The South Dayi District Directorate of Health Services has expressed concern over the increasing number of teenage pregnancy cases in the area.
The development, according to the health directorate, poses a serious threat to the survival of the people and, therefore, calls on stakeholders to come on-board to fight it.
Available statistics from the District Health Directorate show that in the year 2019, 256 teenagers got pregnant and out of the number 252 were between the ages of 15 and 19, while the remaining 4 were between the ages of 10 and 14 years.
A Senior Nurse in the district, Mrs. Stella Alifo, a facilitator at a forum on sexual and reproductive health rights for youth leaders and policy makers held at Tongor-Dzemeni, who disclosed this, said 68 of such cases had already been recorded in the first quarter of this year.
The forum was organised by the Volta Regional Directorate of the National Youth Authority (NYA), in collaboration with the United Nation’s Population Fund (UNPF) to educate youth leaders and policy makers in the District.
Mrs. Stella Alifo said the rampant teenage pregnancy issue calls for education of the youth to understand the dangers involved in premarital sex.
To her, parents seem to have reneged on their parental role, hence the upsurge in the pregnancy cases.
As if this was not enough, she said some of the parents ignore their girls when they take seed and do not care about what they eat, drink and where they sleep.
She called on parents to mend their ways and help the victims of teenage pregnancy during such difficult times and that refusal to care for them would only end up in complications during the pregnancy period.
According to the Senior Health Nurse, in most of the cases, these teenage girls refuse to attend antenatal care because of fear.
To help deal with the situation, she said, the health directorate has decided to arrange for them to attend hospital on Saturdays. She regretted that even with this help, some of them are still refusing to attend the antenatal clinic.
The South Dayi District Director of Health Services, Madam Patient Nunoo, who confirmed the story, noted that the development is a major challenge facing her outfit.
According to her, the children are getting pregnant because of the get rich quick mentally.
The Volta Regional Director of the NYA, Mr. Yao Semorde explained that his outfit would continue to organise programmes for the youth aimed at preparing them adequately to take advantage of the numerous opportunities available for them.
Participants at the forum thanked the NYA and UNPF for the programme, which they noted, would go a long way to reduce teenage pregnancy in the district.
To them, most of the pregnancy cases emanated from defilement but the police are not helping in dealing with the situation.
According to the participants, some of the officers demand money before issuing medical form for the defiled girls to attend hospital.
They, therefore, appealed to the government to promote education on adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues.
The Police must also be instructed to quickly issue medical forms for victims to attend hospital.
The post Teenage pregnancy cases soar in South Dayi District … 68 already recorded this year appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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