Assin North records high teen pregnancies

The Assin North District has recorded 273 teenage pregnancies in the first quarter of 2017.
   
This represented an increase of 27 as against the 248 teenage pregnancies recorded around the same time in 2016.
   
Mrs Georgina Asiedu, District Director of Health Services, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said her outfit was poised to bring the menace to its lowest minimum.
   
“We are not happy with the outrageous number of teenage pregnancies so we would work assiduously with all stakeholders to bring it under control.”
   
She described the situation where teenagers expected to be in school had become “premature mothers” as worrying and posed danger to their health especially during child delivery.
   
According to her, in 2016, the District recorded nine maternal deaths and three of them were teenage mothers.
   
She advised teenagers especially females to remain chaste and disengage in acts that would derail their future ambitions.
   
Parents must not shirk their responsibilities but work tirelessly to provide the needs of their children to disallow unscrupulous persons from taking advantage of innocent girls.
  
There should be strong bonding and communication between parents and their children to afford them the opportunity to share their problems with them, she added.
   
Mrs Asiedu expressed the determination to establish Adolescent Reproductive Health Clubs in schools and Adolescent corners in communities where the prevalence rates were high to help reduce it drastically.
   
She called on stakeholders, particularly teachers and traditional rulers to form committees and institute bye-laws to arrest the canker

Source: GNA