Madam Mary Adepesa, Bawku West District Director of Health Services, on Wednesday expressed concern at the high rate of teenage and unintended pregnancies in the district.
She said about 75 per cent of young girls between 13 and 19 indulged in abortion while 15 per cent of those who did same were between 20 and 27 years.
Madam Adepesa said this at a three-day workshop organized by the Rural Urban Women and Children Development Agency (RUWACDA) at Zebilla.
The workshop was attended by 60 participants, mainly adolescents between the ages of 10 and 24 years, to assess their reproductive health needs and rights in the area.
Mr Kwesi Amenuvor, Director of Partners in Development, a non-governmental organization, stressed the need to pay attention to reproductive health needs of the youth.
The Executive Director of RUWACDA, Mr Braimah Abdulia, said duty bearers such as the assembly members were not aware of their responsibilities towards the youth and that there were the need to target them for advocacy.
Mr Abdulai said getting the youth abreast with those issues demanded support from the formal and informal sectors of education to ensure their proper physical and psychological growth.
Mr Moses Aduk-pam, Presiding Member for the area, assured the young people that issues concerning the youth would be captured in the District Medium Term Development Plan so that resources can be adequately allocated for their implementation.
Mr Cletus Avoka, Majority leader in Parliament and Member of Parliament for the Zebilla, said he was particularly happy that those interventions had come at a time when they were most needed since teenage pregnancy was becoming alarming in the district.
He promised to collaborate with his other Members of Parliament in the area so that they would spearhead the advocacy on the floor of parliament to ensure government’s commitment to the course of sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people.