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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 6
Publication Date: June 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.96.12423. Vengkungmene, C., & Kor, J. A. M. (2022). Adolescent Pregnancy the Case of Wa West District in Upper West Region of Ghana.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(6). 1-18.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Adolescent Pregnancy the Case of Wa West District in Upper West
Region of Ghana
Clifford Vengkungmene
Ghana Health Services
District Director of Ghana Health Services, Wa West District
Jacob Aaworb-nang Maabobr Kor (PhD)
Senior Lecturer
College for Community and Organisation Development (CCOD)
ABSTRACT
Adolescence is the phase of life between childhood and adulthood from ages 10 – 19
years. This age category is further divided into sub categories as Early (10 –
14years) adolescent and late (15 – 19years) adolescent. It is a very unique stage of
human development and an important time for laying the foundation for good
health. All the vices emanates from this stage of life if not managed well. This is the
stage where there is rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial development.
Adolescents constitute a significant proportion of our population (about 21.9%)
[AHSPS 2016-2020]. A cross sectional descriptive design was used in this study
where data was collected at a point in time across the health facilities with
Reproductive and Maternal Health Services. Both quantitative and qualitative
methods of data collection were used to have a fair assessment of the issues. This
study design was adopted as most appropriate because it offered the researchers
the opportunity to delve deeply into the issues and appropriately respond to the
objectives. The principal respondents were the pregnant Adolescent girls and
adolescent girls that delivered in 2021 who had contact with health service
providers within the year. Health facilities that provide Reproductive Health
Services were purposively sampled from 9 Health Centres and 13 CHPS compounds.
In total 390 pregnant adolescent girls who were either pregnant or lactating were
studied. The secondary respondents were parents of the pregnant adolescents and
lactating girls, staff of Ghana Education Service as well as department of social
welfare who were purposefully selected because of the critical role they play in
adolescent health related issues. The number of adolescent pregnancies by age
category, early adolescence (10 – 14years) and late adolescence (15 – 19years). The
late adolescent recorded the highest number of pregnancies (N=383, 98.2%) and
seven (7) pregnancies occurred within the early adolescent category with the
youngest adolescent being 13years.
Keywords: Adolescence, psychosocial development, teenage pregnancy, Reproductive
and Maternal Health Services.
INTRODUCTION
The Wa West District is one of the eleven administrative districts of the Upper West Region of
Ghana. It is located in the North Western part of the region and stretches from longitudes 40°N
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 6, June-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
to 245° and from latitudes 9"W to 32°W, covering an area of approximately 1,458 square
kilometers. To the South, North-West and East, it has a common boundary with the Savanna
Region, Nadowli District and Wa Municipal respectively, and to the West with Burkina Faso.
The district lies within the general prevailing semi savanna vegetation and tropical climatic
conditions in the region. A single rainfall season is experienced and it falls between the months
of May and October, followed by a prolonged dry season and hazy extending from November to
April.
There are eighteen (18) border communities with Burkina Faso which makes it prone to
diseases from this neighbouring country as well. Sharing boundary with Sawla-Tuna-Kalba
district in the Savanna Region is another challenge as it is also a new district and even more less
endowed with health facilities.
The district has a population of 102,556 people and is predominantly rural. There is no single
urban population in the district. The youthful population (0-17) constitutes approximately 47%
of the total population. The low population density (66.5 persons per square kilometer)
coupled with the state of the roads in the district makes coverage of health services to all
communities a difficult task.
The District is administratively sub divided into 8 sub districts with 50 health facilities
comprising of a District Hospital, 9 Health Centers and 40 functional CHPS Zones. There are 226
Communities with a population of 102,556 people and functional CHPS zones serve 68.2%.
Most vulnerable groups are children under 5 years and pregnant women.
Some facts about Adolescence
• Adolescence is the phase of life between childhood and adulthood from ages 10 – 19 yrs
(Early 10 – 14, late 15 – 19yrs)
• It is a very unique stage of human development and an important time for laying the
foundation for good health. All the vices emanates from this stage of life if not managed
well
• This is the stage where there is rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial development
• Adolescents constitute a significant proportion of our population (about 21.9%)
• One(1) in 5 women age 25 – 49 years marry and give birth before 18years
• Child marriage is more common among rural population in Ghana
• Sixteen percent (16%) of girls who ever had sex reported ever being involved in
terminating a pregnancy
• Adolescents establish patterns of behaviours related to: Diets, physical activity,
substance use, sexual activity etc these behaviours can protect their health and can also
put their health at a very high risk
• Adolescents can be regarded as youthful, juvenile, young people, etc
[AHSPS 2016-2020]]
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Vengkungmene, C., & Kor, J. A. M. (2022). Adolescent Pregnancy the Case of Wa West District in Upper West Region of Ghana. Advances in Social
Sciences Research Journal, 9(6). 1-18.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.96.12423
LITERATURE REVIEW
Adolescence is the phase of life between childhood and adulthood from ages 10 – 19 years. This
age category is further divided into sub categories as Early (10 – 14years) adolescent and late
(15 – 19years) adolescent. It is a very unique stage of human development and an important
time for laying the foundation for good health. All the vices emanates from this stage of life if
not managed well. This is the stage where there is rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial
development. Adolescents constitute a significant proportion of our population (about 21.9%)
[AHSPS 2016-2020].
In the wake of the Astana Declaration, the Ministry of Health is promoting multisectoral action
and Universal Health Coverage, engaging relevant stakeholders and empowering local
communities to strengthen Primary Health Care, including a better health emergency system.
The national health policy seeks to address economic, social and environmental determinants
of health and aims to reduce risk factors by mainstreaming a Health in All Policy (HiAP)
approach. These approaches includes all ages of which the adolescent is a priority. (National
Health Policy, 2020).
A Daily graphic published in July, 2017 with an exclusive interview with the District Director of
Health Service for Wa West District reveals the lamentation of the Director on the upsurge of
adolescent pregnancy in the district. He associated the increase to the age-old socio-cultural
practices prevailing in the district. Such practices he explained as early marriages, betrothals
and elopements of these adolescent girls for financial gains. The situation is worrying as he
stated. He also touched on school dropouts among these adolescent girls who should have been
in school or learn a trade to earn a living to break the poverty cycle in the district as the district
was in 2017 ranked the poorest among the poor in the region. But victims and are married off
at very tender ages on the request of older men or their peers for their hand in marriage. The
District Director of Health Service condemns the art of these socio-cultural practices and calls
for a broader stakeholder engagement to avert these cultural practices to salvage the situation
of adolescent pregnancy in the district [Emmanuel Modey 2017] S
EXCERPTS FROM GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE AND SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT
The Director explained that the situation is worrying. We recorded a lot of teenage pregnancies
in 2021 and they have to drop out from school. We need to collectively put in much efforts to
curb the situation going forward. We record issues of elopement for marriage as well and I
think is in the same vain. We recorded quite a number of episodes this year. Some of them I
made visits to the family of the man demanding that the girl to be brought back to school. They
boldly told me the girl has been sent to the husband down south. They emphatically said that
is their culture. That is what they have been doing for a very long time.
These words from the Director. He added that their fathers married the mothers like that and
we have married our wives same way. It is not something that just started. It has been there
and is the way we do things. It is very difficult to handle this situation as individual sectors. He
indicated that the District Assembly should come out with gazetted bye-laws on teenage
pregnancy, elopement and early marriage and when enforced would help curb it’s occurrence.
Available figures reveal that the district recorded a total of 109 teenage pregnancies in the last
academic year 2020/2021with only being re-entered.