The incidence of teenage pregnancy in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti region has seen a significant decline from 503 cases, representing 19.6% in 2022 to 446 representing 17.8%, in 2023.

The incidence of teenage pregnancy has been established as correlating with menstrual poverty, lack of education, and the absence of sensitisation for abstinence and protection. 

In the Ashanti region, the municipalities and districts leading the table are mostly areas of high galamsey activities and poor standards of living.

According to the Amansie Central District Director of Education, Nana Pokuaa Amoako, the high poverty rate in the district drives teenage girls to trade sex for money. This affects the education of teenage girls, truncating their education and hindering their quest to achieve something better for themselves and family.

To help mitigate this worrying trend, the LUV FM Morning Show team in 2021 started an initiative to donate sanitary pads to these communities using data from the Ghana Health Service. 

Last year, the team’s CSR train landed at Jacobu, the district capital of the Amansie Central, where 2,400 packs of disposable pads, and 156 packs of reusable pads were distributed to selected schools in the district.

“This is a strong motivation for us to do more with the sanitary pad distribution,” said David Akuetteh, Host of ‘Luv In the Morning’ Show on Luv Fm. “After putting data together, we realized Amansie Central leads in teenage pregnancy, so we decided to visit the district to educate and donate some pads. We hope to donate more of the sanitary pads annually”.

Speaking to the data and the reduction in the incidence, District Public Health Nurse, Adwoa Oforiwaa Boateng, said the reduction is partly attributable to the gesture of LUV FM and activities to mark the maiden celebration of menstrual hygiene day celebration in the district. 

Other engagements included public sensitisation efforts, set of adolescent and girls’ clubs in schools, health education sessions within some communities in the district, and stakeholders’ engagement meetings with the district assembly and chiefs within some communities to get their collective efforts to combat the menace.