By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Bolgatanga, April 16, GNA – Teenage pregnancies in the Upper East Region, reduced marginally at the end of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.
The region, at the end of last year, recorded 14.2 per cent of teenage pregnancies as against 15.4 per cent and 15.2 per cent at the end of 2020 and 2021, respectively.
However, from January to March 2023, the region recorded 1,252 cases of teenage pregnancy representing 13 per cent compared to 1,635 cases representing 14.2 per cent.
There was a record of 1,432 cases representing 14.2 percent in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Ms Dora Kulariba, the Upper East Regional Adolescent Health Focal Person, Ghana Health Service, made these known in Bolgatanga at a regional review meeting on the provision of coordinated essential services package for survivors of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV).
The Essential Services Package (ESP) is a guiding framework for governments, service providers and other stakeholders to coordinate efforts to provide support services to survivors or victims of SGBV especially women and girls and collaborate to end SGBV.
It was organised by the Department of Gender with funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
It brought together participants from the Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Legal Aid, Department of Social Welfare, Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) and Non-Governmental Organisations, among others.
Ms Kulariba noted that most of the teenage girls who got pregnant had been identified to be anaemic due to nutritional imbalances and called for stronger partnership to end teenage pregnancy.
Ms Mary Lardi Asooh, the Station Officer, DOVVSU, noted that SGBV continued to be a major issue in the region that needed collective efforts to address it.
She revealed that the region recorded 123 cases of SGBV in 2022 and 24 cases within the first quarter of 2023.
She said, “For the whole of 2022 and first quarter of 2023, we have recorded 13 defilement and rape cases, out of which three have been convicted, four cases are pending in court while five cases are still under investigation”.
She encouraged the stakeholders to support to educate the public to report cases of abuse, especially the criminal ones including rape, defilement, and murder to DOVVSU for investigation and redress.
Mr Jaladeen Abdulai, the Upper East Regional Director of CHRAJ, explained that SGBV was a human right violation that many people especially women and girls continued to experience as a result of their vulnerability.
He disclosed that the Commission received 65 cases of SGBV within the first quarter of 2023, of which 51 cases were human rights related.
He said 36 cases had already been disposed of while 29 cases were still pending.
“We encourage victims to report human abuse cases to CHRAJ for resolution because everything is free and faster than the court. You can also pass by the office to ask questions concerning issues and we will direct you to the appropriate institutions,” he added.
Mr James Twene, the Upper East Acting Regional Director of the Department of Gender, explained that the meeting was to review activities of the service providers and deliberate on how to improve performance to address issues of SGBV especially teenage pregnancy and child marriage.
He said although some successes had been chalked since the implementation of the project in 2021, but there was still the need for stakeholders to continue to work together to ensure that survivors of SGBV particularly women and girls who were vulnerable received the needed support services.
GNA