Twenty cases of unsafe abortion were reported in the Sunyani West Municipality of the Bono Region in 2019 says the Municipal Health Directorate.

The cases were reported at Chiraa, Fiapre, Odumase and Nsoatre among girls between 12 and 18 years, but no death was recorded.

Mrs Mary Ayobi, the Municipal Health Promotion Officer, said this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on the side-line of the 2019 Annual Review Meeting of the Municipal Health Directorate on Thursday.

She said the Directorate has established 22 adolescent health clubs in basic schools in the Municipality to provide information and education on sexual reproductive health care for students, but regretted that the lack of funding support was affecting the smooth running of the clubs.

At the Senior High level, she said, a club has only been established at the Notre Dame Girls Senior High School (SHS) at Fiapre and expressed the hope that with support, another at Odumaseman SHS would also be formed to provide the students with active sex education programmes.

Mrs Roseline Antwi, the Municipal Public Health Nurse, told the GNA teenage pregnancy remains a huge challenge in the Municipality.

The Municipality recorded 115 cases of teenage pregnancy in 2018 and 125 cases in 2019, she said, and advised adolescent boys and girls to use condoms to protect themselves.

She said the use of condoms has proven effective to control teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

Mr Richard Kwasi Henneh, the Municipal Director of Health Services, said the Directorate achieved huge success in disease control and prevention in 2019 and commended the health workers for their hard work.

He expressed worry about the unwillingness of many of the health workers, particularly nurses to serve in rural areas and pleaded with them to accept posting to those areas where their services were needed most.

Mr Henneh said elephantiasis was endemic and a serious health burden in the area and appealed to residents to sleep under mosquito treated nets.