Teenage pregnancy alarming in Dormaa Municipality – Nurse

The Dormaa Central Municipal Assembly recorded 382 cases of teenage pregnancy from January to March 2014, Madam Grace Aponsah, a Public Health Nurse in the Municipality said on Tuesday.

Addressing students and some staff of the Dormaa Senior High School (SHS) at a forum at Dormaa-Ahenkro, the public health nurse said 62 of the pregnant girls attempted unsafe abortions which had resulted in various health complications.

The forum was organized by Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a human right Non-Governmental Organisation with support from Safe Abortion Fund, and aimed at educating the students on the consequences of unsafe abortion.

Madam Amponsah expressed regret that all the recorded pregnant cases were among girls between the ages of 13 and 19.

She said teenage pregnancy was at alarming proportion in the municipality, and called for a collective approach to bring the situation under control.

Madam Amponsah advised girls to resist attempts by their peers to lure them into pre-marital sexual relationships.

She said girls who engage in pre-marital sexual practices stand a higher chance of acquiring HIV, as well as sexually transmitted infections, since they cannot protect themselves well.

The Public Health Nurse advised girls to always think about the outcome of sex whenever they develop the pleasure and desire for intercourse.

Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, Chief Executive Officer of GLOMEF, explained that the forum was in line with a three-year project the NGO was implementing, aimed at helping young girls access safe abortion services in seven Districts and Municipalities in the region.

He said according to a World Health Organisation Report, an estimated 46 million abortions are performed each year worldwide, and 19 million of them are considered unsafe, because they are performed by unskilled providers and or in insanitary conditions.

An estimated 529,000 girls and women also die from pregnancy-related causes each year, almost all of them in the developing world, and about 68,000 (13 percent) of these deaths are due to unsafe abortion, he added.

Mr Ahenu advised parents not to deny their teenage daughters sex education, as most of the girls cannot abstain from sexual intercourse.

Mr Vasco Duku, Assistant Headmaster in charge of Academics at the Dormaa SHS, expressed concern about poor parental attitude towards education, which he said, is affecting the academic performances of many of the students.

He said many parents failed to attend Parent-Teacher Association meetings while others were always reluctant in providing their children with teaching and learning materials.

Mr Duku said with a student population of 1,300, made up of 525 females and 775 males, the school urgently needed an assembly hall.