The Minister believes that lack of sex education on the part of Ghanaians is a contributing factor to unwanted pregnancies.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1TunKFfSewJKi61qA8K6A8wlrzZKVD7e”]In an interview with Citi News at the regional celebration of this year’s 2017 World Population Day held in Koforidua under the theme Mr. Darfour said he is of the view that parents taking the initiative to discuss sex education with their kids will help reduce high rate of teenage pregnancies being recorded in the country.

“Parents should encourage their children to undertake family planning methods because in times past it was almost uncomfortable for a teenager or a young lady to walk to a family planning centre and say she wants to have family planning or she wants to be advised as to how she can avoid an unwanted or impromptu pregnancy although she may not be in a relationship.”

Income should determine family size

Adding his voice to the recent debate on family planning and the country’s growing Population, Mr. Darfour said the salaries of parents should determine the size of their family.

“Personally I think this issue should be discussed by families, because of improvement in education, knowledge and science people are becoming increasingly aware and being conscious of their family sizes so people should reflect especially young couples should look at their economic situation and income or how much they are earning monthly or yearly and justify it with how they want to live life, that is the reasonable way to go.”

“I have three kids who have all completed their university education and I have been able to cater for them very well because I wanted to have three children and I did that with ease so I believe that is the reasonable way.”

The Minister thus advised opinion leaders to start education on ways to reduce the high population growth in the country.

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Introduce your kids to sex education – Minister urges parents appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, he noted the efforts in family planning education was not yielding results and perhaps roping in queenmothers, especially, would be more impactful.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LI3cQWXyhWHlyHWa8SGpADacGXkIdenP”]This is especially so given the rural areas generally record the highest birth rates.

Prof Akosa observed that the economy was pinching enough and urban couples shied away from many children but rural people still go in for upwards of five children.

Some of these rural couples leave the upkeep of their children to fate, he added.

Concerns with Ghana’s growing population have seen the Executive Director of the National Population Council, Leticia Adelaide Appiah advocate for the government to use incentives to encourage Ghanaians to use family planning methods.

Family Planning is essential to stemming the ballooning population, which stands at 28.1 million, but a different medium for the education is needed, according to Prof. Akosa.

“For all the years we have been working on Family planning, we are still nowhere in terms of the Ghanaians who doesn’t want a child taking a family planning product. This is where I think we should gather our energy and work towards… What is important is that our rural communities need to be properly educated. For them, it is quantity, not quality and you go to any of rural communities and you will see the children galore.”

In Prof. Akosa’s view, queenmothers could get through to families in the rural areas better than health workers are doing.

“If we use them [queenmothers] as part of the vehicle for educating our rural folks, I think we will be more successful than health workers doing it. Somehow, health workers are more detached and it is assumed that it is their job…

“I think that it is important that the Health Service comes into serious dialogue with the Queen mothers Association and begins to let them also play their role… they have a role to educate the community,” he said.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Queenmothers should champion family planning education – Prof. Akosa appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.