBTH.

Several unfortunate incidents brought the issue of child abuse to the spotlight several times over the last few years: horrific reports of abuse at the Osu Children’s Home, one of the largest orphanages in Ghana; accusations of child abuse by respected members of the community; and other events. What had once been hushed up or considered unimportant is now a hot topic of conversation in Ghana. Hopefully, just as a recent campaign on violence against women has created a huge cultural change, the topic of child abuse in the news and popular media will also promote a cultural change, thus protecting the safety and well-being of these vulnerable children.

Dr. Moran is currently a pediatric emergency medicine attending at Children’s National Medical Center and an assistant professor of pediatrics at George Washington University, both in Washington. At CNMC, she is part of a team of physicians developing an international pediatric emergency medicine program. She is also pursuing a master’s degree in global public health at GWU.