ASHANTI RECORDS 6,000+ TEENAGE PREGNANCIES SO FAR
A total of six
thousand 269 teenage pregnancies were recorded in the Ashanti Region between
January and June, this year.
Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of Health
Services in charge of Public Health, Dr. Kwasi Yeboah-Awudzi who announced this
at the opening of this year’s Adolescent Health Ambassadors Camp in Kumasi, said
even though the figure is high, there has been a significant reduction in teenage
pregnancy cases in the region compared to the years past and attributed it to
the sustained educational campaign on reproductive and sexual health issues.
The
Adolescent Health Ambassadors Camp, organized jointly by the Ghana Health
Service and Ghana Education Service, grooms young adolescents to effectively promote
reproductive health issues among their peers.
The programme is on the theme:
“Equipping Young People as Health Ambassadors for Sustainable Development”. Dr.
Yeboah-Awudzi said it is appropriate for participants to be properly
sensitized 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.
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