A district public health nurse at the Kassena-Nankana West District, Francis Adipare, has indicated that the interference by some opinion leaders in the prosecution of culprits involved in defilement cases is impeding the fight against teenage pregnancy in the area.
According to him, there have been instances where some opinion leaders involved themselves in cases of rape and defilement of children before courts by instigating an out-of-court settlement, citing family relations and the need for them not to be divided.
This, he bemoaned, not only injures justice but also prevents the culprits from being punished to serve as a deterrent to others, and that is hampering their work in controlling the phenomenon.
He revealed this when he spoke to Mark Smith on A1 Radio`s Daybreak Upper East Show regarding cases of teenage pregnancies in the District.
Mr. Adipare noted that the kind of parenting children receive sometimes also makes them intimately unable to resist advances from men because they have been coached in such a manner that they are unable to object even to things with which they are not pleased.
The public health nurse said though there has been some improvement compared with last year due to the Ghana Health Service’s collaboration with other stakeholders in initiating adolescent health clubs in schools and out of schools to sensitize teenagers about their health, the progress made is still above the national target.
He said the district recorded 15.4 percent of cases of teenage pregnancies in the six months of 2023, which translates to about 220 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 getting pregnant as against 17.7 percent in the same period last year.
Source: A1radioonline.Com|101.1MHz|Gilbert Azeem Tiroog|Kassena-Nankana
