A total of 6,269) teenage pregnancies have been recorded in the Ashanti Region between January and June this year.
Notwithstanding this egregious figure, the Ashanti Regional Deputy Director of Health in charge of Public Health, Dr. Kwasi Yeboah-Awudzi, explained that statistics records from the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service has it that there has been a significant reduction in teenage pregnancy cases in the region, as compared to the years gone by, a feat attributed to the sustained educational campaign on reproductive and sexual health issues.
Dr. Yeboah-Awudzi, revealed to The Chronicle that in the 2017 mid-year, 112,369 was recorded, which, according to him, indicates that the menace has reduced.
The revelation came to the fore at the opening of the two-day 2018 Adolescent Health Ambassadors Camp in Kumasi, which is jointly organised by the Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education Service annually to groom young adolescents to effectively promote reproductive health issues, for more than 500 adolescents drawn from across the country.
The programme was themed: “Equipping Young People as Health Ambassadors for Sustainable Development.”
Topics treated included: ‘Adolescent Development and Sexuality’, ‘Building Healthy Relationship with the Opposite Sex’, ‘Communication Skills’, ‘Goal Setting and Decision-Making’, ‘Abstinence and Adolescent Pregnancy’, and ‘Overcoming Peer Pressure’ to ‘Substance Abuse and Self-Esteem.’
Dr. Kwasi Yeboah-Awudzi said it was appropriate for the participants to be properly sensitised on reproductive health issues, since adolescence is a critical stage in a person’s life.
He said the earlier the youth are cautioned against the dangers of pre-marital sex, the better it would be for their own growth and development.
A Reproductive Health Specialist with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, Dr. Robert Mensah, noted that the youth are vulnerable when it comes to reproductive health issues.
This, he attributed to the lack of information and inaccessibility to reproductive health services. Dr. Mensah, therefore, advocated investment in these areas to reduce, to the barest, the high rate of teenage pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections among adolescents.
source: Ghanaian Chronicle
