Coalition ramps up effort to fight teen pregnancy problem

Reproductive health education is being stepped up in basic and senior high schools (SHS) across the country to deal with the high rate of teenage pregnancy and growing unsafe abortion among school children.

The Ghana Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Coalition on the Right of the Child is spearheading the activity with support from the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry.

Barima Kwasi Amankwa, the National Coordinator of the Coalition, announced that schools in three regions – Greater Accra, Western and Central, had already been covered.

Addressing a zonal meeting on the new “Family and Child Policy” in Kumasi, he said they were determined to go to every length to help the Ghanaian youth to make right decisions regarding their sexual lives.

He said it was quite disturbing the increasing number of school-going age girls getting pregnant and the resort to the administration of herbal concoctions and other dangerous methods to terminate the unwanted pregnancy.

The way forward, he noted was to assist the young people to know everything they needed to know through sex education.

Barima Amankwa said doing that would not only prevent unwanted pregnancy but protect them from the deadly HIV/AIDS infection and other sexually-transmitted diseases

The meeting discussed the 22-paged Policy developed by the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry aided by the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and other local and international organizations, to strengthen child and family welfare programmes.

It seeks to tackle child abuse, neglect and exploitation while building the capacity of state institutions and service providers to provide quality of services to children and families.

Mrs. Abba Oppong, the Ashanti Regional President of the Coalition, urged the media to focus on child development issues.

Selected journalists from Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo and the Eastern Regions attended the meeting.