Teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortion are on the increase at the Nsoatre Health Centre in the Sunyani West Municipality of the Bono Region, Dr Agyemang Yeboah, the Medical Officer-in-charge of the facility, has said.

He said between 30 and 40 percent of women in the area who attended Antenatal clinics were teenagers, mostly between 13 and 16 years.

Dr Yeboah said the facility last year recorded several cases of unsafe abortion among teenagers in the area, although he could not immediately provide statistics.

He explained that the victims prepared and applied local herbs and concoctions in an attempt to terminate their pregnancies, but later ended up at the facility, with serious health complications.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Nsoatre, Dr Yeboah said a concerted approach was required to bring the situation under control and called for effective collaboration between teachers, parents, traditional and opinion leaders and assembly members in the area.

He said the facility needed a scanning machine, a children’s ward and motorbikes to undertake health outreach programmes and appealed to the public to help.

Dr Yeboah said lack of staff accommodation and potable drinking water discouraged health workers from serving the nine communities in the area which had the Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) and appealed to the Sunyani West Municipal Assembly for support.