Teenagers cautioned against engaging in early sex
Teenagers have been advised not to allow their peers to influence them to engage in premarital sex but to be more focused on their goals and aspirations.
Addressing a six-day camp for teenagers at Agona Nsaba, a Physician Assistant at the Salvation Army Polyclinic at Agona Duakwa, Mr Emmanuel Acquah, said engaging in early sex could jeopardise their lives, and negatively affect their growth and development.
The camp, organised by the Ntumy Child Development Centre (CDC), under its Compassion International Ghana programme, was held on the theme: ‘Save the young from the world of sin.’
It brought together about 150 teenagers with the objective of deepening their spiritual life by way of prayers and basic education on their health. They were also taken through lessons in child protection and children’s rights, as well as educated on social vices that confronted teenagers.
Counselling by parents
Mr Acquah also urged them to take the counselling offered by their parents seriously, and adhere to such advice to shape their lives for the better.
“It is totally wrong and unacceptable for you to allow your friends to brainwash you to have sexual intercourse at a tender age,” he said.
He explained that any attempt particularly by female teenagers to engage in sexual acts could make them pregnant with its attendant problems.
Mr Acquah said it was a natural phenomenon for teenagers to sometimes have sexual feelings, but it was important for them to control such feelings to prevent them from engaging in premarital sex, adding that though it was a difficult thing to do, their strict adherence would enable them pursue their goals in life.
Parental monitoring
He admonished parents not to solely concentrate on their work and trades at the expense of the proper upbringing and monitoring of their children who were naive about most of the changes taking place within them, pointing out that it was unfortunate that some parents neglected their roles of educating their children, especially the adolescent, on sexual issues, and that compelled such children to confide in their friends who might corrupt them by giving them wrong advice.
The physician assistant entreated parents to ensure a cordial relationship between them and their children, and adopt proper parenting with especially their daughters so that they can easily share their emotional problems with them.
He further expressed concern about the rampant advertisement of aphrodisiacs that enhanced sexual performance in the media, which was pushing most teenagers into alcoholism, and appealed for the control of such advertisements in the media.
Commitment
The Queenmother of Agona Nsaba, Nana Adwoa Nkansah Aduam III, pledged her commitment to the reduction of teenage pregnancy in the area.
The Agona Nsaba District Pastor of the Church of Pentecost, Pastor Thomas Appiah, who is in charge of the project, told the Daily Graphic that the camp, which was being held for the first time, was expected to ensure a holistic development of the beneficiaries, and charged parents to properly train their children to become responsible adults.
