Teenagers contribute 100,000 child births to Ghana’s population annually -National Population Council

The executive director of the National Population Council (NPC), Dr Leticia Adelaide Appiah, has said teenage pregnancy contributes about 100, 000 child births to the country’s population every year.

She said Ghana has about 700,000 net increase in population every year and out of this number, 100,000 child births come from teenagers.

Speaking with Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday (27 October), Adelaide Appiah said, “100,000 of the 700,000 [net] increase in our population per year is from teenage pregnancy.”

“… This means we have an issue of ‘children producing children’ which doesn’t bode well for the future.”

She said, “The fact is that we accommodate teenage pregnancy in our setting. If there was a clear policy direction and parental responsibility … Teenage pregnancy would not still be an issue in 2022.”

Adelaide Appiah said maternal mortality and child mortality are highest in child marriages, adding that, “If we are able to get rid of it [teenage pregnancy] then we can easily clear out much of our drastic population increase.”

“This issue of teenage pregnancy is not profitable to anybody … If we want to rid ourselves of it then we need to have an attitudinal change because others have stopped it, why can’t we?”

The executive director of the National Population Council added, “… If parents really thought about the impact of their financial status on their yet unborn children … They wouldn’t aim to bring them into the world knowing fully they are incapable of taking care of them; prepare and then give birth.”

She added, “We need to educate our people on the need to sustainably manage family sizes. It does not make sense to burden already limited resources when clearly the blowback will cause suffering for all.”

She also advised Ghanaians to stop having high-risk children who may end up burdening the country.