The three-week partial lockdown of Greater Accra and the Greater Kumasi areas was a trap of temptation for many Ghanaian couples, it is emerging.
Reports have it that more than nine thousand (9000) new pregnancies happened in the short period. And scarily, the National Population Council is reported as saying that these pregnancies are unwanted.
Dr. Leticia Appiah, Executive Director of the National Population Council is said to have become worried about the development.
The development means that post Covid-19, there is likely to be a spike in the abortion rate and fears are that many people may not report to medical facilities for specialist care.
Self-induced abortions continue to be the source of high mortality among pregnant women in Ghana.
The new unplanned pregnancies from just two regional areas of the country in three weeks is being seen by some as an indictment on the National Population Council which is said to have failed in its responsibility to intensify birth control education during the lockdown period.
During the period, the issue of spikes in couple intimacy due to the need to stay indoors most of the time came up and was met with haphazard expert responses and opinions, with sex educators virtually pleading with people not to have sex.
But that line of education was moot from the onset because the couples were going to be busy under the sheets. The education should have rather emphasized family planning rather than virtual pleas for couples to stay apart.
Some observers have put the spike in pregnancies to couples feeling bored and using sex as an escape during the lockdown period.