Abortion and teenage pregnancy soar in Mampong

Rising cases of abortion, has become a major health concern in the Mampong Municipality and giving the health authorities sleepless nights.
The facilities in the area saw 254 cases, last year, compared with the 2016 total of 91.
During the period the number of teenage pregnancies also rose from 423 to 451.
Mr. Jacob Amoah, the Municipal Health Director, announced this at their annual performance review meeting held to discuss the way forward to improve the quality of healthcare.
He told the meeting that they were making progress with family planning coverage with 11,887 people accepting the use of contraceptives, last year, as against the 2016 figure of 5,986.
Touching on HIV infection, he said 133 out of 580 people tested were found to be positive and they were made up of 96 females and 37 males.
Mr. Amoah underlined the need for sustained education to aid everybody to protect themselves from the disease.
He added that they had adequate anti-retroviral drugs for treatment of the infection.
He used the occasion to appeal for the payment of health insurance claims to the facilities that had been in arrears to enable them to smoothly operate.
The facilities in the municipality between them are owed a total of GHC380,562.03 by the National Health Insurance Authority.
The Municipal Health Director put Out-Patient Attendance in the area at 136,700, which was 1,500 more than that of the previous year.