The Municipal Chief Executive of La Nkwantanang-Madina, Jennifer Dede Adjabeng has commissioned an Adolescent Reproductive Centre at the premises of the Municipal Assembly at Madina, Accra in the Greater Accra Region.
On Monday, November 22, 2021, Hon. Dede performed the sod-cutting for the construction of a first phase of a single-storey facility which comprises a counselling unit, a laboratory, a social welfare unit, family planning and consultation units, a reading room, a dispensary, a crèche, a holding unit and toilet facilities.
Speaking to the media, Mrs. Jennifer Dede Adjabeng said it has become necessary to provide such facility to take care of a youthfully- populated municipality which has a notably high teenage pregnancy cases.
She said the Centre is expected to offer counselling services to young people and also serve as a unit where they could share their problems, instead of confiding in friends and adults they do not know who may take advantage of them.
“There are well trained consultants to help the youth share their problems since most parents find it difficult to discuss issues of sex with their children”, Mrs. Adjabeng said.
According to a 2022 Municipal Health Directorate report, about 395 cases of teenage pregnancy were recorded, a situation which could have dire economic and social consequences on society.
The Municipal Director of Health Services, Dr. Priscilla Siaw-Poku, who received the keys to the facility expressed her office’s gratitude to the leadership of the Assembly for the initiative, adding that the centre would greatly complement the functions of the health directorate and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service to support the vulnerable in society.
SOURCE: ISD – LaNMMA
