Community fines help reduce teenage pregnancy in Adaklu

The introduction of community fines by traditional rulers is helping to reduce teenage pregnancy cases in the Adaklu District.

Payments of GHC500.00 each or providing ten bags of cement each by parties involved in teenage pregnancies have reportedly brought down the cases by six per cent of the adolescent population, Mr. Charles Azagba, the District Director of Health Services told a third quarter Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee for Health Promotion (ICC-HP) meeting in Ho.

He said the formation of community based adolescent health clubs and making adolescent health and family planning services accessible to the youth also helped in reducing the cases.

The District was said to have record the highest cases of teenage pregnancy in the country in 2015 with 120 incidents.

Mr Azagba said after a baseline study, the Health Directorate with support from some institutions engaged the traditional rulers and other stakeholders for a multi-sectoral approach to addressing the challenge.

He said the clubs, with over 1,232 young adults, had only three of their members pregnant in 2016 out of 111 pregnancies that year, and none this year.

Mr Azagba said indications were that, a good number of teenagers who reported at facilities for anti-natal care were not resident in the District, with many coming from Ashaiman and Mafi and hopeful with a little more efforts, the cases could come down further.

He said a major challenge was the incidence of some opinion leaders, including teachers impregnating pupils and students and called for stiffer punishment for them.

Members of the Committee commended the Adaklu District Directorate of Health Services for the creativity and called for support from all.

The meeting also discussed sanitation issues confronting districts in the region.