A total of 526 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years were impregnated in the Bono Region within 2021 and 2024, Miss Rita Adjoa Ansong, the Deputy Director of Nursing Services, Public Health at the Bono Regional Directorate of Health has said.

She said the figure was even the only antenatal registrations collected from the various health facilities, saying 93 cases of abortions were also recorded within the period.

In a breakdown, Ms Ansong said 145 of the pregnancies were reported in 2021, 128 in 2022, 145 in 2023 and 108 in 2024, saying the pregnancies were high in almost all the 12 politically administrative districts and municipalities in the region within the periods.

She was speaking at a stakeholders meeting on the African Vaccination Week
(AVW) and the Child Health Promotion Week (CHPW) organised by the Bono Regional Directorate of Health in Sunyani.

Additionally, Ms Ansong said 888 cases of maternal and neonatal deaths were also recorded in the region within the period, saying 247 of the cases were recorded in 2021, 217 cases in 2022, and 217 cases in 2023 and 207 cases in 2024.

She added that in sum 90 maternal death cases were recorded within the period, underscoring the need for the stakeholders to support the directorate to improve its coverage on Family Planning (FP) acceptor rate.

FP refers to individuals or couples, deciding freely and responsibly, when to give birth the number of children, having them by choice and not by chance through the use of contraceptives.

Describing FP as a right for sexually active girls, Ms Ansong regretted that myths and misconceptions, lack of community support and outmoded cultural and religious beliefs obstructed girls and women from accessing the various methods to prevent pregnancies.

Sompaonline.com