On average, one out of four girls in Ghana will be married before their 18th birthday, this is according to research by the United Nations’ Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
Child marriage is a human rights abuse and constitutes a grave threat to young girls’ lives, health, and future prospects.
The lack of knowledge on the part of women and adolescent girls on their reproductive health rights has been identified as one of the major factors that account for child marriages.
To help broaden the knowledge of women and adolescent girls in the Upper East Region on their reproductive rights, Afrikids Ghana, a child rights-centered NGO has launched two projects at Wiaga in the Builsa North district.
The projects aim to improve access to sexual reproductive health services in targeted communities in the district.
The Girl Child Coordinator for the Builsa North district, Lydia Gariba, laments that many parents in the area marry their daughters off when they get pregnant.
This situation she says should no longer exist in today’s world, where education has become the foundation for the life of everyone.
Some school children at the launch of the project
One of the two projects Afrikids Ghana has launched in the Builsa North district will create an opportunity for the creation of mother-to-mother support groups.
This will ensure that women can share experiences and learn from each other.
Dubbed the ‘Future’s Freedom Project’, it will also educate adolescent girls on their reproductive health rights.
Country Director of Afrikids Ghana, Nicholas Kumah, said, in the course of the NGO’s work in the Upper East Region, they have had to come to the rescue of young girls who got unplanned pregnancies and became a burden on their poor parents.
He said in some cases, the girls dropped out of school and were married off.
“It is as a result of these sad occurrences that Afrikids decided to seek funding to help address reproductive health issues”, he said.
The Department for International Development (DFID) and UNICEF Funded the two projects: ‘Sexual Reproductive Health Rights’ and the ‘Life Cycle Approach’.
As part of the projects, Reproductive Health Desks will also be set up at clinics in targeted communities, so that women and adolescent girls can always seek counseling on their reproductive health.
The District Chief Executive for Builsa North, Bonaventure Adangabey said the launch of the two projects by Afrkids Ghana is timely because the district has always had challenges in the area of reproductive health education.
