The Volta Regional Secretariat of the National Youth Authority (NYA), in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNF­PA), organised a ones-day train­ing workshop for 50 commercial motorbike riders popularly known as Okada riders, and educated them on sexual reproductive health in Ho.The workshop participants were from Akatsi-North District, Central Tongu District and the Adaklu District was on the theme: 'Okada Rider; Defending Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of the Youth,' aimed at equipping the participants with the requisite knowledge on reproductive health in order to reduce teenage preg­nancy in the region.Addressing the Okada riders, the Volta Regional Director of the NYA, Mr Yao Semorde, said the workshop became necessary as a result of the public outcry about the alleged sexual activities of the motorbike riders who normally engaged teenagers as their sexual partners, which eventually led to teenage pregnancy.Mr Semorde stressed that the workshop would equip the partici­pants with the knowledge and skills to enable them to appreciate the dangers associated with early sexual activities, and the need for them to mend their ways, focus on their businesses, and adhered to sound advice from health authorities on reproductive health practices in their respective communities.According to the Director, many of the teenage pregnancy cases were attributed to Okada riders in the region, which called for prag­matic measures to reverse the trend, hence the need for education to enable them to transfer knowledge to others who did not participate in the workshop, to transform them to become agents of change in their communities.Additionally, Mr Semorde explained that the Okada riders did not only engage in sexual activities with teenagers but also aid others, including influential persons by transporting the girls to them at odd times, and encouraged them to use the skills acquired to counsel them whenever they transport them to their destinations to enable them to understood the dangers associated with their actions.He commended the UNFPA for the support, which would help reduce cases of teenage pregnancy in the Volta region, and announced that 50 more Okada riders were ear­marked to benefit from the training workshop in 2025.The Ho Municipal Public Health Nurse, Ms Rejoice Ganyo, advised Okada riders to control their sexual desires and avoid having sex with teenagers, saying apart from teenage pregnancy, multiple sexual partners posed risk to them, since they could be infected with sexually transmit­ted diseases including HIV, and an­nounced that in the years of 2022, 2023 and 2024, the region recorded 4,866 teenage pregnancy cases.Ms Ganyo said the Okada riders were most of the time moved by the rapid development of teenage girls who were between the ages of 13 and 16 but looked like 18 and 20 years old, reminding them of the legal implications of having sex with minors, which could make them spend their productive years in prison.She said it was important for Okada riders who could not abstain from early sexual activities to use condoms, which would prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually related diseases, which could lead to death if not diagnosed early for treatment.The participants at the end of the programme thanked the NYA and the UNFPA for the programme, which they said made them distance themselves from the old lifestyle, and pledged to educate their friends on reproductive health practices and preventive measures in order to avoid sexually infectious diseases. FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, HO