Health Official Wants Separate Ante-Natal Clinic For Teenagers

Kumasi, (Ashanti Region) 5 Sept. Dr. (Mrs.) Mercy Essel Ahun, Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, today called for the establishment of special ante-natal clinics for teenagers to improve coverage of pregnant teenagers. She explained that this will assure pregnant teenagers that health workers are interested in their well-being, have more time for them and ready to help them out of their predicament. Dr. Ahun made the call when addressing the opening ceremony of the four-day 11th annual general meeting of the Public Health Nurses Group in Kumasi today. The theme for the meeting is "Rapid population growth-- a national concern -- the role of the public health nurse". Dr. Ahun said, school health programme is a key tool at targeting adolescent sexual information at the JSS and SSS levels to empower the children to make useful choices but unfortunately, the Ministry of Health (MOH) does not have adequate staff to carry out the programme. She called for more interaction between the MOH and the Ministry of Education (MOE) to review the school health committees and train more teachers and headteachers to implement the programme. Dr. Ahun stressed the need for both ministries to reach a consensus on how to give culturally-acceptable information to the adolescents, saying discussions could begin from the district school health committees. She asked public health nurses to take the lead by providing scripts on sex education for study by headteachers of both junior and senior secondary schools.