Adolescent problems need an all-hands-approach - Dr. Yabani

The Tema Metropolitan Director of Health, Dr John Yabani, says adolescent health issues should not be left for one agency alone to handle due to their multi-faceted nature.

“The adolescent issues would have to be tackled from different

dimensions. That is why today we are very happy that we have police, social welfare and some of our representatives from the national level with us to observe. We are looking at how we can collaborate to make the adolescent a responsible adult,” he said.

He said this on Tuesday during the Adolescent Health Review meeting at the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate.

The review looked at how they were performing at their corners, what their challenges were and some of the innovations they were employing to fight the challenges.

“We did this review for us to learn from each other and the challenges we face and share ideas so as to connect to each other to get the problems of the adolescent solved,” he said.

called for a collective effort adding that “there are simple things we can provide, like audiovisual materials, information on how to communicate to the adolescent, mobile and

telephones, telephone numbers, etc. so we can connect to each other.”

He appealed to Corporate Tema and the Social Services Subcommittee of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) to take the issue of the adolescent seriously by providing funding for the directorate’s activities.

Speaking on behalf of the Tema Metropolitan Directorate of Social Welfare, Mr Reginald Ankrah, Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, said, “Most of our mothers don’t have time for their children. If you look at some cases that come to us, most of the adolescents are not living with their parents.”

He said, “It is either their parents are living in the village or somewhere else. So they come to town, get a gentleman with the

intention of getting a better life and then pregnancy comes in, and

that’s the beginning of their woes.”

According to him, they wanted to create a situation in which parents would have their children around them and have the impact on their upbringing, “therefore we want to have sensitization programmes for parents about some of the things they should do to help their children.”

He informed that they would also introduce social welfare policies to empowered to lead a fulfilled life.

He observed the social welfare department was one department in Ghana that needed to be resourced as a matter of urgency, adding that “If we take care of social problems, the economic ones would take care of themselves. If you are able to provide for the needy and vulnerable, they would be able to provide for themselves and it would boost economic activities in Ghana.”

The Adolescent Focal Person of the Tema Metropolitan Area, Mrs. Grace Eddy Amewu, said looking at the social implications of the problems of the adolescent, they decided to robe in the Social Welfare department and observed the good work their personnel were doing in assisting some of the needy adolescents.

She added that “We decided to robe in DOVVSU because of the need for them to assist in the education and also to fall on them in cases of rape and other criminal matters.

Ms Diana Teimley Ofori, the adolescent focal person at Manhean health Centre, said the introduction of social welfare personnel to their respective centres had helped their work greatly because she no longer referred social welfare issues to the Tema General Hospital.

She observed that Manhean had a high teenage pregnancy rate

coupled with acute poverty and religious beliefs that mitigated against interventions of the adolescent corner.

She, therefore, had to resort to intense education in schools and churches to advise parents to talk to their children about sex, etc.

The Focal Person for TMA Maternity and Children’s Clinic, Mrs.

Clerenda Ibrahim, called for financial support to train the adolescents to acquire skills to earn a decent living.

“The corner itself is very small and the chairs are in a deplorable way and the windows are broken, and when it rains the ceiling leaks.We need help.”

As part of the review, there were five presentations by focal persons from the Tema General Hospital, the Tema Polyclinic, the Manhean Health Centre, the TMA Maternity and Children Clinic and the

Department of Social Welfare and Community Development.