Koforidua, May 11, GNA - Health facilities in the Eastern Region have recorded at least 3,446 cases of teenage pregnancy within the first quarter of this year.

Of the figure, which excludes cases registered by traditional birth attendants, 40 were between the ages of 10-14, while the remaining 3,404 cases involved girls between 15 and 19 years.

The Kwaebibirem district led the pack with 428 cases with Asuogyaman district recording the least incidence of 86. A Senior Nursing Officer in-charge of Public Health at the Eastern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Madam Ellen Asare, who disclosed this at a meeting of a regional multi-sectoral committee on the child, said the figure could be much higher because many such teens were avoiding the clinics.

She said there was the need for child-centered agencies to intensify their public campaign against teenage pregnancies to save the girls from unwanted pregnancies and the risks associated with them. Mr Baah Ntiri, Eastern Regional Guidance and Counselling Co-ordinator, told the meeting that 11 JSS finalists absented themselves from the recent BECE exams in the East Akim District while 17 was recorded in the Atiwa District, because they were pregnant. He attributed the menace partly to the unbridled operations by video house operators in the rural areas and also to parental irresponsibility saying it was time society translated into action its avowed aim of protecting children.

Based on the reports presented at the meeting, the committee pleaded with the district assemblies to enforce their byelaws on the operations of video centres and cyber cafes to ensure that they did not become the conduit through which minors acquired immoral behaviours. To demonstrate its seriousness about the need to tackle teenage pregnancy, the committee also designed a pilot project by which means it will build alliance with faith-based organizations and educational institutions on the best possible way of tackling the problem. The chairman of the committee, Mr Solomon Djaba-Mensah, said society ought to be more cautious about what it offers minors because "the quality of leadership the nation will have in the future, will be very much dependent on the type of training children are being offered presently."

Mr Djaba-Mensah who is also the Regional Chairman of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), called for the strengthening of Guidance and Counselling Units in schools to offer students professional assistance.