This years humanitarian ritual: Women and Children’s Day Celebration, organized by one of Ghana’s finest creative director and Internationally acclaimed personality Nana Adwoa Awindoh of ‘Greetings From Abroad Fame’ has been held at Akwapim Mamfe in the Eastern Region on Wednesday 22nd December 2021.
Notable among the personalities to grace the occasion was the Dwantoa Hemaa of Dormaa Traditional Area who doubles as the Executive Director for Caring Kids International – an organization accredited with the greatest impact in youth development, mentorship and skills training in Ghana.
The colourful program was under the theme: ‘Stop Gender Based Violence – Teenage Pregnancy Must Stop’. The event was held at the forecourt of the Mamfe Palace Forecourt under the uspices of Hon. Seth Kwame Acheampong member of the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana representing the Mpraeso Constituency in the Eastern Region and the National EGG Campaign Secretariat and powered by Obaapa Foundation.
Nana Adwoa Awindor is a Ghanaian television host and the Development Queenmother of Afigya-Kwabre district in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. In 2013, she was elected the First President of the Continental Executive Board of the African Queens and Women Cultural Leaders Network and has since been very relevant and impactful in the lives of the younger generation.
This year’s theme: ‘Stop Gender Based Violence – Teenage Pregnancy Must Stop’.seeks to stop the high incidence of teen pregnancies in ghana, a condition that shutter the lives of promising teens. More than half a million teenagers are on record to have gotten pregnant over the last five years, data from the Ghana Health Service District Health Information Management Health System (DHIMS) reveals.
Between 2016 and 2020, about 555,575 teenagers aged 10 to 19 years, are said to have gotten pregnant.
Within the five years, 13,444 teenagers between the ages of 10 and 14 got pregnant, while some 542,131 teenagers aged 15 to 19 years got pregnant.
On average, a little over 112,800 teenagers get pregnant annually.
Speaking in an interview with Area Media, Nana Frimpomaa expressed worry about the spate of teen pregnancies in the Eastern Region. She said statistically Between 2016 and 2020, the Eastern region recorded some 56,730 teenage pregnancies.
The report from DHIMS indicates that out of this, 1,528 teenagers were between ages 10 and 14 years while 55,202 were between the ages of 15 and 19 years. In 2016, the Eastern region recorded 11,968 cases, which represented 14 per cent of the total number of pregnant women that visited the hospital.
It was recorded that about 84,851 pregnant women visited hospitals in the region in 2017. Out of it, some 11,639 pregnant visitors were teenagers. The figure declined to 11,007 and 10,989 in 2018 and 2019 respectively. In 2020, some 10,865 teenagers also got pregnant.
Nana Frimpomaa appealed to traditional, religious leaders and community leaders to spearhead the campaign against teen pregnancy. She called on young girls to speak-up on sexual violence and expose perpertrators. The queen mother lamented on the collapse of social service in Ghana and challenged government to show commitment towards the total welfare of the child. She congratulated Nana Adwoa Awindoh for standing up for children in Ghana.
GH PRESS CENTRE 