Tema General Hospital records high number of teenage pregnancies

Naana Egyiriba Idun-Acquah, an Adolescent Focal Person at the Tema General Hospital, has revealed that the facility recorded high cases of teenage pregnancies.

She said this at an organized free health and education exercise in Tema Community 12 to enhance the well-being of residents.

She noted that parents were failing to educate their adolescent children on sex education, describing the 10- to 19-year-old age group as the “curious about sex” stage.

She said, parents must build a bond with their children, where sex education could be easily discussed, stressing that, it would help the children fight the urge to experiment with sex because pregnancy did not require multiple instances but just one act.

Adolescent Focal Person revealed that teenage pregnancy had many health consequences, like pre-eclampsia, a blood pressure (BP) illness, and excessive bleeding after birth, which easily resulted in death.

She explained that, during pregnancy, the body required lots of blood speculation, but because at the adolescent age, the body was not mature enough to cater for such activities, it led to many health issues, coupled with emotional distress, social stigma, and economic problems.

Madam Idun-Acquah also revealed that some parents, in their attempt to punish the girl child, made her do more hours of chores and refused to provide her with money for feeding.

She said nutrition and rest were critical to the survival of a pregnant woman; therefore, she appealed to parents to show compassion and support the expectant mothers until they delivered.

The Adolescent Focal Person, however, revealed that the Tema General Hospital also administered free sex education to adolescents and, therefore, advised parents to take advantage of it.