Youth SpeakUP to Discuss Teenage Pregnancy this Saturday 10th

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Hopin Academy and its partners; RUMNET, YEFL and Ghana Friends in Denmark have launched the Youth Speak UP project. The project focuses mainly on youth in some four deprived districts of Tamale, Northern Ghana; Kumbungu, Savelugu, Saboba and Karaga. Youth Speak Up will be holding both offline and online discussions this Saturday 10th September 2016 on how to curb Teenage Pregnancy in the identified districts. Teenage pregnancy is defined as an unintended pregnancy during adolescence. A female teenager can be pregnant as early as age 12 or 13, although it is usually 14 or older. In Ghana, females represent 51.2 per cent of the entire population of almost 25 million whereas adolescents represent 22.4 per cent of the total population. The rates of teenage pregnancy in Ghana are high; of all births registered in the country in 2014, 30 per cent were by adolescents, and 14 per cent of adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years had begun childbearing.


Regional assessment of teenage pregnancy in Ghana shows that the Upper East, Volta, Brong Ahafo, Central and Eastern regions have the highest regional rates of 14 per cent and above between of 2012 and 2014. Of these regions the Upper East Region has the highest national prevalence rate of teenage pregnancy – 15 per cent. The Northern Region has the lowest prevalence rate of 4.4 per cent and is followed by Greater Accra with 6.6 per cent.


Last Saturday night, 27th, saw active change makers and counselors at Hopin Academy, the Youth Speakup night saw the likes of Miss Blessilla , Maccarthy Lomotey, Ruka Yaro, Mrs Hikmat Baba Dua, Carole Donkers, Mr Sofo, Mr Mash, Mr Mustapha, Zakaria Abdul Hakim Cisse, Clement Boateng, representatives of CHRAJ, and partner radio stations of the project and community based journalist and many many others, they gathered to discuss Violence against Women. Violence against women and girls has many manifestations, including forms that may be more common in specific settings, countries and regions. Violence against women manifests itself as physical, sexual, emotional and economic.


Further analysis of the data between 2012 and 2014 indicates that Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions had an increasing trend of teenage pregnancy rates over the last three years. It is significant to note also that no region has shown an annual decreasing trend in the prevalence of teenage pregnancy.Regionally, Greater Accra has one of the lowest prevalence rate of teenage pregnancy and the top three districts that have the highest prevalence rate are Accra Metro, Kumasi Metro and Techiman municipality. The top districts that recorded the highest prevalence rates of teenage pregnancy are all in urban centres. In all regions in Ghana, females experience their first sexual encounter earlier than their male counterparts. Research shows that there is a direct link between levels of education and the age of the first sexual intercourse experience. The higher the educational level of the adolescent, the less likely they are to engage in sexual intercourse at an early age. There had also been significant rise in the percentage of young adolescents who had a child or were pregnant between the years of 2008 and 2014. These percentages describe the escalation of teenage pregnancy percentages with the increase in age.

To address the high rates of teenage pregnancy in Ghana, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection convened a nationwide stakeholders meeting on December 7, 2015, to assess the current level, to conduct a situation analysis and to strategise for sustained national sensitisation. In addition, the ministry complied a Mapping Report on Teenage Pregnancy in Ghana, focusing on the key strategies in addressing it.


An overview of teenage pregnancy in Ghana including its causes and effects highlighted the importance of understanding the context surrounding teenage pregnancy and the implications and concerns arising in Ghana. Linkages to health, educational levels, wealth categories and the inter-generational transfer of poverty, were made throughout the presentation.

Moving forward, governmental attention must be focused on information and services to support young women through comprehensive sexuality education and re-integration strategies for young mothers.


The Ghana Health Service has focused on education as its main strategy in addressing sexual and reproductive issues in Ghana and with services predominately focused on the current needs of young unmarried women

Source; www.graphic.com.gh/Sanatu Zambang

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