Volta Queens to start crusade on teenage pregnancy

Members of the Volta Region Queen Mothers' Council have served notice they were starting a crusade to tackle teenage pregnancy in the Region.

Mama Atrato II, Queen of Ho-Dome, said this at a forum of the Council in Ho attended by some key officials of the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

She told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that situation was frightening but could not give figures.

Mama Atrato, a child and women's rights advocate, said “a visit to the Ho Municipal Hospital antenatal clinic would underscore our concern”.

“Girls as young as 12, with puffy stomachs are not uncommon there,” she said.

She told the Council members to brace up for the task of educating the young girls to take charge of their lives and resist male predators.

Mr Robert Adatsi, Deputy Director, Clinical Services of the Volta Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service, (GHS) said he welcomed the posture of the Queens.

He invited them to team up with Community Health Nurses to enliven the CHPs Compound concept.

Under the concept, nurses would visit every home with messages on adolescent health and identify pregnant women in their areas for monitoring among others.

Mr Adatsi commended Mama Atrato for organizing a phone-in programme on a local radio station during which clients of the maternal health unit of the Ho Municipal Hospital called in to narrate their experiences.

Mr Adatsi said that programme in 2013, leading to the honouring of some health workers, especially midwifes probably, led to the zero maternal deaths recorded in that facility in 2014.

He corroborated Mama Atrato's concern about teenage pregnancies in the area but also did not give figures.

Numbers are quite high, something must be done, Mr Adatsi stated.

Faustina Asante, a Senior Nursing Officer, reacting to concerns raised about rude nurses, during question time, asked clients to take note of name tags on the chest of health workers and report them when aggrieved.