Break the silence on fibroids

Ghanaian entrepreneur and wellness activist Nana Konamah this July launched a digital Fibroids Campaign set to inform and educate the general public about Fibroids and amplify the stories of women who have suffered and overcome Fibroids.

Globally, black women are three to five times more likely to experience Fibroids, and in Africa, over 90 percent of black women are affected by this reproductive health issue.

Despite its prevalence, the Fibroids epidemic is often left out of the local and global discussion on diseases affecting African women and has minimal institutional research funding.

Currently, on the World Health Organization site, Fibroids is not listed as an issue affecting African women.

Nana Konamah shared that one of the main problems contributing to Fibroids going unnoticed is Period (menstrual cycle) stigma.

She continued, “this means conditions that present through unhealthy periods do not get their necessary light and because we don’t talk about periods, we don’t talk about fibroids,” Nana Konama said.

Disrupting the Silence on Fibroids

To shed light on the issue, each day in July, Nana Konamah hosted diverse online activities to educate the public and empower women with information on reproductive health risks.
Every Tuesday in the month of July, she hosted talks on her platform with topics such as Signs and Symptoms of Fibroids, Fibroid Treatment Options, to name a few.

Each Friday in July, coined #FibroidFriday, the health and wellness activist featured health practitioners and women who cured themselves and healed from Fibroids.

Konamah identified that in Ghana and globally, speaking about the menstrual cycle and sexual health is taboo. “I believe one solution to the problem is to eliminate period stigma, which means we have to talk about periods,” shared the wellness activist, who co-created a short documentary in 2019 with writer and travel influencer, Jessica Nabongo, about Fibroids.

My Fibroids Story Campaign

To help destigmatize periods and fibroids, Nana Konamah hosted an inclusive campaign called My Fibroids Story, which called for women to share their stories about Fibroids and speak up to normalize the topic and language around periods and reproductive health. Individuals can participate in the campaign by posting on any social media platform a recorded video, Tweet, or image sharing their story with the hashtag #MyFibroidStory. The goal was to digitally facilitate a discussion and expand insights on how Fibroids affects black women in Ghana and globally.

Nana Konamah is a multi-dimensional activist, entrepreneur, and advocate for women’s wellness and reproductive health. The My Fibroids Campaign is the start to a larger goal of achieving institutional support for further research on Fibroids, and increased access to resources and services for African women’s reproductive care.

This July’s effort includes facilitating the conversation, through interviews, with women of African descent to unlock the potential of storytelling and relaying the nuanced health care experiences from black women in different regions.

About Fibroids

Fibroids are hormone-dependent, benign tumors of the uterine smooth muscle and though can cause no symptoms but are often associated with heavy and prolonged bleeding, difficulty in conceiving and aggressive pelvic pain amongst other symptoms.

In Ghana, there is a high disease burden of fibroids due to the prevalence of medical costs. There is a lack of institutional support on this matter.