The Bolgatanga East District Chief Executive – Mr David Amoah Akolgo has expressed worry over the alarming rate of teenage pregnancy in the District.
He blamed it on some of the commercial tricycle operators who are on a target of getting teenaged-school girls pregnant upon luring them with little money. He noted that during his monitoring tour of examination centres during the 2021 Basic Education Certificate Examination, he could count a number of these pregnant girls who were partaking in the examination, a situation he described as worrying.
“The ‘Can do’ (a common name for tricycle) usage by these young guys is a problem. That is where the source of this problem is coming from. When they return from school, parents will say let’s find him a ‘Can do’ to get some money and he will end up using that money on innocent girls and turning the ‘Can do’ into a hotel. So, this is what we have, please it’s a very a serious issue, anytime you are passing in the night and you see a packed ‘Can do’, just stop and see what they are doing inside it and if you sack them next time, they will not do it again”.
Speaking exclusively to the Bolgatanga East Health Directorate’s Disease Control Officer, Mr Emmanuel Kob-puo, he disclosed to Word news that the District recorded 126 teenage pregnancy cases representing 16% in the year 2020. He added that the figure increased from 126 to 169 representing 17% and in 2021 the figures declined marginally from 169 to 123 representing 13% and even 2020 in the midyear review, the Bolgatanga East District was second to the Nabdam District, but a lot of measures were put in place to reduce the figure to the barest minimum by instituting adolescent clubs in schools and within the communities. “in the 2020 midyear review, we were second to Nabdam in the region, but there has been a reduction because we formed adolescents’ clubs in the schools and within the communities championed by public health nurses following the discussions we had with the assembly members at the Assembly level. Another reason for the increase in the teenage pregnancy in 2020 was due to the Covid-19 locked down” he added.
Source: mywordfmonline.com/Gaspard Ayuureneeya