Miss Justine Sefakor Alornyo, the Akatsi South Municipal Director of Health Services, disclosed during the annual health performance review that teenage pregnancy has soared while HIV and AIDS cases remained stable.
“Regrettably, we recorded 339 teenage pregnancies, including 5 girls aged 10-14 years and 334 aged 15-19 years. We identified 81 new HIV cases, with 53 females and 28 males. All are currently on treatment, including 21 pregnant women, who tested positive.”
This development, the Ghana News Agency gathered has placed Akatsi South Municipality as the second-highest Municipality involving Teenage Pregnancy cases in Volta for the year under review.
The review was on the theme: “Strengthening the Primary Healthcare System for Improved Access to Quality Health Service Delivery: The Role of Networks of Practice (NoPs).”
She stated that their outfit had explored the needed approaches, among which involved awareness creation through the media and other communication platforms, community engagements, and public education with the help of assembly members, and others.
“A notable achievement in 2024 was the launch of the Adolescent Club at Kpodzivi, a commendable initiative aimed at addressing the needs of our adolescents and reducing teenage pregnancies.”
Miss Alornyo further called on key community leaders, parents, and all stakeholders to collaboratively work together with the Health Directorate to mitigate the negative development.
On Human Immune Virus (HIV) management, statistics revealed that the period under review recorded a slight decrease of 81 in 2024 as compared to 82 in 2023 respectively.
Other highlights involved Antenatal Care (ANC) where the Municipality registered 2,278 pregnant women in 2024, a slight decrease from 2,287 in 2023 as well as 1,997 supervised deliveries in 2024, indicating a slight decline from 2,010 in 2023.
Under Disease Surveillance, Miss Alornyo revealed that 53 TB cases were suspected with 32 confirmed positive.
“Additionally, we investigated 12 measles cases, three yellow fever cases, two Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases, one cholera case, and one meningitis case, all of which tested negative.”
Presentations were also centered on achievements, challenges, and the way forward as the Directorate strived to improve healthcare delivery in the Municipality.
The challenges, she stated, include lack of essential equipment for quality healthcare, equipment shortages, transportation issues, infrastructure deficits, and deteriorating facilities, among others where she proposed some measures to solve them.
She, however, expressed gratitude to all health workers in the Municipality for their immense dedication and hard work, saying “Your commitment to serving our community is truly inspiring.”
The review recorded the presence of stakeholders from other sectors, Head of Departments, community members, and others in attendance.
Awards were also presented to deserving staff for their dedication and hard work.
The Akatsi South Municipality is served by a network of 40 health facilities, comprising two hospitals, seven health centers, 28 CHPS compounds, and three clinics with the facilities being powered by dedicated workforce health professionals who worked tirelessly to deliver quality healthcare services to all.
GNA
