Abortion among adolescents in the Kumasi metropolis is on the rise, a development, the health authorities have described as troubling.

Available statistics show that 1,718 teenagers in the city, aborted unwanted pregnancies, last year, as against the 2014 total of 1,393.

Dr. Yeboah Awudzi, Deputy Ashanti Regional Health Director, said this gave cause for worry and underscored the urgent need to step up reproductive health education.

He said more effort should be made to aid adolescents to make the right choices and decisions.

He was contributing to discussions at a forum held by the Family Planning and Reproductive Health Centre of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) to educate young people on the dangers of pre-marital sex.

The programme targeted students in the senior high schools (SHS).

Dr. Awudzi counseled them to concentrate on their books and abstain from sex to avoid becoming pregnant.

Parents should also spend quality time with their adolescent children and help them to have better understanding of reproductive health and rights.

Dr. Emmanuel Morhe, Head of the Department of Family Planning and Reproductive Health, encouraged teenagers to visit adolescent-friendly institutions that provided privacy, for counselling on any reproductive health issue.