The Department of Gender in the Volta region is stepping up its activities to reduce all forms of gender based violence and teenage pregnancy.
Subsequent to this, the Department had established Community Watchdog Committees at Mafi Wute, Mafi Tsawula and Mafi Dadoboe – all in the Central Tongu District – to help in preventing gender related violence and teenage pregnancy in the beneficiary communities.
To ensure that these Watchdog Committee members work effectively, the department presented working tools such as wellington boots, mosquito repellents and torch lights during a review programme at Mafi Dadoboe.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Volta Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Mrs Thywill Eyra Kpe called on the people to understand basic laws that would lead to prosecution of offenders, as well as the need to show love and support as couples.
She commended the Watchdog Committee members for their hard work and determination to reduce gender violence and teenage pregnancies in the area.
Mrs Kpe stressed that bad cultural practices such as Trokosi, Widowhood rites and early marriages among others, were major sources of gender violence being perpetrated against women and young girls.
She, therefore, urged the Watchdog Committee members to be vigilant and report any form of behaviour that would lead to violence to the chiefs.
She also noted that marital problems at home sometimes lead the girl-child wayward, saying most of the teenage girls become pregnant as a result of this.
She charged the committee members to be on the lookout for such families and offer pieces of advice that would prevent teenage pregnancies.
The Regional Director of the Department of Gender reminded the people that criminal cases at all times should be reported to the police and not the chiefs, since traditional rulers have no mandate to handle such cases.
She also advised chiefs to encourage people to report such cases to the law enforcement agencies, instead of trying to settle them.
She mentioned rape, defilement and assault among others, as some of the criminal cases that must be reported to the police, assuring the people that her outfit would soon collaborate with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to educate school children, particularly the girl-child, to understand the effects of violence and to avoid them at all times.
The Acting Director of Public Health in the Central Tongu District, Ms. Agnes Nyarko, disclosed that teenage pregnancy in the district still remains high, though public education has been carried out over the years.
She, therefore, commended the Department of Gender for the formation of Watch Dog Committees in the three communities.
According to Ms Nyarko, the district had started recording cases of incest, explaining that some of the pregnant teenagers confessed to health workers that their fathers were responsible for their pregnancies.
She, however, regretted that their mothers, in most of the cases, would warn them not to disclose it to anyone, because they want to avoid shame in the family.
She also disclosed that some of the teenage mothers confirmed to health workers that rich men and people in high authority were responsible for their pregnancies and appealed to the Department of Gender to extend the watch dog committee work to other communities in the district.
Ms. Nyarko disclosed that out of the 698 pregnancies recorded in the district, for the first quarter of 2021, 141 were teenagers with the Adidome Sub-District alone recording 365 pregnancies, out of which 72 were teenagers.
The Youth Leader at Mafi-Wute, Mr. Godfred Dzamesi said committee members work closely with parents and other stakeholders but unfortunately some parents do not appreciate the work that they do.
A Leader of the Watch Dog Committee at Mafi-Dadoboe, Madam Eva Agbenyega, said the committee members dialogue regularly with parents on the need for them to develop good relationship with their children, with emphasis on the girl-child.
The Chief of Mafi-Dadoboe, Togbe Akliku Ahorney II, commended the work that the Department of Gender in the region was doing, saying the formation of the watchdog committee in the area had helped in educating parents and the girl-child on the need to live a responsible live.
The post Teenage pregnancy cases high in Central Tongu appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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