Women have the right to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice and the right of access to appropriate health care services that will enable them to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth.
Mr Isaac Ter-Ibinibe Sopelle, the Regional Population Officer for Eastern Region made the revelation at the Regional Launch of World Population Day on Monday, 1st 2022 in Koforidua on the theme: “Prioritizing Rights and Choices: Harnessing Opportunities: The Road to a Resilient Future for All”.
He was, however, not happy that access to reproductive health information and services is mostly unavailable for people especially adolescents and young people.
He stressed that policies and investments in education and health that empower teenage girls and create economic conditions that lead to jobs are particularly important in countries with large, emerging youth populations.
Mr Chairman, when a teenage girl is empowered in terms of having the means and information to make her own decisions in life, she is more likely to realise her full potential and become a positive force as well as a functional member of her home, society and the nation”, Mr Isaac Ter-Ibinibe Sopelle added.
On the issue of Gender inequality, he complained the attitude still exists everywhere in the business sector, education sector, politics, health, and the right to own property and access to credit.
“Some cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation, early marriage, inadequate access to agricultural land and discrimination in the workplace just to mention a few compromise their reproductive health. Women should be empowered to also challenge these rooted gender-based discriminations. This, I think, will increase their access to educational and employment opportunities. According to the World Health Organization, unless women and girls have access to quality and affordable health care, freely exercise their sexual and reproductive health rights, and are treated and respected as equals, we will not achieve our SDGs 2030 agenda” the Regional” the Regional Population Officer revealed.
To stakeholders, Mr Isaac Ter-Ibinibe Sopelle encouraged them to support interventions which aim at promoting the general well-being of adolescents and young people in Ghana. If our adolescents and young people are well educated and empowered, they will have the necessary tools to reinvest back into their family, community, country and ultimately the world.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma
