Sunyani-Ghana, Dec 02, GNA – The human rights girls are enjoying is fueling teenage pregnancies in the country, a Queen mother has observed.
According to Nana Akosua Akomah, the Sompahemaa (good servant) of the Sunyani Traditional Area, many girls had gone wayward, with their parents losing control of them because of “the so-called human rights which has eaten into their minds”.
She admitted girls had some rights, but it behooved on their parents to ensure they were brought up in a God-fearing and more responsible manner, regretting “nowadays you can’t even discipline or punish your own daughter because of the so-called human rights”.
The Queen mother said this when speaking at a stakeholder’s engagement on the dissemination of the National Family Planning (FP) 2030 commitment which coincided with the launch of the FP Day in Sunyani.
With support from its partners, the Bono Regional Directorate of Health organised the engagement attended by representatives from transport unions, market women traders’ associations, disability groups, health workers, and traditional authorities.
Among other objectives, the meeting also aimed at sensitizing the participants on the nation’s FP 2030 commitment, protocols and acceptor rate.
Nana Akomah said teenage pregnancies were rising in the country, partly to parent’s inability to control their girls, coupled with the uncontrolled use of social media among the girls.
“There are excesses in some of these human rights provisions, alien to our culture and tradition and we must re-look and revise them to enable us to discipline our wayward girls in society”, she stated.
Dr Prince Quarshie, the Deputy Director, Public Health, Bono Regional Directorate of Health indicated the need for parents to also encourage their girls to access FP services to stem and control alarming cases of teenage pregnancies in the country.
He dispelled some myths about FP services, saying it was untrue that FP services such as combine pills, secure, injectables, spermicides, intra ulterior contraceptive devices, implant and vasectomy were hazardous to harmful to human health.
Dr Quarhsie said the region’s FP acceptor rate remained low despite intensified public education on the services, FP practices kept decreasing, declining from 42.2 per cent in 2021 to 30.2 per cent in 2022 and 27.2 per cent in 2023.
Nonetheless, the Deputy Director stressed the FP acceptor rate in some of the Districts and Municipalities in the region were encouraging.
Dr Quarshie said every individual or couple, including teenagers, were eligible for their own choice of FP options, and advised health workers to counsel and provide sexually active people with the services.
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) also covers FP services and those who had registered with the scheme could use their cards to go for the services, he stated.
