Adolescent pregnancy in Upper West surge in first quarter of 2024

The Upper West Regional Adolescent Health Focal Person of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Pognaa Rosemary Bangzie, has disclosed that adolescent pregnancies in the region have seen a marginal increase in the first quarter of 2024.

She made this known at the sidelines of a regional stakeholder engagement on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education organized by the Informed Choices for Change (IC4C) Youth Groups, a Norsaac-supported coalition of youth networks in the Upper West Region, in Wa.

According to her, the region experienced a continuous reduction in the cases of adolescent pregnancies in the last three years, but the first quarter of this year has seen a marginal rise.

She indicated that the region recorded 11.0%, 10.7%, and 8.7% of teenage pregnancies in the years 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively.

However, in the first quarter of 2024, she said the statistics showed 9.4% of teenage pregnancies for January and February, excluding March, which is higher than the previous year's figure of 8.7%.

Pognaa Bangzie attributed the rise in cases to the withdrawal of services by some NGO partners and agencies from the region.

"Some of our key partners that were actually supporting this region, and then some of our districts that actually worked hard to bring these figures down, everybody was highly, highly excited looking at the work we are doing, and we were getting results.

"So some of our NGOs, we realized, have withdrawn their services looking at where the Upper West Region is standing compared to other regions; they have gone there [other regions] to also support them," she said.

Pognaa Bangzie noted that the district statistics differ, as she said that "some districts are recording as low as 1.0%, while others are recording as high as 17%."

She, thus, called on the Non-Governmental Organizations and other partners and

agencies to not vacate the Upper West Region, and even new ones, to continue to

invest in the region.

Meanwhile, Janet Kpan, the Upper Regional Girl Child Education Coordinator of

the Ghana Education Service (GES), indicated that adolescent pregnancies among

Schoolchildren have decreased over the period following the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said the education directorate recorded over 100 pregnant girls who sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in 2022, but in 2023, less than 30 pregnancies were recorded.

She noted that the government's white paper on the re-enrollment of pregnant girls and child mothers in school, coupled with public sensitization activities, has led to a reduction in the number of pregnancies.

"And I can also say that parents who did not know that they were not providing for the basic needs of their wards, which led to their pregnancies, have started doing their bit," she added.

The stakeholder engagement sought to collate the perspectives of various stakeholders for the smooth implementation of Reproductive Health Education (RHE) guidelines in schools.