Stakeholders to curb teenage pregnancies

Stakeholders at a forum organized at Bongo have drawn up strategies aimed at reducing teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions in the area.

Girls in the thirteen districts of the region in the basic and senior high schools get pregnant and it is common in the Bongo and the Builsa North and Builsa South districts.

“Pagba Saha Foundation,” with sponsorship from STAR-Ghana, through a programme dubbed “TV series and Community Engagement in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions on Reproductive Health and Maternal Mortality “have organized a stakeholders forum in Bongo.

The Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, Naba Baba Salifu Baba Aleemyaruum, expressed worry about the trend of teenage pregnancies and said he would liaise with the District Assembly to enact bylaws banning spinning during funerals.

On unsafe abortion, the Paramount Chief said most of the girls resorted to unorthodox means of terminating the pregnancy and this could affect their health.

Madam Margaret Kugre, Principal Midwifery Officer in-charge of the Bongo Health Centre, appealed to parents not to hesitate to bring their pregnant daughters to the facility for counseling.

The Upper East Regional Director of Ghana Broadcasting Cooperation, Mrs Asibi Bangu Ekella, appealed to parents to provide the needs of their daughters.

Haji Sawuratu Alhassan, the Chief Executive Officer of Pagba Saha Foundation, said reproductive health and maternal mortality including teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortion were major issues facing the three regions.