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As the world celebrates the World Population Day today, it has been revealed that 37 percent of teenage girls in the Western Region marry before their 18th birthday.

Mr Frank Ofosu-Asante, the Western Regional Manager of the National Population Council (NPC) said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Takoradi.

He said teenage girls face many challenges such as pregnancy, early marriages, early child-births, HIV and AIDS infections and irresponsible sexual behaviours.

Mr Ofosu-Asante said these factors retard their growth, development, education and lower the rate of many completing schools.

He said most teenage girls in Africa and Ghana in particular face a daunting task to achieve their ambitions in life due to negative socio-cultural constraints.

In Ghana, Mr Ofosu-Asante said, the celebration would focus on the need to educate the masses on global population trends particularly in the context of our development agenda.

He said the celebration is being held on the theme: “Investing in Teenage Girls”.

Mr Ofosu-Asante said the afore-mentioned factors have constrained many teenage girls from pursuing their ambitions and called for a concerted effort by all stakeholders to deal with these challenges.

He said the Council would provide sufficient information on adolescent sexuality and reproductive health, as well as issues concerning their basic human rights and access to birth control options.

He called for intensification on education on teenage reproductive health to create awareness on sexuality for the youth to protect themselves.

“We must create a conducive environment for them to learn about their sexuality and provide avenue for them to address their sexual and reproductive health needs, “he stressed.

This, he said, would help reduce early sex, teenage pregnancies and abortion practices.

He appealed to opinion and religious leaders, traditional rulers, business community and all stakeholders to invest in teenage girls by re-packaging messages on sex education.