‘Cases of teenage pregnancy in Chiraa worrying’
A midwife at the Chiraa Health Centre in the Brong Ahafo Region, Mrs Alberta Osei Agyemang, has expressed concern about the increasing cases of teenage pregnancy in the area.
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She attributed the problem to the inability for some parents to live up to their responsiblility of taking up the proper upbringing and development of their adolescent boys and girls, and has therefore advised parents to effectively collaborate with teachers in the area to curtail truancy among schoolchildren.
Mrs Agyemang, who is also a Catechist at the Chiraa Presbyterian Church, pointed out that unsafe abortion was also on the increase even among married women, indicating that because most of the victims were not prepared to give birth, they applied herbs and other drugs to terminate the unwanted pregnancies.
Sensitisation forum
Speaking at a reproductive healthcare sensitisation forum, organised by the Sunyani West District Directorate of Health, she said some of them even died on arrival at the centre, while others went through various health complications.
Mrs Agyemang expressed concern about lack of sex education among adolescent girls, especially those in junior high schools, and entreated parents to draw their daughters closer to them and provide them with basic sanitary materials, particularly pads, to enable them to cope during menstruation.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), she said the centre supervised 10 safe abortions, out of the 90 teenage pregnancies recorded in 2014, indicating that the pregnant girls were between 13 years and 15 years.
She also said an additional nine adolescent girls in the community underwent various family planning services to guard against teenage pregnancy.
Ghanaian law permits abortion in cases of rape, incest or the defilement of a female imbecile. Abortion is also permitted if the life or health of the woman is in danger; or if there is risk of foetal abnormality.
Advice to parents
The Chief of Chiraa Zongo, Alhaji Kassim Adama, who presided over the forum, advised parents to invest resources in the education of their children so that they would grow to become useful adults.
However, according to the Guttmacher Institute, as of 2007, only three per cent of pregnant women and only six per cent of those seeking an abortion were aware of the legal status of abortion.
The institute says about 45 per cent of abortions in Ghana remained unsafe.
Attended by about 70 school children, teachers and other opinion leaders in the area, the forum was, therefore, aimed at sensitising the people to the purposes and benefits of the established sexual reproductive health care unit at the health centre.
Credit: GNA