The 2021 Population and Housing Census results from the Ghana Statistical Service show that 79,733 females between the ages of 12 and 17 were either married or cohabiting with a man. Out of this total, 25,999 are females between the ages of 12 and 14 who are enrolled in junior high school.
One in four females in the Volta Region are reportedly married or involved in a union before turning 18 years old. The GHS District Health Information Management System (DHIMS) reports that just between 2020 and 2021, approximately 6,000 females were pregnant.
Domestic abuse is still prevalent in the area, with the Ghana Police Service's Domestic Abuse and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) registering over 1,058 instances in 2020 alone.
In 2018 and 2019, there were 809 and 687 instances, respectively. Defilement occurrences, of which 230 cases were recorded, threats of murder, 114; assault, 278; rape, 70; threats of damage, 75; kidnapping, 50; and non-maintenance, 100, are all extremely concerning.
Both the offenders and the victims of such abuse continue to be numerous teenage males and females. Some people may act in this way for a variety of reasons, including ignorance of their legal rights and obligations as individuals and as a group.
Implications
Adolescent pregnancy, child marriage, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) expose girls to early, unprotected sexual activities, depriving them of their right to education and a healthy childhood while also having serious negative effects on their reproductive health and finances, including unsafe abortion, malnutrition, obstructed birth, and obstetric fistula, as well as intergenerational feminized poverty for the victims, their families, and society at large, as well as STIs such as HIV/AIDS, school dropout, and STIs.
The region now records over 14% of adolescent pregnancies, which is more than the regional average of 10% achieved in 2022, according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
Stakeholders have been asked to increase efforts to decrease adolescent pregnancies in the area in light of this.
Thywill Eyra Kpe, the director of the department of gender in the Volta region, said during a discussion with students from the Vakpo Senior High School in the North Dayi District last Wednesday that more needs to be done to make the SDGs attainable.
It is not something we should be happy about, for instance, if 6,000 females become pregnant in our region. We cannot use it to help us reach our SDGs by 2030, she said.
By 2030, there should be universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, including family planning, information, and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national policies, according to SDG Target 3.7 on Sexual and Reproductive Health.
Ms. Kpe said, "At least we have made some tiny progress in tackling adolescent pregnancy, as it has decreased from approximately 14.5 percent to about 13.5 percent. These increases, however, are not substantial. Thus, it is our responsibility to maintain the efforts we are making.
Measures
In order to reach the objective of the teenagers' healthy and correct transitional growth, she also emphasized the necessity for intense education and empowerment on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRHR) as well as SGBV, as well as the availability of space to address some of their anxieties and concerns.
"There is a need to increase knowledge-sharing interactions with teenagers and to empower teenagers on problems including gender equality, sexual and gender-based violence, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, drug abuse, and assertiveness and confidence development.
Most importantly, she added, it was crucial to pay attention to their anxieties around the changes happening in their lives at this point and offer support in overcoming them.
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