One of Ghana’s leading pharmaceutical institutions, Action Pharma has launched a new contraceptive, OVIZA emergency contraceptive pill (OVIZA Levonorgetrel) to help reduce the prevalence of unplanned pregnancies.
OVIZA emergency contraceptive pill is targeted especially at young women who are not ready for children but sexually active and couples as well.
Speaking to the B&FT, a Member of the Board of Directors, Lawyer Akwasi Arhin indicated that after the Ghana Health Service survey which noted that about half a million girls between the ages of 14 and 19 got pregnant between 2016 and 2020. This translates to 100,000 girls getting pregnant annually, which is very disturbing.
Therefore, to help curb the rising teenage pregnancies, Action Pharma through its research came out with OVIZA manufactured by the world’s third hormonal pharmaceutical company in India.
Mr. Arhin explained why it should be the go-to contraceptive pill in emergency cases.
“We realised that from the Ghana health services survey, about half a million people get pregnant between the ages of 14 to 19 years. It means that about 100,000 girls get pregnant yearly and that was scary.
So, we had to ask our research theme to do an inquiry to know how we can help to reduce this situation. They realized that we need a different drug which will be an emergency pill that will be just for once, we realized what is on the market is two pills and others. That is why we had to go to our foreign partners to help us solve this problem. It’s easier to use OVIZA because it is only one pill which can be taken within 72 hours of unsafe sex,” he said.
As part of activities towards the launch, staff and some students from tertiary schools and other partners including Women of Class, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) went on a ‘float’ through the principal streets of Kumasi to draw the attention of the public to the new contraceptive pill.
The event also saw some queen mothers from the Asanteman Traditional Authority, Otumfour mawerehene, Baffour Hyeaman Brantuo and other stakeholders such as representatives from the Over the Counter Medicine, who gave remarks on the need for young women to use OVIZA emergency contraceptive pill when the need arises.
Media Generals Ms. Nancy Adobea, was unveiled as the Brand Ambassador for OVIZA emergency contraceptive pill and pledged to use her platform to propagate its use and efficacy.
