Dr. Faustina Frempong-Ainguah
A report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has showed that almost one out of five female teenagers, constituting 19% of young women between the ages of 15 to 19 years, have experienced teenage pregnancy.
This was captured in the GSS’s Ghana Demographic and Heath Survey (GDHS) 2022.
The survey further indicated that 11% of teenagers have given birth, 2% were pregnant at the time of the survey and 4% have ever had a pregnancy loss.
On the regional level, the survey revealed that the Savannah Region recorded the highest rate of teenage pregnancy with 26% followed by the North East and Ashanti regions with 24%, Bono and Oti regions with 22%21%.
Western North recorded 19%, Western 15%, Northern, Upper East, Eastern 14%, Ahafo and Central 13%, Volta 12%, Upper East, Bono 8%, and the Greater Accra Region recorded 6%.
Also, on the fertility rate by region, Savannah topped with 5.8% while Greater Accra recording the lowest rate of 2.9% even though there have been a decrease from 4.2 children per woman in 2014 to 3.9 children per woman in 2022.
Speaking in an interview, Deputy Statisticians, Dr. Faustina Frempong-Ainguah, indicated that from the survey’s analysis indicates that people who are not in school are those who either get married early or get pregnant.
She also lamented the rate at which young women get pregnant in the country specifically in the Savannah Region.
“Adolescent girls between the ages of 15 to 19 their physical body is not well developed and therefore having children at that early age have implications of their health.
“This leads to teen death, maternal mortality and other health implications because their physique is not well developed as compared to 25 to 29 years who are well developed,” she said.
Dr. Frempong-Ainguah called on policy makers in the education and health sector to fashion out measures based on the available data provided by GSS to re-strategies their plans to solve the issue of teenage pregnancy.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke