The Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service, in collaboration with the Community 25 Chapter of the Rotary Club, has observed the 2023 Adolescent Week at Kokonpe in the Kpone-Katamanso Municipality of the Greater Accra Region. Central to this event is to ensure that health facilities within the municipality establish adolescent centres where adolescents could receive quality healthcare services. It was on the theme: 'Every Adolescent Counts in Accessible Healthcare for All.' Dr Priscilla Esther Biamah-Danquah, the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Director for Health Services, said it was the Health Directorate's duty to bring health services to the doorsteps of the people. She said adolescents must not feel shy about discussing their various health complications with the nurses and that the nurses must also be welcoming to ensure the best care was given. Some schools within the municipality had 'adolescent corners' where the youth sought advice as far as their health was concern ed, she said. Dr Biamah-Danquah appealed to civil society organisations to assist the various adolescent conners with equipment for administrative and record-keeping purposes. Ms Henrietta Agyeiwaa, an Adolescent Health Nurse at Kpone-Katamanso, said the Municipal Adolescent Conner aimed at maximising the potential of the adolescents to make them self-reliant. Many adolescents, especially the girls, were lured into having sexual intercourse, which resulted in unwanted pregnancies, hence the need to build their capacity to say no to premarital sex, she said. 'All stakeholders need to marshal resources to help protect the adolescents and overcome their challenges. The Municipal Health Directorate is doing all it can to reduce teenage pregnancies within the area.' Mr Jonathan Biaku, President of the Community 25 Rotary Club, who chaired the programme, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the Club would continue to support the Health Directorate to promote adolescent health. He said children were more exposed to dangers in the communities and that parents, families, and guardians must be on guard to ensure the youth had a better future. Kpone-Katamanso was a peri-urban municipality faced with numerous challenges, including poverty and other social vices, he said, and that the lack of parental care also resulted in undesirable circumstances. More than 200 students from some selected schools in the area participated in the celebration, some of whom were taken through detergent making among other household needs to build their skills for a brighter future. Source: Ghana News Agency