Ashanti Records 20,720 Teenage Pregnancies In 2013

The Ashanti Regional Directorate of Health last year recorded 67 deaths as a result of teenage pregnancy, a figure which is a little above the 60 deaths recorded in 2012.

Last year, 21,171 teenagers who reported at the various health centres were detected to be pregnant whilst 20,720 cases in 2012 were recorded.

The Deputy Director of nursing services in charge of Public Health, Mrs Mary Paulina Bazaabon, who made this known at a day’s colloquium for some selected schools in the Ashanti Region, attributed the rise in teenage pregnancy and its related problems to low education.

The programme, which was organised by the Ashanti Regional Secretariat of the National Population Council, was on the theme ‘Colloquium on Adolescent Pregnancy including Abortion and its effect on Adolescent development’.

It was aimed at educating the adolescent on consequences of unplanned pregnancy, abortion and its health implications.

According to Madam Bazaabon, most of the teenagers who get pregnant feel comfortable breaking the news to their friends and expect solutions from them instead of talking to their parents; a situation she described as unfortunate.

She however advised parents to try and establish a cordial relationship with their teenage daughters in order to help the children feel comfortable to share their problems with them.

She stressed that the medicines used for abortions, which include Coca Cola mixed with sugar and laundry blue, were harmful to their health and could rapture the womb.

The deputy director of nursing services advised the youth to desist from acts that would lead to unwanted pregnancy, abortions and its many implications.