A senior lecturer and a counselor at the University of Cape Coast, Dr. Linda Naa Dzama Forde, is charging the KEEA municipal assembly to mount continuous educational programs to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancies in the area.

According to her, blaming the fisher folks for the increasing rate of teenage pregnancies in communities within the Central Region is not the solution to the challenge.

Available statistics ranks the Central Region as having the highest teenage pregnancy prevalence rate, with the KEEA as one of the districts with the highest incidence of teenage pregnancies.

Communities like Elmina and Komenda have some of its teenagers between the ages of 13 and 14 getting pregnant.

Speaking after a free health screening program organized by New Vision Foundation International, an NGO based in the Central Region, the counselor called for an increased effort from all stakeholders to halt the practice.

The practice, according to a pro-poor organization has opened residents of KEEA to the risk of many sexually transmitted diseases.

Dr. Linda Naa Dzama Forde who is also the Board Chair of New Vision Foundation International wants the assemblies to implement policies and programs that will deal with the challenges.

“It is really appalling to see girls in their prime carry pregnancy around. The Assembly has a major responsibility to check this. The people might be ignorant and might be engaging in the practice but I believe the assemblies know better and should help them out of this,” she insisted.

Executive Director of the New Vision Foundation International, Gabriel Nii Commey Adams tells Joy News the organization would take its sensitization and education programs to all the coastal communities of the Central region. 

According to him, his organization is out to help the deprived and needy in the Ghanaian society.