BA records 919 adolescent pregnancies in six months

The Brong-Ahafo Region recorded 919 adolescent pregnancies from January to June 2015, according to statistics from the Regional Health Directorate.

The figure comprised 235 girls aged between 10 and 14 as well as 684 girls of the 15-19 years bracket, who visited the antenatal clinic within the six months period.

Ms. Mary Gyimah, Sunyani Municipal Director of Education, said on Thursday in Sunyani during the inauguration of School Health Clubs (SHCs) formed in 21 selected Junior High Schools in the Municipality under the Ghana Adolescent Reproductive Health (GHARH) Project.

The formation of the clubs is a component of the GHARH Project being implemented by the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Brong-Ahafo Region, as a pilot project which is part of efforts and activities to improve life skills and behavioural change among adolescents in the country.

It is being funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom (UK) through Palladium, a UK-based non-governmental organisation that promotes education and quality adolescent sexual reproductive health.

Ms. Gyimah said that “the Narcotic Control Board has expressed grave concern about the rate at which marijuana is being cultivated in the Brong-Ahafo Region posing a threat to the youth in the Region”.

According to NACOB, “Brong-Ahafo has gained notoriety by becoming the second leading producer of marijuana in Ghana,” she said.

Ms Gyimah stated that her outfit was therefore tasked to establish and inaugurate the clubs as a platform to train a good number of peer educators who would in turn educate their peers on adolescent sexual reproductive health issues.

Mr. Kwasi Oppong Ababio, the Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), in an address read on his behalf, said the three-year GHARH Project expected to end in 2017, had chalked a lot of successes since it commenced in 2014.

He said the Assembly was moving a step forward for its sustainability and had assigned a focal person to deal with matters relating to the project, to ensure its positive impact on the lives of adolescents in the Municipality.