Poverty major cause of child prostitution in Ghana – UCC Scholars

Ghana would have to strengthen its children and social protection agenda if it hopes to curtail the increasing rate of Child Prostitution in the country.

This is according to a research by scholars from the department of Sociology and Anthropology of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

The research work dubbed, “Gold in Between My Thighs” looked at the rationale behind young girls participation in the booming trade and their backgrounds.

According to the research, orphans and girls from poor family backgrounds are increasingly getting in the negative trade as a survival mechanism.

These children according to the research have been left on their own to fend for themselves and they see prostitution an avenue for meeting their needs thereby being exposed to all the negatives such as diseases and deaths associated with the practice as some men tend to harm these child prostitutes especially when they do not want to pay for services rendered.

Speaking to Ultimate News on the sidelines of an educational campaign to educate young girls on the need to stay away from premarital sex and thereby avoiding the negatives that come with the act, the lead researcher, Dr. Georgina Yaa Oduro indicated that girls must not be pushed into situations where they would have to sell their bodies as a means of survival.

Efforts, she said must be doubled to stop the trade as more girls are getting involved in the trade.

What makes the case worse, she added is the fact that the central region as a tourist hub attracts all manner of persons including sex tourists who use the young girls for their sexual pleasures in exchange for paltry amounts which instead of demotivating the girls to refrain from the negative trade rather entices them into it as at least they are able to raise something little to support themselves due to parental neglect.

Parents, she added have a role to play in preventing the girls from falling into negative act as a survival scheme as parental negligence and irresponsibility has proven to be the major contributory factor to the increasing rate of the disease in the region and the country as a whole.

Dr Georgina Yaa Oduro appealed to government and society and individuals to help these children as majority are willing to quit the sexual trade if they will have essential support to irk decent living.