Population Day 2013 to focus on adolescent pregnancy
The Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended in 1989 that July 11 should be observed by the international community as World Population Day.
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This is to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues in the context of overall development plans and programmes and the need to find solutions to these issues.
This year’s World Population Day focuses on the issue of adolescent pregnancy in the hope of delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
About 16 million girls under age 18 give birth each year. Another 3.2 million undergo unsafe abortions. The vast majority – 90 per cent of the pregnant adolescents in the developing world – are married. But for far too many of these girls, pregnancy has little to do with informed choice. Often, it is a consequence of discrimination, rights violations (including child marriage), inadequate education or sexual coercion.
Ghana’s population
According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana’s population is 24,223,431.
In an article, Adriana Biney, a Ph.D. student at the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), University of Ghana, who participated in the Population Reference Bureau 2012-2013 Policy Communication Fellows Programmme in February 2013, pointed out that Ghana has a young population structure: Close to half of the country's population are below age 20, and one in five Ghanaians is an adolescent (aged 10 to 19).
The article said as the adolescents passed through puberty and transition into adulthood, sexual and reproductive illnesses would not only affect their well-being as adults but would also affect Ghana's future population size and economic development.
Understanding adolescents' views on what encourages or deters sex is important, given the average age at first sex in Ghana. Results from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey show that over three-quarters of females and close to 60 per cent of males in Ghana had their first sexual encounter before age 20.
Considering the importance attached to adolescent sexuality, the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon welcomes the focus of this year’s World Population Day on adolescent pregnancy, saying “This sensitive topic demands global attention”.
In a statement to mark the day, he said “On this World Population Day, the global community should pledge to support adolescent girls to realise their potential and contribute to our shared future”.
Complications from pregnancy
As was rightly stated by the UN boss, far too many of the estimated 16 million teenage girls who give birth each year never had the opportunity to plan their pregnancy. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth can cause grave disabilities, such as obstetric fistula, and are the leading cause of death among these vulnerable young women. Adolescent girls also face high levels of illness, injury and death due to unsafe abortion.
Mr Ban said “to address these problems, we must get girls into primary school and enable them to receive a good education through their adolescence. When a young girl is educated, she is more likely to marry later, delay childbearing until she is ready, have healthier children, and earn a higher income.”
“We must also provide all adolescents with age-appropriate, comprehensive education on sexuality. This is especially important to empowering young women to decide when and if they would like to become mothers. In addition, we must provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services that cover family planning and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. And we must guarantee the maternal health services that women need,” he added.
By Salome Donkor/Ghana
