Adolescent girls have been advised to go for family planning services to avoid teenage pregnancy. Mrs Irene Tsigbey, a Retired Midwife, who gave the advice, noted that many girls nowadays could not abstain from sexual intercourse, and acts of immorality, and there was therefore the need to encourage those girls to practice safe family planning methods.

Addressing students of the Wenchi Senior High and Koase Senior High and Technical Schools at a forum on Wednesday, the retired midwife observed with regret that unsafe abortion was killing many girls, and stressed the importance to create avenues for girls to access reproductive health and family planning services without hindrances.

The forum, organized by Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a human right Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), was aimed at sensitizing the students on unsafe abortion and other sexual reproductive health issues. It formed part of the NGO’s project dubbed advocating for young people access to safe abortion and contraceptive services being implemented in 28 Senior and Junior High Schools in seven selected districts in the Brong-Ahafo Region, with funding from Safe Abortion Fund (SAF).

Mrs Tsigbey said teenage pregnancy was assuming an alarming proportion, and because girls did not have access to safe abortion services, some prepared and applied herbs and concoctions, and ended up with various health complications. She told the girls that abstinence from sexual intercourse was the best method they had to opt for if they wanted to guard against pregnancy and other sexually transmitted infections.

Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, Chief Executive Officer of GLOMEF, stressed the need to ensure that girls easily access safe abortion services when they become pregnant. He called on global leaders to prioritize reproductive health issues in the sustainable development goals.

Mr Ahenu observed that issues concerning reproductive health had been neglected and affected women empowerment for a longer period. He said statistics indicate that unsafe abortion is rife in the Dormaa Central Municipality and Tano North Districts of Brong-Ahafo.

Mr Joseph Akwasi Adamkwah, Assistant Headmaster, academics at Koase Senior High and Technical School, said it currently had 423 students. He mentioned teacher’s accommodation, classrooms blocks, dinning and assembly halls as some of the immediate needs of the school.

Mr Adamkwah expressed concern that the construction of the boys’ dormitory which started in 2008 had been abandoned, and because of lack of an assembly hall, students’ gatherings are always done under trees. He noted that encroachment was a major challenge, indicating that because the school was not fenced people entered and stole properties.