Ashanti region recorded 16,000 cases of teenage pregnancy in 2003

Effiduase (Ash), Oct 11, GNA - The Ashanti region recorded 16,000 cases of teenage pregnancy in 2003.

Rev Kofi Boateng, director of the African Christian Homes and Rehabilitation Centre, a Kumasi-based non-governmental organisation, said this at the opening of a five-day HIV/AIDS workshop for 60 women volunteers at Effiduase on Monday.

He attributed the high cases of the teenage pregnancy to broken homes and irresponsible behaviour of some men.

The workshop jointly organised by the Redeemed African Foundation, an NGO, and the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), was under the theme: "Intervention In The AIDS Crisis".

Rev Boateng expressed concern about the increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases and called on the churches and other NGOs to support the efforts being made by the GAC to fight against the pandemic. Rev Moses Quayson, Superintendent Minister in-charge of the Effiduase Methodist Church, told the people to discard the notion that the disease was a curse or caused by satanic influences.