During a field visit to the Volta Region with the Adolescent Girls’ Programme Steering Committee, I met Mercy, a 20-year-old adolescent mother from the Atiglime community in Akatsi North District. Cradling her six-month-old baby, Mercy spoke with gratitude about the support she had received from health service providers. She explained that she hopes to own a salon one day, after completing her apprenticeship in hairdressing.
Mercy’s story shows how difficult family circumstances can contribute to teenage pregnancy. At the Ave Dakpa Community-based Health Planning and Services compound, she told me that her parents had divorced and that her father had forced her and her mother out of their home. Mercy then lived with her grandparents and other family members.
As her family struggled to pay her school fees consistently, she took on the responsibility herself, doing menial work, including fetching firewood and washing clothes, to earn a small amount for school fees and food. During this period, she became friends with a 24-year-old man and later became pregnant.
When Mercy found out she was pregnant, her fears became real. She worried that she would drop out of school, face stigma and see her educational dreams come to a permanent halt.
Overwhelmed by shame and afraid of being stereotyped, she considered ending the pregnancy.
During an antenatal check-up at the Ave Dakpa Community-based Health Planning and Services compound, she met Rosemary Addeh, a Senior Midwifery Officer.
After listening to Mercy, Rosemary counselled her on her options and explained that she could reintegrate into society by returning to school or learning a trade after giving birth. Through the Safety Net initiative, Rosemary followed up with home visits, assessed Mercy’s living and nutritional conditions, supported her birth preparedness and connected her to a support group. She also provided information on preventing sexually transmitted infections, family planning and contraceptive methods.
Rosemary coordinated with the Department of Social Welfare, the Ghana Education Service, a non-governmental organization and the National Commission for Civic Education regarding Mercy’s situation.
This led to engagement with the young man responsible for the pregnancy. He accepted responsibility and pledged to support an apprenticeship in a trade of Mercy’s choice. After several empowering counselling sessions, Mercy decided to pursue hairdressing, a long-standing interest.
Following the advice of her midwife, she began training in the trade. Shortly after Mercy gave birth, the young man signed an agreement with a salon owner to train her as an apprentice.
“I thought my life had ended when I became pregnant. But the nurse told me I could still go back to school or learn a trade.”
The Safety Net initiative was established in 2017 with technical and financial support from the United Nations Children’s Fund. It was piloted in four districts: Kpandai and Tolon in the Northern Region, and North Dayi and South Dayi in the Volta Region. Since then, it has expanded to 250 districts nationwide. The initiative identifies pregnant adolescents and links them to health and social support services. It also identifies a trusted person in the community who can work with a health worker to support each girl through hospital appointments, home visits and support groups.
Girls are also connected to education services for school reintegration and to social workers or the Ghana Police Service’s Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit for protection services.
The Safety Net initiative provides pregnant adolescents, adolescent mothers and adolescent girls with continued health care, family planning, comprehensive abortion care services, counselling, psychosocial support, nutrition guidance and support to return to school. It is implemented through the Ghana Health Service, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and the Department of Social Welfare, with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Population Fund under the Global Affairs Canada-funded Adolescent Girls’ Programme.
Mercy benefited from antenatal care, delivery support, counselling, family planning, support to re-enrol in school, family and community mediation, referrals to social protection services and adolescent-friendly health services.
“When Mercy first came here, she was withdrawn and did not see a positive way out of her situation. She was anaemic because she was not eating three meals a day, and birth preparedness was a concern.
Through the district-level linkages provided by the Safety Net initiative, she benefited from support groups and health service providers, which contributed to her safe delivery and reintegration as a hairdressing apprentice,” said Rosemary Addeh, Senior Midwifery Officer.
The Canada-funded Adolescent Girls’ Programme, jointly implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Population Fund in partnership with the Government of Ghana, aims to empower adolescent girls and young women to realize their rights, exercise agency and access quality services that enable them to reach their full potential.
With support from the Safety Net initiative, Mercy has a healthy baby and has reintegrated into her community as a hairdressing apprentice. She hopes to own a salon one day. She now counsels her peers and looks to the future with renewed hope.
