The Bono Region recorded 14,877 teenage pregnancies from 2021 to 2024, Rita Adjoa Ansong, the Deputy Director of Nursing Services, Public Health at the Bono Regional Heaklth Directorate has said.
She said the region also recorded 1,188 cases of abortion within the same period, saying the pregnancies and the abortions were recorded among girls between 15 years and 19 years.
Ansong 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.
In a breakdown, she said a total of 3,999 pregnancies and 388 cases of abortions were recorded in 2021, 4,058 pregnancies and 351 abortions in 2022 as well 3,492 pregnancies, with 217 abortions in 2024 and 3,328 pregnancies and 282 abortions in 2024.
Describing the situation as worrying, Asong called on stakeholders for support towards improvement in the region’s Family Planning (FP) coverage among sexually active teenage girls to stem the pregnancies.
She indicated that FP enabled girls to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health and thereby provided an opportunity for them to continue with their education.
Ansong said certain myths and misconceptions, lack of community support and outmoded cultural and religious beliefs obstructed girls and women from accessing the various methods of FP services.
She said the regional coverage for FP services offered in 2024 was 39.58 per cent of expected women and girls in their reproductive age as compared to 36.45 per cent in 2023.
The acceptor rate for 2024 showed an increase rate of 0.08 percent over the previous year, saying the marginal achievement was of partner collaboration and commodity supply, re registration of long-acting reversible contraceptive method (LARC).
GNA
