Ashanti Region recorded 11%of teenage pregnancy

The Ashanti regional Health Service has revealed out of all the pregnant cases recorded in the year 2016, 11.4 percent were teenage pregnancies. This was revealed by the Ashanti regional health directorate under the Ghana Adolescent Reproductive Health (GHARH) project Monday when the unit organized a media sensitization on adolescent sexual reproductive health on the theme, ‘Reducing teenage pregnancy, a shared responsibility’.

It was revealed that a total of 18,441 adolescents got pregnant in 2016 resulting in the percentage. Though the figure dropped compared to the 2015 figure which had 19,416 teenage girls getting pregnant, the unit is not enthused with the insignificant improvement.

The regional health directorate therefore engaging the media touched on the media’s role in educating and informing the general public especially the teenagers on issues related to adolescent pregnancy.

The unit led by it’s director, Dr. Alexis Nang-Beifubah lamented how some media stations abuse their platforms by way of misinforming the public on health issues.

According to him, issues related to health are sometimes not properly addressed especially when hosts of shows engage unqualified personalities on their various shows.

Dr. Alexis Nang-Beifubah indicated that adolescent pregnancy ought to be important since changes seen in our societies today and the shift in behavioral patterns aggravated by the exposure to current developmental challenges has created a multitude of situations that places our adolescents at high risk of poor health outcomes.

After the deliberation with the media, Dr. Nang-Beifubah told Kapital News that the unit had derived a lot from the forum including a suggestion from the media for the unit to liaise with other stakeholders in monitoring health issues in the region as well as coming up with an award scheme for the media station and some other conclusions