By
Eunice Hilda Ampomah, GNA
Accra, Nov. 12, GNA
– Adolescent parenthood is a key contributor to generational poverty, as the
possibility of adolescents transferring a cause of their pregnancy which could
be poverty onto their babies.
Professor Akanni
Akinyemi, a Professor of Demography and Social Statistics at the Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria has said.
He said one key
factor that contributes to the high rise in teenage pregnancy is poverty it has
a high tendency of escalating poverty among families and their generations.
He said this at a
symposium organised by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana
(UG) in partnership with the Takemi Program in International Health and
theHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
It was held under
the topic: “The SDG Era: Health, Equity and Education” at the University of
Ghana, Accra.
Prof. Akinyemi said
according to a UNICEF report, 50 per cent of global deaths were as a result of
adolescent pregnancies and 20 per cent of women aged between 20 to 24 became
mothers before turning age 20 in West and Central Africa.
The report said one
in every five adolescent girls in Ghana and Nigeria was pregnant and 50 per
cent were identified to be from the poorest homes.
Also in Ghana, about
10 per cent of young people before turning age 19 might have one or two
children.
He said pregnant
adolescent girls tend to face a lot of consequences such inadequate access to
healthcare, cultural discriminations, loss of self-esteem and challenges with
health.
Pregnancy also
increases the vulnerability of adolescents and deprives them of many
opportunities including access to education.
This, he said, calls
for the implementation of strong policies to curb the menace of adolescent
pregnancies across the sub-region.
Professor Benjamin
Ozumba, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, speaking on the
topic, “Evidence-based policies to Address Maternal Mortality,” said it is
unfortunate the rate at which maternal mortality was rising in West Africa.
“Nigeria for instance
rates as one of the highest countries in terms of maternal mortality with
almost 58,000 maternal deaths between 1990 and 2015, accounting 19 per cent
globally,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said,
education on contraceptives was a taboo in many parts of Africa, with access to
contraceptives being practically non-existent.
He called on African
states to implement evidence-driven health policies to give direction on the
use of contraceptives to control the rampant increment in adolescent pregnancy
and maternity deaths.
“It is time to use
strong maternal health policies on scientific based evidence if we want to
fight this canker,” he said.
Dr Debora Atobrah, a
Senior Research Fellow, Institute of African Studies, UG, in an interview with
the Ghana News Agency, said having identified the problems associated with
injustice and equity, education, and health among girls and women; the
Institute decided to hold a symposium to identify the root causes and help to
find solutions to them.
“There are still
many barriers that inhibit girls from going to school such as lack of access to
sanitary items. In principle, we say all girls have access to education, but in
practicality, it is not so,” she said.
She called for a
collective effort from governmental and nongovernmental organisations, parents,
teachers and religious leaders to promote interest for education among girls
and help to reduce adolescent pregnancies.
GNA
