The Wa East District in the Upper West Region has recorded a total of 147 teenage pregnancies in the first quarter of the year.
The figure represents 16 per cent increase of last year’s figure of 13.2 per cent for the same period, and more than the 13.2 per cent recorded in 2022 and 15.9 per cent in 2023 respectively.
The Acting District Director of Health Service, Mr Stephen Sunkari, disclosed that some of the girls “had fallen prey to men” as a result of their inability to procure sanitary pads and other basic needs.
Speaking at a youth forum last Tuesday in Wa in the Upper West Region, Mr Sunkari added that many of the teenage pregnancy cases were as a result of lack of parental care, financial challenges and child marriage.
He encouraged parents to take keen interest in the development of their wards by providing for their needs to prevent the temptation of seeking help from outside.
“It is a common knowledge that parents or adults in our traditional homes hardly discuss sexual and reproductive health with their adolescent children as they consider issues of sex and reproduction sacred; this development mostly result in uninformed adolescents who engage in unhealthy sexual and reproductive practices,’’ he said.
He said there was the need for all stakeholders, particularly traditional and religious leaders, to actively get involved in the fight against teenage pregnancy in the district.
The Acting Director of Health Service called for the Bulenga Health Centre to be upgraded into a polyclinic, explaining that the establishment of a secondary health centre would help improve adolescent reproductive health and other healthcare related issues in the district.
The Speaker of the Upper West Regional Youth Parliament, Mr James Baba Anabiga, called on chiefs and community leaders to ban night jams and clubbing across communities in the district, as the night jams contributed to the increased number of teenage pregnancies in the district.
He urged healthcare providers to continue to educate the youth and the public about the effects of teenage pregnancy, and the need to improve on adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights.
FROM RAFIA ABDUL RAZAK, WA
