Teenage pregnancy: Parents ‘too busy’ to notice warning signs – Protect Our Future Foundation

Parents must pay closer attention to their children and create an environment where they can openly discuss their challenges, the founder of the Protect Our Future Foundation, Susana Anutiga Nablisi, has urged.

According to her, parental neglect is emerging as one of the factors exposing young girls to relationships and lifestyles that can eventually result in teenage pregnancy.

She said some parents are so preoccupied with work and other responsibilities that they fail to notice changes in their children’s behaviour or question where items brought home by their daughters come from.

“A girl goes out, brings something to the house and the parents ask, they don’t even care. They don’t even ask, where did you get this from? How did you get this?” she said.

Ms Nablisi was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Afternoon Ghana during a discussion on the country’s teenage pregnancy situation.

Her comments come amid figures from the Ghana Health Service indicate that more than 53,000 adolescent pregnancies were recorded between January and July 2026, including 1,501 cases involving girls aged between 10 and 14.

The Upper East Region, where her organisation operates, recorded more than 2,400 adolescent pregnancies in the first five months of the year, with 520 cases reported in the Bongo District alone.

Ms Nablisi said while economic hardship can contribute to teenage pregnancy in some communities, her experience working directly with young people suggests that parental supervision and communication also require urgent attention.

She said some teenagers are receiving expensive phones, clothes and other items without their parents taking the time to find out how they acquired them.

“Some of them are like, I’m tired, I want to sleep. That time is not like our time that you are not like, or speak to your children, create an environment where your daughters can talk to you, can open up to you,” she said.

She believes parents must become more deliberate about talking to their children, particularly girls, about relationships, abuse, peer pressure and the consequences of early sexual activity.

Ms Nablisi said her organisation has therefore started engaging not only students but also mothers in communities.

Through its marketplace engagements, she said, the foundation speaks to women about paying greater attention to their children and creating opportunities for them to communicate openly at home.

She said the organisation’s school engagements have also shown that many girls do not fully understand the consequences of teenage pregnancy until they become pregnant.

“The unfortunate thing is, they don’t even know until it happens,” she said.

“To them, they are just, oh, it’s fun until it happens and they now see the other side of it, the consequences of it.”

Ms Nablisi said pregnancy can interrupt a girl’s education, with many having to leave school temporarily before being reintegrated into the education system after childbirth.

She also pointed to stigma as a reason some pregnant teenagers remain at home rather than seeking help.

The Protect Our Future Foundation has been engaging schools and communities on teenage pregnancy, menstrual hygiene, leadership development and skills training.

The organisation is also preparing for the second edition of its She Can Conference, scheduled for October 10, 2026, at GNAT Hall in Bolgatanga.

The conference is expected to bring together about 300 young people, both boys and girls, to interact with women who can share their personal experiences and encourage them to pursue education and long-term goals.

Ms Nablisi said tackling teenage pregnancy requires parents, schools, traditional authorities and communities to work together rather than leaving the responsibility to young people alone.

“This doesn’t only affect the family, it affects the community and affects the country as a whole,” she said.