Rising teenage pregnancy, NPC warns of dire consequences

The National Population Council (NPC) has warned of dire socio-economic consequences for the Central Region if pragmatic measures are not taken to roll back the increasing numbers of teenagers getting pregnant.

The Council said it found it deeply worrying that more than 21 per cent of adolescent girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years in the Region was either pregnant or carrying a child.

Women in the region give birth to about five children by the time they complete child-bearing, a figure above the national average of four children.

Mr Augustine Jongtey, the Regional Officer of NPC, was speaking at a public durbar to mark the World Population Day in Cape Coast.

He noted that one in every three married women in the region was desirous of limiting or spacing child-birth but surprisingly, they had not been using any form of contraceptives.

The Day, which was instituted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987, as an advocacy tool to educate people on global population trends within the context of the Sustainable Development Agenda was on the theme: "Family planning is a human right, an imperative to sustainable national development".

Mr Jongtey said "family planning is central to gender equality and women empowerment and a key factor in reducing poverty" adding that, it was a human right issue with strong linkage to sustainable development at all levels, adding that.

Millions of women globally do not have access to family planning services, a situation inhibiting efforts at reducing poverty among vulnerable individuals, specifically in developing nations.

Planned families, he said, ensured good health and that, children who were properly spaced stood greater chance of receiving quality lives.

The NPC, therefore, called for sustained multi-sectoral collaboration in ensuring that all people of child-bearing age were educated and provided with birth control tools.

Mrs Agnes Morgue-Duncan, a Nurse from the Ghana Health Service (GHS), said family planning methods were not only there for women but men could also patronize.

She spoke of the various methods of contraceptive and said options were available to prevent unplanned pregnancy and avoidable loss of lives.

She underlined the need for increased awareness to raise family planning acceptance while efforts were made to scale up the provision of ante-natal and post-natal family planning.

Mrs. Morgue-Duncan, identified cultural and religious beliefs, lack of information, limited access to contraceptives and lack of cooperation from partners as some of the major challenges.

She, however, said these notwithstanding, Ghana was making giant strides in contraceptive use.

Mr. Michael Tagoe, the Regional Project Officer of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), called for rigorous sex education for teens to protect them from unwanted pregnancies

He said teenage girls who got pregnant risked additional medical conditions since their pelvis might not be well developed for childbirth.

Lack of access to anti-natal care, the risk of low birth rate coupled with social stigma have been fuelling criminal abortions.