Dr. Nkansah, who is also a Political Demographer, made the call during a Regional Consultation Workshop on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) for stakeholders in Kumasi.

The workshop was put together by the Parliamentary Network Africa (PNAfrica) and Marie Stopes International (MSI).

Dr Nkansah said Ghana was currently not maximizing the full potential benefits of its population and that needed urgent attention.

Citing the national teenage pregnancy rate of 15.2 percent, he described the figure as alarmingly high for a country striving to transition from a lower-middle-income to an upper-middle-income status.

"You cannot make that transition when your teenage pregnancy rate is high, implying that a very significant proportion of your human resource instead of being in school and building capacity to be productive contributors to the economy are nursing children at a very early age.

"People must pay attention to family planning, so that families will be capacitated to have the numbers they can take care of and for the population age structure to mature enough to support production," he advised.
He explained that Ghana's current population structure leaned more towards consumption than production, which slows national development.
He said there was no evidence of a single country with a median population age outside the 25.6 to 42-year range, emphasizing that Ghana must accelerate its development by maturing its age structure.

Dr Nkansah called for urgent action to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy, particularly in regions like Ashanti, which is highly populated and currently ranks second in the country with teenage pregnancy rate of 24 per cent.

He also highlighted child marriage as another critical issue, pointing out that 19 per cent of girls in Ghana are married before the age of 18.
He stressed the need for national laws to work to address these troubling issues which hamper social and economic growth.

Mr. Gilbert Borketey Boyefio, Programmes Manager, PNAfrica, said the engagements with stakeholders would result in policy changes, review of legislation, and legal frameworks.
He called on the legislature to take these issues seriously and act on them when presented before them, for the country to be able to manage population growth and accelerate development.

The stakeholder meeting brought together traditional leaders, religious leaders, government officials, the media and civil society organizations to deliberate on SRHS and the way forward for Ghana.