The Ghana  Health Service, with UNICEF support, has trained 100  healthcare providers on adolescent-friendly maternal healthcare services as it expands its Safety Net Intervention programme to 44 additional  health facilities in the Central Region.  

The one-day training, held in two sessions, equipped midwives, community health nurses, health information officers and district focal persons with the knowledge and practical skills needed to implement the initiative effectively and improve pregnancy outcomes among pregnant adolescents.  

The Safety Net Intervention is a special initiative that seeks to address health and social challenges associated with adolescent pregnancy with a comprehensive service including antenatal and postnatal care, skilled delivery services, postpartum family planning, home visits and connections to education and social support services.  

By this intervention, the GHS and UNCEF are seeking to mitigate the incidence of adolescent pregnancy, maternal deaths among adolescent girls, neonatal deaths among babies born to adolescent mothers, and child marriage.  

They are also seeking increased uptake of postpartum family planning among adolescent mothers and improved educational continuity and economic resilience for adolescent girls.  

Mrs Emma Delali Foli, the Central Regional Focal Person for the Safety Net Intervention, explained that pregnant adolescents often faced heightened health risks and limited social support, highlighting the need for specialised healthcare and social interventions.  

She said the intervention was introduced in six districts in the Central Region in 2020 and had expanded steadily over the years to 16 of the region’s 22 districts.  

Following the addition of the 44 new facilities, the programme was now being implemented in 176 health facilities, with a goal of covering all 22 districts in the short possible time, she added.  

Mrs Foli noted that since its introduction, the programme had benefited more than 5,000 pregnant adolescents in the Central Region, while strengthening collaboration with institutions such as the Department of Social Welfare, the Ghana Education Service, the National Youth Authority and the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU).  

The intervention, she said, had also contributed to increased uptake of postpartum family planning, stronger referral systems, greater access to social protection services and enhanced involvement of caregivers throughout pregnancy and childbirth.  

Mrs Foli indicated that the newly trained health workers were expected to replicate the training at their respective facilities to ensure that other members of the healthcare team were adequately equipped to implement the intervention.  

 “This is new to them and so they have been trained on the concepts, objectives and goals of the Safety Net Intervention. The components of the intervention, as well as the importance of documentation and reporting, have also been emphasised,” she said.-GNA  

Hundreds of teachers in the Effutu Constituency reived a major boost to their work on Tuesday as Mr Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, the New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Effutu, presented 79 laptops as part of the One Teacher One Laptop initiative.

He described the gesture as “not charity, but an investment in the very people who invest in children.”

Addressing teachers, education officials, and community leaders at an event in the constituency, the MP said the distribution was driven by requests from teachers themselves and not by political season.

Mr Afenyo-Markin, also the Minority Leader, revealed that in 2022, 2,015 laptops were distributed in the constituency. 

“The latest batch targets teachers posted from 2023 to date, ensuring no new teacher is left behind in the digital transition,” he stated. 

The MP paid glowing tribute to teachers, noting the heavy moral weight of the profession compared to its material rewards. 

The Effutu legislator cited that teachers who bought books with their own salaries, stayed after the closing bell, and chose to serve Effutu children over better-paying jobs elsewhere.

He promised that the laptop initiative would continue “for as long as I have the privilege to serve this constituency.”

The MP also responded to the Municipal Director of Education’s appeal about a leaking office roof and worn furniture and pledged that a contractor would be assigned immediately, saying, “We can no longer ask our education leaders to be water forecasters with buckets,” he said.

Teachers who received the laptops, including Madam Agens Shey, Headmistress, Ayiribi Yankson, M/A Basic School, expressed gratitude and promised to “make good use of it” for lesson planning, record keeping, and research.

Mr Isaac Benyin, an official with the Ghana Education Service, Effutu Municipal Education Directorate, Winneba, who was also a beneficiary, thanked the MP and pledged that the laptops would be used for its intended purpose to promote holistic education in the constituency.

In all, 100 laptops were intended to be presented, and the remaining 21 are expected to be distributed when school resumes. –GNA