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Teenage Pregnancy: Akatsi South among top 3 in Volta under 2024 half-year review
Statistics from the Akatsi South Municipal Health Directorate showed that the Municipality is among the top three Districts to have recorded increasing cases of Teenage Pregnancy for the 2024 half-year health performance review.
The figures saw Anloga District leading the chart with 15.3 per cent, whilst South Dayi and Akatsi South were joint second, recording an equal percentage of 15.0 per cent with South Tongu holding the fourth position.
This was made known during a half-year health performance review by health officials from the Akatsi South Municipal Health Directorate.
The figures further indicated some Districts in the region that have recorded some rise in cases relating to teenage pregnancy.
These are, Agotime Ziope 14.5, Central Tongu 14.4, Adaklu 13.6, Ketu South 13.4, Keta 13.2, Ketu North 13.07, and North Tongu, registering 11.4 per cent in that order.
However, the data also highlighted a few Districts that have recorded percentages ranging from 11.0 to 5.52 in that trend.
These are Kpando 11.0, Hohoe 10.91, Akatsi North 9.76, Ho West 9.3, North Dayi 9.28, Ho 7.69, and lastly, Afadjato South 5.52 per cent, respectively.
On Maternal health services, the Directorate, however, recorded a decrease in Antenatal care (ANC) registrants by 55.2 per cent in 2024 as compared to 60.3 between January to June 2023.
The review also highlighted a total number of 14 deliveries in 2023 under the ages of 10 to 14 years as compared to 6 in 2024, whilst 182 deliveries were recorded in 2023 as compared to 163 for girls between 15 to 19 years, representing 17 and 16 per cent, respectively for the period under review.
Further checks by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) also revealed that the Akatsi South Municipality has placed second after Central Tongu District, which recorded the highest teenage pregnancy cases, followed by Agotime-Ziope in 2023.
The Alarming situation, according to Mrs Justine Sefakor Alornyo, the Akatsi South Municipal Director of Health Services, required all stakeholders to rise to the task by ensuring pragmatic measures were put in place. On their part, she revealed that the Directorate would do everything possible to mitigate the challenge.
“We are doing community education as well as engaging the media platforms to fight the situation,” she said.
Mrs Alornyo also stated that her outfit had introduced a project dubbed ‘School Health Services’ in the Municipality, where adolescent boys and girls were educated on their health issues.
The trend, according to some stakeholders, who are members of a constituted Risk Communication and Social Mobilisation Sub-Committee (RC &SMC) members under the watch of the Health Directorate, pledged to offer their support by engaging the various communities through educational activities on the canker.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest adolescent birth rate of 97.9 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 years. In Western and Central Africa and Eastern and Southern Africa, around 25 per cent of adolescent girls and young women gave birth before age 18. – GNA
Troubled and anxious citizens in Damongo of the Savannah Region have expressed concerns about the number of young people, believed to be under the age of 18, involved in ‘shisha’ smoking in pubs and drinking spots within the township.
Eyewitnesses say the minors were seen patronising nightlife venues, where Shisha smoking happen in the open.
The situation has sparked renewed public concern over the enforcement of child protection laws and regulations governing the operations of entertainment centres in the municipality and country as a whole.
An eyewitness, who spoke to The Spectator on conditions of anonymity for security reasons, noted that the situation was becoming increasingly common.
“This is not a one-off incident. It is becoming very common, but residents like us cannot openly report or speak about it because our lives will be at risk,” he said.
Under Ghanaian law, minors were prohibited from patronising Shisha.
Public health experts have consistently warned that shisha use exposes users to harmful substances that can negatively affect brain development, respiratory health, and overall well-being, particularly among young people.
The residents believe the alleged incidents point to broader challenges relating to youth supervision, substance abuse, and weak enforcement of existing regulations and have called on municipal authorities, security agencies, and regulatory bodies to intensify monitoring of pubs and entertainment centres to ensure compliance with the law.
In an effort to address the menace, Mr Salisu Be-Awurbi, the Savannah Regional Minister, has led public education campaigns, engaged security agencies, and supported enforcement actions to address the rising use of illicit substances in the region.
Wura Kelly Seidu Boresah I, the Chief of Damongo, has also called on all stakeholders including parents, community leaders, institutions, and young people to actively support efforts to curb drug abuse, warning that the rising consumption of hard drugs poses a serious health threat to the future of the youth in the Savannah Region.
He also cautioned individuals involved in the sale and distribution of illicit drugs to immediately desist from the practice, stressing that offenders will face arrest and prosecution in accordance with the law.
From Geoffrey Buta, Damongo, Savannah Region
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Dr Theresa Baffour, an advocate for ending violence and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SAHM SAHW Foundation, has said that society plays a critical and pivotal role in breaking the cycle of domestic violence.
According to her, domestic violence is a major contributor of making women, who are mostly the victims, mentally derailed and unable to engage in economic activities.
She said this when the foundation called on the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, to solicit support for the initiative by the “Strong and Healthy Minds, Strong and Healthy Women” (SAHM SAHW) to combat domestic violence within the Ga State.
The visit was occasioned by the fact that domestic violence cases have become quite prevalent in the Ga communities and is retarding growth.
According to her, the canker was an impediment to national development because the victims were usually tortured and would have to go through series of therapies to return to the right state of mind.
Dr Baffour mentioned that Gender-Based Violence (GBV) places a mental toll on women, and was, therefore, important to break the cycle through comprehensive mental health support, crisis intervention and empowerment programmes in communities with high rates of GBV.
This intervention, she underscored, would help in empowering the denigrated victim of domestic violence to soundly heal, build and thrive.
Dr Baffour added that the initiative would provide holistic, trauma-informed mental health care and advocacy for young women affected by domestic violence.
According to her, the above statement would create safe spaces for healing and equipping them with entrepreneurial skills for renewed hope and empowered life.
The Ga Mantse pledged his support for the laudable initiative to combat domestic violence and also acknowledged the need to address it in the Ga State.
Further endorsement came from Justice Julia Naa-Yarley Adjei Amoah, Chief of Staff at the Office of the Ga Mantse, as she commended the team of SAHM SAHW Foundation for taking a bold step to end the canker in the Greater Accra.
She added that it was a step in the right direction to save vulnerable women from torture, stress and emotional abuse.
By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah
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