Health authorities in Wenchi Municipality in the Bono Region have raised an alarm over the continuous rise in teenage pregnancies in the area, calling on stakeholders to help stem the tide.
The Wenchi Municipal Health Director, Kwaku Bio, said a total of 615 girls aged between 15 and 19 got pregnant last year, and indicated that this was a rise from 572 cases recorded in 2019.
Speaking at the 2020 Municipal Health Review workshop held recently, Mr. Bio said a total of 580 teenage pregnancy cases were recorded in 2018, 577 cases in 2017 and 498 cases in 2016.
He said this called for concern since teenage pregnancy had seen a rise for the past five years in the municipality, intimating that only the years 2018 and 2019 that “we saw a slight decrease but it was not significant to give us hope that it was getting better.”
Mr. Bio attributed the phenomenon to irresponsible parenthood and lack of communication between parents and their adolescent girls.
He called for effective collaborations among all stakeholders, including parents, teachers, health authorities, adolescent girls themselves and traditional authorities to deal with the menace so as not to rob many young girls of their future.
From Daniel Dayee, Wenchi