Nkoranza records 311 teenage pregnancies in six months

The Nkoranza Municipality recorded a total of 311 teenage pregnancies in the first half of this year.

Mr. Samson Addo, the Municipal Health Information Officer, disclosed at the opening of a day’s workshop organized by the Municipal Health Directorate for nine media practitioners at Nkoranza.

It was sponsored by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, and had as its theme: “The Adolescent Health Reproductive Project.”

It was aimed at promoting the holistic development of the Youth within the Municipality.

The participants, drawn from the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and the local Jerryson and Akyeaa FM Radio Stations were sensitized about the project to come out with relevant reports to help address the challenges facing adolescents in the Municipality.

Mr. Addo said 11 of the pregnancies were between the ages of 10 and 14 years, while the rest ranged between 15 and 19 years.

He said the figure was a great improvement upon those for the past three years, citing that in 2012, 16 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years became pregnant, whereas 609 others were between 15 and 19 years.

In 2013 and 2014, 1,266 pregnancies were recorded in the Municipality, Mr. Addo said, and explained that 54 of them were between 10 and 14 years, while 1,212 fell between the 15 and 19 age bracket.

On the HIV/AIDS disease, Mr. Addo said, in 2012, 21 teenagers tested positive, with the figure increasing to 23 in 2013.

He added that it reduced to 15 in 2014 and further decreased to 12 in the first six months of this year, and attributed the challenges of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to early sexual practices by adolescents.

Mr Addo, therefore, appealed to the Media to join the crusade to control and possibly prevent their occurrences in the Municipality.

Madam Sakina Sayibu, Nkoranza Municipal Nutrition Officer, urged nurses in-charge of the health facilities to scale-up their education of the youth on the dangers of unsafe sexual practices.

Madam Sayibu stressed the need for parents to monitor the movement and activities of their children, particularly to ensure that they did not mingle with their peers of questionable characters.

She announced that the Municipal Health Directorate had established Adolescent Counseling Centres at Nkoranza, Nkwabeng, Donkro-Nkwanta and Bonsu, to counsel the youth and teenagers to avoid negative lifestyles and lead upright lives.