More pregnancies in Ivorian refugee camp

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has recorded more than 600 pregnancies in the Ivorian refugee camp at Ampian in the Ellembele District since 2012. Madam Margaret Buah, midwife in charge of the health centre, said the figure involved over 500 adults and 100 teenagers.

She said in 2012, 54 adults and 14 teenagers got pregnant in the first quarter, 439 adults and four teenagers in the second quarter and over 500 pregnancies recorded at the end of the same year.

In 2013, 25 adults and 15 teenage pregnancies were recorded in the first quarter and over 50 at the end of the year while 30 adults and 19 teenagers got pregnant in the first quarter of this year and 62 pregnancies at the end of the first half of the year.

Madam Buah said the centre was facing challenges such as insufficient medicine and funds to cater for the health needs of the refugees and appealed for logistics and other educational materials such as video clips to be used during the antennal clinics to ensure healthy lifestyle among the refugees, especially the youth.

She said the number of pregnancies for both adults and teenagers at the camp had been increasing since the centre was established to attend to the health needs of refugees.

Mad Buah said occasionally the centre transferred patients to the Eikwe Government Hospital for treatment but the centre did not have resources to follow up to check on their condition.

She called for more resources for the centre to embark on educational drive on antennal and sexual health of the refugees to avert unwanted pregnancies, especially among the youth.

She said an average of 50 patients visit the centre daily and common ailments recorded included malaria, skin diseases, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and diarrhea. Over 4,000 Ivorian refugees fled to the camp when political conflicts broke out in 2011.