By
Samira Larbie, GNA
Accra, Sept. 15, GNA – The Young Men Christian
Association (YMCA) has organised a two-day training workshop for 12 peer
educators to assist in preventing the prevalence of teenage pregnancies in the
country.
The peer educators who were drawn from the
Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Volta Regions would be equipped with the
required skills and knowledge to educate their peers on teenage pregnancy.
The incidence of teenage pregnancy is
increasing in recent times and this challenge is partly attributed to
inadequate information targeted at the right people in the right places.
The project has been designed to ensure that
teenage pregnancies are reduced in these respective regions as surveys had
indicated that large numbers of girls who become pregnant come from these
areas.
It also seeks to create awareness of teenage
pregnancy and its implication among 1000 youth from low income backgrounds, as
well as educate 1000 boys and girls on how to prevent teenage pregnancy by
taking them through various modules.
Ms Sarah Heinlin, the Communication and
Programme Officer, said it had been observed over the years that there was
overly concentration of teenage pregnancy campaign programmes on girls by
policy makers and development partners, almost forgetting teenage boys as
significant actors.
She said, for this reason the project had been
designed to consider boys and girls in forming a 50/50 per cent target to bring
the phenomena to manageable proportion.
Ms Heinlin said the project was being
implemented using youth friendly medium attracted to girls and boys as well as
the use of theatre in schools and centres where teenage boys and girls are
found.
She said at the end of the training, the peer
educators would implement the above activities in their regions specifically in
Kumasi, Ho, Takoradi, Jamestown and Chorkor.
Young people would have the opportunity to
take part in the theatre play and would be motivated to develop and create
their own plays, she said.
“This intervention is related to the
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3) – ensuring healthy lives and promote
well-being for all at all levels”, she noted.
Dr Judith Owusu, a Medical Practitioner, who
facilitated the programme, took the peer educators through topics such as
menstruation and pregnancy said people have weird perception about the topic
and needed to be educated to get rid of that mindset.
She said improper hygiene during menstruation
brings about repeated infections which would affect them in the future and
advised that girls to be particular about this.
Dr Owusu said Ghana was having all these
challenges regarding teenage pregnancy because of misinformation and the fact
that some parent and guardians shun discussions on reproductive health matters.
She urged parents to tell their children the
truth regarding menstruation and pregnancy to help them deal with
misconceptions and help salvage the situation.
GNA