The Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has urged stakeholders in education to strengthen efforts to develop a comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) to empower the youth.
This, he said would enable the youth to become responsible adults.
Dr Opoku Prempeh made the call in Accra on Wednesday when he launched a programme dubbed "Our Rights, Our Lives, Our future (03)" at a High-Level Dialogue on CSE and Youth-Friendly Service.
The Our Rights, Our Lives, Our future (03), a United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) initiative is being supported by the governments of Sweden and Ireland.
It is intended to help six countries, including Ghana to improve sexual and reproductive health of adolescents to prevent Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections.
The Minister noted that the 2017 HIV Sentinel Survey Report revealed a prevalence reduction among antenatal clients from 2.4 per cent in 2016 to 2.1per cent in 2017.
Additionally, Dr Opoku Prempeh said HIV prevalence among the youth between the ages of 15 to 24 increased to 1.5 per cent from 1.1 per cent in 2016.
"The consequences of these alarming figures are that, young people do not only face higher risk of illness but also unlikely to achieve their educational goals", he added.
The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu on his part, said, there was the need to invest in adolescents education.
He said the development of the country was dependent on the health of its people.
In this vein, Dr Opoku Prempeh said government had introduced interventions such as establishment of youth friendly health facilities for about 700 adolescents nationwide and mobile application platform to educate young people on sex and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
The Director General of UNESCO, Ms Audrey Azoulay observed that pregnancy and child birth complications were the leading cause of death among girls aged between 15-19 years and expressed the hope that CSE would support the cause of addressing the challenge.
She said that early and unintended pregnancies cause emotional trauma, early marriage, social stigma and impedes the girl-child educational career.
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