Pregnant women can now deliver at Mafi-Dove
This year's National Children's Day celebration has been marked at Mafi-Dove in the Central Tongu District in the Volta Region with the inauguration of a health facility with maternity ward to serve the people and surrounding communities.
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The community was noted for forbidding pregnant women from being delivered in the community in accordance with their customs and traditions.
Community clinic
The project was initiated by the community a decade ago to provide healthcare services, including delivery, to solve socio-cultural challenges encountered by the women during childbirth.
It was jointly constructed by the community and the district assembly on the outskirts of the town to offer skilled delivery and quality health care for women.
It was all joy for the community when the Minister for Gender, children and Social Protection, Ms Otiko Afisah Djaba, joined the chiefs and the people to inaugurate the project.
Ms Djaba honoured
The chiefs and people also used the occasion to honour Ms Djaba by enstooling her as the development queen of the area with the stool name, Mama Dove Wornutefe I, for helping the community to complete the clinic.
This year's celebration sought to highlight the need for education to be made accessible to all children with special needs.
Speaking on the theme: "Education, a right for all children" at a durbar to mark the day, Ms Djaba said the government had taken several steps to ensure that quality education was made accessible and affordable to every child in the country.
"As a government, we believe that education is the main weapon to lift our country out of poverty and into sustainable development which is why we are actively seeking new ways to strengthen the educational system in the country," she stated.
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Inclusive education
She indicated that although in Ghana the rights of children with disabilities to access quality education were recognised, the situation on the ground showed that children with disabilities were mostly unable to access quality education.
The Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Mr Maxwell Blagodzi, called on parents to give their children proper upbringing to become responsible adults.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Central Tongu, Mr Thomas Moore Zonyrah, in his welcome address stated that one incident that had become a drawback to the development of the district was the alarming increase in teenage pregnancy cases.
Issue of teenage pregnancy
He disclosed that out of every 21 pregnant women that visited the health facilities about 21 per cent were teenagers below the age of 19.
"It is disheartening to note that this year alone, four children in their early teens reported to the health facility pregnant," he bemoaned.
