Over the last three years, the Upper East Region has been recording an overall decrease in teenage pregnancy cases.
“We have made some gains even though we are still far from the national target which is 11.5 percent per region,” a Regional Information Officer with the Ghana Health Service, Madam Charity Tanni said when she spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show recently.
Madam Tanni explained that the reduction in the overall cases of teenage pregnancies could be attributed to concerted efforts from stakeholders.
“Looking at data from the past 3 years, we have actually recorded a decline from 15.4 percent to 15.2 percent in 2021. In 2022, we had 14.2 percent. We would say we have recorded some gains because of the work we have done,” she said.
Despite the overall decline in teenage pregnancies, Madam Tanni expressed some concerns over the growing number of cases in some districts within the Upper East Region.
“We have seen that in Nabdam for example, we have an increase in the teenage pregnancy rates. In our Municipalities like Bolga and Bawku, they consistently record low percentages. Bolga East, for the past few years, has also started recording some increases in cases.”
Madam Tanni called for a hands-on approach to help deal adequately with the menace. She also commended stakeholders for their roles so far.
“We would say that for the last 3 years, a lot of interventions have been made. We try to reach out to adolescents in our own small way and encourage them to patronise our services in the facilities. We give them education whenever we meet them. We also have trained PSSPs as peer ambassadors and deliver the messages so that they can reach more people.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
