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Tina Mensah, Deputy Minister of Health, has stated that government is committed to improving the mental, nutritional and, sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young people in Ghana.

Speaking at the maiden edition of the Marie Stopes Youth Advisory Board Parliament on  Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) which took place recently at the Parliament house in Accra, Tina Mensah said Ghana’s high teenage pregnancy and adolescent child bearing rates  – which is currently at 14.2 percent– is a great concern to the government of Ghana

The Marie Stopes Youth Advisory Board Parliamentary debate on  SRHR which was on the topic ‘Adolescent Sexual and Reproduction Health  and Rights (ASRHR) Financing for Ghana Beyond Aid’ was put together by the Marie Stopes Ghana Youth Advisory Board.

According to Madam Mensah, the Ministry of Health, through its implementing agency, the Ghana Health Service, has also developed a costed adolescent health service policy and strategy to help improve the mental, nutritional and sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young people.

“Ghana’s high teenage pregnancy and adolescent child bearing rates which stands at 14.2 percent and 66/1000 adolescents respectively, are a great concern to the government of Ghana. Indeed at the recent inauguration of the National Population in March 2019, the President of the Republic His Excellency Nana Akufo Addo, lamented the high fertility rate among girls who should ordinary be in school and charged the National Population Council  to work with all the relevant institutions to drastically reduce teenage pregnancy, she said.

She added “As a country therefore, we are showing clear commitment to transforming our adolescent and youth human resource into human capital, by investing in the three priority areas for human capital development –health, education and employment. These are the guarantees to reaping demographic dividend.”