Madam Rhema Andah, Programmes Assistant, Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) has called on parents to endeavour to build good personal relations with their adolescents, especially girls.
She said good personal relations and communication between parents and their adolescents enabled them to open up to share their challenges confronting them for quick redress.
Madam Andah was speaking at an Inception and Orientation meeting on Adolescent Reproductive Health Rights for stakeholders including; adolescent champions at Kpeve, the South Dayi District capital in the Volta Region.
It was an ARHR and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Reproductive Health Programme and Strategies for facilitating adolescent access to quality Sexual Reproductive Health Services.
She said most adolescents were faced with several challenges, and were unable to share such problems with their parents as a result of ineffective relations and communication between them and their parents.
Madam Andah said it was important for parents to educate their adolescents, especially girls on their reproductive health rights as it would help reduce misinformation among them and also increase their knowledge and skills on sexual health.
She said reproductive health education promoted positive values and attitudes among adolescents, improved perception about peer norms as well as increased communication between them and their parents.
Madam Andah said whenever adolescents were taught about their values and attitudes and became more enlighten about them, it would make them become good citizens and contribute to socio-economic development of society.
She urged community members to encourage them to visit health facilities whenever they had any health issues for redress as it was their right to have access to health care without any hindrance.
Madam Andah also urged health personnel to be patient with adolescents whenever they came to the health facilities for health services and also endeavour to understand their point of view because “they go through several emotions during that period.”
Madam Patience Nunoo the South Dayi District Health Directorate lamented the prevalence of teenage pregnancy in the District and urged parents to help address the issues.
She said the Directorate was collaborating with the Assembly and the District Education Directorate to develop measures to curb the situation and called on traditional leaders and other opinion leaders to cooperate with them.
Mr Nathaniel Adzotor, the District Coordinating Director, said issues affecting adolescents needed a concerted effort, thus the need for all stakeholders to come together to develop a comprehensive plan to solve the situation.
GNA
