According to the sector minister,
Nana Oye Lithur, the initiative would offer the kayayei skills for economic
empowerment in a sustainable manner.
“The programme offers both medium
and long-term social, as well as economic-based benefits to enhance livelihoods
for the women and their families”, she said.
Kayayei workshop
Nana Lithur made this known at a
sensitisation workshop in Accra on Tuesday, aimed at addressing the health and
service delivery needs for kayayei in the country.
The workshop, which was attended by
over 100 kayayei, was intended to offer an opportunity for relevant
stakeholders to engage in discussions with the kayayei and understand their
diverse needs.
This is to help in designing
relevant intervention programmes which would not only tackle their challenges,
but also integrate safety nets for purposes of ensuring the welfare of
vulnerable and excluded persons in society.
It is also expected to educate and
inform the kayayei about sexual and reproductive health issues, family
planning, HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI), immunisation and early
childcare services.
Essential services providers such as
the Ghana Health Service, Legal Aid Scheme, Domestic Violence and Victims
Support Unit (DOVVSU), Marie Stopes, Willows Foundation, Population Council,
Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana, and Ipas Ghana were also in
attendance.
More training
Nana Lithur said the initiative
would be under an employment module that would recruit 8,000 vulnerable persons
for the training while providing medium and long-term social, as well as
economic-based benefits to enhance livelihoods for women and their families.
She also mentioned that individuals
who would want to go back to school under the initiative would be prepared for
remedial classes to help them rewrite their exams and enter senior high
schools located in any of the three regions in the northern region.
Additionally, those who would want
to have some vocational skills training would also be supported to have some
form of livelihood to take care of themselves.
Nana Lithur said as a social intervention
measure, the workshop was essential for the provision of services for the
empowerment of most vulnerable groups and to tackle poverty and exclusion.
Social concern
In a speech read on his behalf, the
Municipal Chief Executive of La Nkwantanang –Madina Municipality, Mr Franklin
Anku, said teenage pregnancy was a social concern as it had driven many school
age children out of the classroom and left them as female porters, with
unwanted pregnancies.
He said with the Madina Market being
one of the markets in the region that housed kayayei, the assembly had taken
the fight against teenage pregnancy seriously with the introduction of some
interventions to help reduce the menace.
He added that the Gender Desk at the
assembly had collaborated with the directorates of health, education community
development, social welfare and other departments to educate schoolchildren,
communities, kayayei and the general public on various issues, including the
prevention of teenage pregnancies.
Adolescent health in Accra
Sharing an insight on adolescent
health in the Greater Accra Region, Madam Diana Bona, an Adolescent Health
Focal Person from the Ghana Health Service, said in 2015, a total of 10,473
adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 visited clinics for various family
planning services.
On adolescent deliveries, she said
there had been a decline from 6,446 in 2014 to 6,287 in 2015, while a total of
7,806 attended post-natal clinics in 2014 as against 7,460 in 2015.
Madam Bona, therefore, called for
the establishment of adolescent clubs in senior high schools and for those out
of school, as well as effective collaboration with civil society organisations,
among others, to help curb the menace of teenage pregnancy in the country.
- See more at:
http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/63360-ministry-to-adopt-strategic-plan-to-address-teenage-pregnancy.html#sthash.uYbvfd6S.eHsWFwRE.dpuf
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