More than 32 teen girls are impregnated by men daily in the Central Region, Mrs. Thywill Eyram Kpe, the Regional Director of the Department of Gender has said.
Twenty (20) percent of the 11,600 teen girls who were impregnated in the Region in 2017, could not name the men who impregnated them, hence, their children do not know their fathers.
Again, she revealed that most of such pregnancies occurred in communities along the major highways where transit drivers lured young girls into unprotected sex, impregnated and abandoned them.
Mrs. Kpe made the disclosure in a presentation at a safe street campaign for street hawkers on “Prevention of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), Child Marriage and Adolescent Pregnancy” sensitization forum at Mankessim in the Mfantseman Municipality.
The forum was attended by over 60 street hawkers, street children, teen mothers and Gender Desk facilitators drawn from six districts in the Region.
It was organised by the Department of Gender in collaboration with the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and supported by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP).
Aimed at empowering adolescent girls on SGBV, Mrs. Kpe ascribed the problem, which often led to early and unwanted pregnancies, induced abortions, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and HIV infections to lack of knowledge on adolescent reproductive health, poverty and irresponsible parenting.
According to her, young people required not only basic information about their bodies but also age-appropriate services that addressed gender equality, empowerment, rights and responsibilities, and sexual and reproductive negotiation and decision making.
She stressed the importance of building collective efforts and synergies in the fight against SGBV, saying, it was unacceptable for Ghana to be counted among countries with the prevalence of such abuses.
Mrs. Kpe called on all stakeholders including traditional and religious leaders NGOs, Civil Society and community leaders to put their shoulders to the wheel to nib the situation in the bud.
The Gender Activist warned unscrupulous drivers to desist from the dastardly act of abusing teen girls sexually, adding that the law would deal with anyone caught to serve as deterrent to others.
Mr. Alan Paintsil, an Assistant Director at RCC re-echoed his office’s resolve to support initiatives aimed at scaling up public education to reduce the menace of teenage pregnancies and adolescent reproductive rights.
He said it was unacceptable that children in their teen years were getting pregnant and dropping out of school, thereby, missing out on many opportunities and causing an increase in the vicious cycle of poverty and illiteracy among them.
That, he stated was a draw back to the nation’s efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal one, three, four, five and ten by 2030.
Mr. Paintsil encouraged the young girls to abstain from premarital sex or protect themselves in order not to derail their educational dreams.
GNA