The District Chief Executive Officer for Ada East in the Greater Accra Region, Sarah Dugbakie Pobee, has urged parents to help educate their wards on the dangers of drug abuse and teenage pregnancy.
According to her the rate at which teenagers are getting pregnant is very high with same records going for drug abuse and HIV/AIDS in the enclave.
She lamented that the area has become a tourist attraction site, hence the community receives visitors who mingle with the youth and whose negative lifestyles have great influence on the children.
She therefore pleaded with parents to always get closer to their children and to have a good interaction with them with the aim of renewing their minds against the negative practices.
“We must consider the youth as our friends and children because when we look at the rate at which teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and drug abuse are rising, it is unfortunate. This is because Ada East has become a tourism enclave and the lifestyle of the visitors is negatively impacting the youth negatively’.
She believes that the frequent organization of the events in the community is responsible for rise in the bad practices hence would be reduce if the programmes held in the enclave would be organized in folds.
“I would plead with the leaders of the community to organize the funerals like our Akan counterparts who organize the funerals on monthly basis” she said.
Meanwhile, Mrs Pobee noted that the assembly has organized an educational programme to be embarked on in the community which will highlight among other things, the negative impacts of drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and effects of contracting HIV/ADIS.
The DCE who is serving her second term as the first female Chief Executive of the Ada East District Assembly, encouraged the youth to emulate her and become very influential people in their communities in various capacities.
