3000 Bukom children benefit from free NHIS subscription project

More than 3000 children in Bukom, Accra on Thursday benefitted from a free National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) subscription project.

The Initiative was undertaken by the Pinnaman Foundation, an NGO with support from Zoomlion as part of efforts to promote safety of children within vulnerable commu­nities across Ghana.

Also, a forum to educate the ben­eficiaries and their parents on the dangers of sexual immorality was held during the registration exercise.

Founder of the NGO, Mrs Phillipina Akyea in her remarks bemoaned the rate of teenage preg­nancies in some communities within the country, saying more efforts needed to be made to salvage the situation.

She stated that her outfit had for the past decade dedicated time and resources to increase awareness about the implications of sexual im­morality among children, the need to promote adolescent reproductive health and also support vulnerable children and women.

“It is for this reason that we are gathered here today to have this engagement with our brothers and sisters in Bukom. I have personally observed that many teenagers in this area have babies while others are also pregnant.”

“We want to advise these young ones to focus on their books and desist from having sex at their age, while ensuring their parents also find the need to keep an eye on the children to avoid some of these unpleasant situations,” she added.

Mrs Akyea also underscored the need for the clergy and traditional leaders to rise up and fight for the safety of all children, adding that looking on for teenagers to continue engaging in all forms of unaccept­able acts like sexual immorality was not encouraging.

A representative of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Madam Henlette Annan in her submission advised parents to properly bring up their children to ensure they grew up to become responsible adults.

She also advised teenagers against taking naked images of themselves and sharing with their friends.

According to her, it was not even necessary for people to keep naked images of themselves on their mobile phones as the pictures could end up in the hands of persons who would not hesitate to share with others or post on social media.

Parenting, she said was not just about giving birth to many children but rather how children can be well taken care of was the most important thing.

On his part, Coordinator, Zoomlion Foundation, Mr Thomas Korle schooled the children on the need to be health conscious by en­suing their environment was clean at all times and called on parents to inculcate the habit of cleanliness in their kids.

The NGO also donated some sanitary products and educational materials to the children after the event.

BY RAISSA SAMBOU