The Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Upper West region has raised concerns over a concerning rise in teenage pregnancies. The region saw a rise from 8.7 percent to 9.5 percent in the first quarter of 2024.
Rosemary Pongnaa Bandgzie, the Regional Adolescent Focal Person of the Ghana Health Service for the Upper West Region, warned that this surge in teenage pregnancies could potentially contribute to an alarming uptick in maternal mortality rates.
Madam Bandgzie emphasised the need to learn from districts with lower percentages of teenage pregnancies, some as low as 1.0%. She added that a significant portion of these pregnant teenagers are married, underscoring the challenges faced by adolescents aged 10 to 19 who may not be ready for the responsibilities of marriage and parenthood.
“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.”