The Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Upper West region has sounded the alarm over a troubling increase in teenage pregnancies, with figures rising from 8.7% to 9.5% in the first quarter of 2024.
Rosemary Pongnaa Bandgzie, the Regional Adolescent Focal Person of the Ghana Health Service for the Upper West Region, expressed deep concern in an interview with Citi Newsroom, cautioning that this surge in teenage pregnancies could potentially lead to a significant rise in maternal mortality rates.
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Madam Bandgzie underscored the importance of studying and adopting best practices from districts with lower percentages of teenage pregnancies, some reporting rates as low as 1.0%.
She further highlighted that a considerable proportion of these pregnant teenagers are married, shedding light on the challenges faced by adolescents aged 10 to 19 who may not be emotionally or financially prepared for the responsibilities of marriage and parenthood.
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“We will try to see how they can learn some good practices from the other districts that are giving us low percentages. Some districts are reporting as low as 1.0 percent. The majority of these teenagers too, are actually married.
“When I was looking at the percentage of those who are married and those who are not married, I realized that the majority of them were married. My worry is that some of these adolescents, 10 to 19 years, still have several challenges that they shouldn’t marry and become pregnant because we are likely to also experience maternal mortality.”
