Teenage pregnancy on the rise at Amansie West
Teenage pregnancy remains a major challenge facing the Amansie West district of the Ashanti region forcing a lot of young girls between the ages of 10 and 19 years to drop out of school.
Between 2018 and 2020, there has been a significant jump of more than 209 new cases of teenage pregnancies out of every 1000 pregnant women in the mining district.
Advertisement
In 2018 for instance, the total number of pregnant girls out of every 1000 pregnant women was 337, rising to 401 in 2019 and 546 in 2020.
Mr Bediako addressing the audience
Source
The District Director of Health, Mr Bernard Badu Bediako made this known at Manso Nkwanta when mining firm, Asanko Gold, together with its partners, Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC) presented $100,453.00 worth of medical supplies to a centralised storage facility to be distributed for free to patients who visit all health facilities in the Amansie West and South districts of the region.
The donation forms part of Asanko's Obaatanpa project which aims among others to improve maternal and child health care in the two districts.
Statistics
Presenting a number of statistics, the district health director said what was threatening good health delivery in Amansie West was late antenatal clinic attendance and anaemia amongst pregnant women.
However, he noted that maternal and child health care indicators had improved in the district since 2018.
"There have been no maternal deaths, stillbirth rate has reduced from 34.6 per cent per every 1,000 live births to 1.6 per cent of 1,000 live births," he said.
He announced that post-natal care had improved from 86.9 per cent in 2018 to 100.5 per cent in 2020.
The District Director of Health said skilled deliveries had increased from 31.2 per cent to 41 per cent in 2020 while antenatal care had increased from 63.7 per cent to 92 per cent in 2020.
COVID
Beyond this, he said the district had recorded cumulatively 132 positive COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began but fortunately none of the infected persons has died.
Asanko
The Acting Executive General Manager of Asanko, Ahmed Mohaideen Yahya, said the company had over the years built a good track record in community investment that focused on improving sanitation, health, education and community infrastructure in the two districts.
"This has reinforced Asanko's resolve to promote community wellbeing and improve health care delivery in our operational area, which forms part of our CSR initiatives," he said.
"Asanko has partnered equally-minded organisations to leverage our presence in creating a positive and self-sustaining legacy in our area of operation," he added.
HPIC
HPIC is a Canadian-registered charity organisation dedicated to increasing access to medicine and improving healthcare in the world's most vulnerable population.
It works with the Canadian pharmaceutical and healthcare industry to treat about one million people every year through a well-established network of Canadian volunteers and global partners.
