Queen mothers, Magazias build capacities to end child marriage, teenage pregnancy
The Upper East Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) has organised a-two-day capacity building conference for Queen Mothers and Magazias (women leaders) in the region to help curb teenage pregnancies and child marriage.
The conference is being funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Canadian Government.
The Upper East Region is among the regions that records high rates of teenage pregnancies and child marriages in the country.
Addressing the stakeholders at the opening of the conference in Bolgatanga on Friday, the Regional Coordinating Director, Alhaji Mahamadu Azonko, stated that available statistics from the Ghana Health Service showed that in 2018, the Upper East Region recorded 15.8per cent of the proportion of pregnant women as teenagers who visited the various health facilities in the region.
“According to the national statistics, the prevalence of child marriages in Ghana ranges between 12.2 per cent and 39.2 per cent, with the Upper East Region having the highest percentage of 39.2 per cent,” Alhaji Azonko stated.
The Regional Coordinating Director added that the first quarter of 2019 the region exceeded the national target of 12 per cent of teenage pregnancy cases, and disclosed that Nabdam District recorded 21 per cent of teenage pregnancies, Bongo 20.6 per cent, Builsa South 18.7 per cent, Bawku West District 19.7 per cent, and Kassena-Nankana West recorded 16.6 per cent.
He explained that this informed the decision of the RCC and other partners to implement the Seventh Country Programme (CP7) in the region to reduce the incidences of teenage pregnancy and child marriage.
The Regional Coordinating Director explained that the conference also aimed to deepen the queen mothers and Magazias knowledge and skills in the area of Gender Based Violence prevention and adolescent girls’ protection strategies.
The Assistant Director of Administration at the RCC, Ms Yvonne Wonchua who also doubled as the Regional Focal Person of the UNFPA, stated that for the first and second quarter of 2019 the project targeted both boys and girls at the community levels to curb the phenomena.
She indicated the project would further make follow-ups to the beneficiary districts to monitor how the queen mothers and the Magazias were championing the crusade in their respective traditional areas.
Ms Wonchua explained that part of the implementation strategies would include organising interactive sessions in the beneficiary communities for the trained Queen Mothers and the Magazias to engage the youth, parents and other stakeholders on curbing child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
The two-day Queen Mothers Conference, on the theme, “Empowering adolescent girls: The role of queen mothers”, attracted five resource persons who presented on topics including The roles of queen mothers in Ghana in Adolescent and reproductive health; The Role of Queen Mothers in Developing the Girl-Child, Domestic Violence Law with focus on Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Contraceptive and Family Planning.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, BOLGATANGA
