Campaign to address teenage pregnancy launched
A Non-governmental organisation, Liams Foundation International, has launched a campaign to help address the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortion in the country.
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The campaign, to be carried out in all the 10 regions of the country, will focus on creating awareness of how to avoid unwanted pregnancy in teenage girls, as well as educating those who are already pregnant on the need to prevent unsafe abortion.
At the launch of the campaign project in Accra, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Liam Foundation International, Rev. Horlali Williams, said the campaign would target young girls in deplorable or rural communities.
Background
Teenage pregnancy and its associated unsafe abortion have risen to such an alarming rate in Ghana over the past few years.
Statistics from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) shows that the situation is worse in rural areas where the standard of living is very low.
Per the figures in 2016, the Upper East Region recorded the highest cases with a total of 5,587 adolescent pregnancies, representing 15.4 per cent. Out of the number, 2.1 per cent occurred among adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19.
The Volta Region recorded the second highest with 10,296 pregnancies, representing 15.0 per cent. The percentage for the rest of the regions are as follows; Brong Ahafo (13 per cent), Eastern (14 per cent), Central, Upper West and Western all recorded 13 per cent, Northern and Ashanti had 11 per cent with the Greater Accra Region recording the lowest adolescent pregnancy rate with six per cent.
Concerning unsafe abortion, the GHS report revealed that the Brong Ahafo Region recorded the highest with 1,224 cases among teenagers in 2016.
Foundation’s preparedness
Outlining some of the measures the foundation planned to introduce to help address the problem, Rev. Williams said, “As part of the campaign, the organisation is in talks with some vocational training centres to help equip teenage girls who are under its care with vocations and crafts of their choices after they have been delivered of their babies.”
“Currently, the organisation has registered 20 teenage pregnant girls and is still in the process of registering more girls to benefit from the vocational training,” she added.
Rev. Williams said since the foundation was formed in 2014, it had embarked on numerous projects aimed at assisting deprived communities.
“The foundation, in collaboration with another organisation, brought US$ 8.9 million worth of medical equipment and medication which were distributed free of charge to some hospitals and medical centres in Accra in the Greater Accra and Kasoa in the Central regions,” she said.
Apart from that, she said the foundation had also made a number of donations to deprived communities in the Volta Region and provided school fees for 40 orphans and vulnerable children.