The abuse of emergency pills among young people in the Upper East Region has become a great concern, according to health workers.
Mary Azika, an official with the Bolgatanga Municipal Health Directorate, spoke with A1 Radio’s Mark Smith on the Day Break Upper East Show. She mentioned that while emergency pills are not promoted as part of interventions for family planning, many young people have resorted to daily use of the pills to prevent pregnancies.
“Emergency contraceptives are not part of the family planning methods,” she said.
Popularly referred to as ‘prepaid’, Ms. Azika explained that young men within the region now stock their homes and pockets with the post-pills and often offer them to young ladies even before having sex with them.
“Some of the youth call it prepaid. When the person is already walking out, it is already in the bag or pocket. If you sample men here, out of 10, you can have at least 8 of them having this prepaid in their pockets.”
The abuse of the post-pills, Ms. Azika said, has serious consequences on the lives of young women.
“They think that that is easy, but they don’t know the consequences. You can take it. It is not part of family planning methods but for use in case of emergencies and not for regular use.”
An even bigger concern, according to the health worker, is the fact that because young people are having unprotected sex and are only concerned about preventing pregnancies using the post-pills, there could be a rise in sexually transmitted diseases.
Source: A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Bolgatanga|