Upper East and Volta Regions lead in teenage pregnancies

The Upper East and Volta regions have been identified as the regions that produce the highest number of teenage pregnancies in the country the Upper East Regional director of health services, Dr. Kofi Issah has revealed.

According to him, the region came first with a total of 5,587 adolescent pregnancies representing 15.4% for the year 2016, with 2.1%occurring among adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years, making the region, the highest in the league of teenage pregnancies.

The Volta Region recorded the second highest of 10,296 pregnancies representing 15.0%.

In the Upper East Region, the Nabdam district recorded the highest teenage pregnancy rate of 21.1%, while Bawku municipal recorded the lowest rate of 11.5%

At the 2016 annual performance review meeting held in Bolgatanga on the theme: “Harnessing human resources for effective leadership and service delivery with focus on New born care and sub-district health systems”, he bemoaned the growing trend of teenage pregnancy in the region.

He appealed to key stakeholders to develop and effectively implement policies and programmes at reducing drastically the menace of teenage pregnancy attributing the rise to lack of family planning education in Basic and Second cycle institutions, early marriage and other socio-cultural factors.