A total of 526 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years were impregnated in the Bono Region within 2021 and 2024, Miss Rita Adjoa Ansong, the Deputy Director of Nursing Services, Public Health at the Bono Regional Directorate of Health, has said.
She said the figure was even the only antenatal registrations collected from the various health facilities, saying 93 cases of abortions were also recorded within the period.
In a breakdown, Ms Ansong said 145 of the pregnancies were reported in 2021, 128 in 2022, 145 in 2023 and 108 in 2024, saying the pregnancies were high in almost all the 12 politically administrative districts and municipalities in the region within the periods.
She was speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting on the African Vaccination Week (AVW) and the Child Health Promotion Week (CHPW) organised by the Bono Regional Directorate of Health in Sunyani.
Additionally, Ms Ansong said 888 cases of maternal and neonatal deaths were also recorded in the region within the period, saying 247 of the cases were recorded in 2021, 217 cases in 2022, and 217 cases in 2023 and 207 cases in 2024.
She added that in sum 90 maternal death cases were recorded within the period, underscoring the need for the stakeholders to support the directorate to improve its coverage on Family Planning (FP) acceptor rate.
FP refers to individuals or couples, deciding freely and responsibly, when to give birth the number of children, having them by choice and not by chance using contraceptives.
Describing FP as a right for sexually active girls, Ms Ansong regretted that myths and misconceptions, lack of community support and outmoded cultural and religious beliefs obstructed girls and women from accessing the various methods to prevent pregnancies.
She said the regional coverage for FP services offered in 2024 was 39.58 percent of expected women in their reproductive age as compared to 36.45 percent in 2023.
The acceptor rate for 2024 showed an increase rate of 0.08 percent over the previous year, saying the marginal achievement was due to partner collaboration and commodity supply, re registration of long-acting reversible contraceptive method (LARC).
Ms Asong added that free services of commodities from Marie Stopes, DKT and the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) were also a key contributor towards improving the acceptor rate.
She emphasised that FP empowered women and girls to make informed choices about their future, leading to healthier pregnancies and reduced maternal deaths, and called on the stakeholders and the media in particular to help intensify awareness creation and tackle the barriers.
Earlier, Dr Prince Quarshie, the Deputy Director, Public Health at the Bono Regional Directorate of Health, explained that the objective of the meeting was to raise awareness among stakeholders and the general public about the importance of immunization and the full spectrum of child health services available in the country.
It further served as a platform to strengthen collaboration among key stakeholders, including government agencies, development partners, community leaders, health professionals, and the media.
The AVW was established in 2010 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote immunization as a lifesaving intervention and celebrated annually every last week of April (24th to 30th).
With the CHPW, Dr Quarshie explained that it was introduced in 2004 by the Ministry of Health to improve child survival rates in the country and observed on May 5, to May 9, focusing on nutrition, immunization and preventive care for children under five years.
GNA
