G/A Recorded 10,411Teenage Pregnancy Cases In 2015… Says Mrs. Beatrice Okoh

By Inusa Musah
Mrs. Beatrice Okoh, Deputy Director for Nursing Services in charge of Osu-Klotey Sub-metro in Accra, has told The Chronicle that, the Greater Accra Region (GAR) recorded 10,411 teenage pregnancy cases in 2015.

According to Mrs. Okoh, 219 out of the figure were girls between the ages of 10 to 14, whilst 10,192 of them were between the ages of 15 to 19.

The figure is, however, a drop from that of 2014, where 227 pregnancies were recorded among teenagers, whose ages ranged from 10 to 14 and 10,283 for ages of 15 to 19.

Another revelation the Osu-Klotey Sub-metro deputy Director for Nursing Services told The Chronicle were the statistics on adolescent health in the Region, where she mentioned that in 2015, 973; 181 and 6,606 cases were recorded for abortion, Human-Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) respectively. In 2014 abortion cases recorded were 1,054, HIV, 171, and 4,840 for STI.

Mrs. Beatrice Okoh disclosed these figures to The Chronicle on the sidelines of a community leaders' training for assembly members drawn from the entire Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts (MMDAs) in the GAR.

The training, which sought to provide the participants information on the concepts of adolescents, and to further empower the participants to be advocates in the communities, was organized by Marie Stopes International Ghana (MSIG), a reputable and well-recognised health facility in the country, in partnership with the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

Indicators for post-abortion complications and deaths in 2015 were 59 for bleeding, 10 for sepsis and one each for perforation and post-abortion death respectively.

Mrs. Beatrice Okoh blamed the worrying situation on the advent of social media that most adolescents have abused and the bad attitude of some parents and elders in the community.

To address the challenge, she suggested both formal and informal discussion of the issues.

On his part, Mr. Godfred Bonnah Nkansah, National Youth Coordinator for MSIG, told The Chronicle that the irresponsible attitudes of some health personnel who exhibit cold reception towards the teenage pregnant girls could also be blamed for the bad adolescent health in the Region.

He said: “We need to stand with the young people so that they can connect and confide in us. We must blame ourselves, as leaders, for some of the woes of the adolescents.”

MSIG and GHS, Mr. Nkansah said, will need the participants especially the secondary targets, to help in supporting the advocacy towards addressing cultural practices and social norms, breaking religious barriers, providing access to technology, providing unlimited to the youth to access information and education.

 He also mentioned negative attitudes among adults towards youth who are sexually active or perceived to be and negative attitudes of health providers as some of the hurdles MSIG and GHS would need to advocate against.

He was of the view that -“adolescents should be allowed to negotiate for safe sex so that our national health budget does not collapse.”

He entreated the government to prioritise the youth in its health budget, and advocated for an increased health budget for the youth who, he said, are in the majority.

Mr. Godfred Bonnah Nkansah said the advocacy programme would be taken to the Eastern and Volta Regions later.