Daily Graphic, Tuesday, April 18, 2017
“My interest in sex started at a tender age of 10 years when l chanced on three boys having sex in turns with an equally young girl. I was forced by them to have a taste of the act. I enjoyed the experience and continued to explore with girls who were far older than me.”
“I had my first sex at the age of 13years but did not discharge into the girl as l was afraid. I currently have two girlfriends, I have regular sex with one and only engage in kissing and caressing with the other.”
These are experiences shared by two young adolescents shared with Adolescent Health service providers in Tema as recounted by the Focal person for Adolescent Health, Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, Mrs. Grace Eddy Amewu.
 |
| Mrs Amewu making a presentation to the Assembly Members of TMA |
PRESENTATION
In a presentation to the Assembly Members of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, (TMA) at its sitting last Wednesday, Mrs Amewu said such cases come to them frequently and though they are making efforts to help the children come out of them, more is expected of parents to help curb the problem.
She indicated that parents have a bigger role to educate their wards and promote the sexual and reproductive health of their adolescent children and urged them to open up to their children.
She said due to the inability and unwillingness of parents to discuss Sexual Reproductive Health matters with their wards, these young ones are pushed to explore and experiment as a means of finding answers to their questions.
STATISTICS
Giving a statistics on Adolescent Teenage Pregnancy for 2016 for persons between the ages 10-19, the Tema Focal person for Adolescent Health disclosed that Tema East Constituency had more teenage pregnancies with 313 cases in the Metropolis while Tema West and Central Constituencies 106 and 294 cases respectively.
She said the Tema East cases it could be due to poor standards of living in that community and urged the Assembly Members to collaborate with adolescent health service providers to extend adolescent health services into the communities.
DEATHS
In the area of Maternal Health, Mrs Amewu disclosed that the Adolescents
and young people were also not being left out.
and young people were also not being left out.
She disclosed that in 2014 out of the total of 35 death recorded four representing 11 percent involved persons within the ages of 20-24 years. In the year 2015, out of the 46 cases recorded, 12 cases representing 26 percent involving persons of ages 20-24 while in 2016, out of the 49 cases recorded, 15 cases representing 31 percent of persons within that same age bracket was recorded.
Mrs. Amewu further disclosed that two cases each was recorded in 2015 and 2016 involving persons with the age group of 10-19 years.
 |
| the Assembly Members of TMA listening to the presentation |
She said while most adolescent found it difficult to talk to their parents and guardians, they had confidence in talking to health workers since they are willing listeners and not condemnatory and therefore pleaded with the TMA and Assembly Members to provide the Adolescent Health Service Providers with facilities within their communities to host health and communication centers to provide counseling, screening and testing services as well as distribution of social behavioral communication materials and condoms to the youth
The Presiding Member of TMA, Mr Richard Fiadumor pledged the commitment of the assembly to help address the issues and save the lives of the youth in the metropolis
No comments:
Post a Comment