ZIMBABWE recorded a spike in teenage pregnancies in the first quarter of 2021 at the back rampart sexual abuse amongst a host of other factors leading to an increase in school dropouts.
By Patricia Mashiri
Speaking during a multi-sectorial dialogue for collective action on adolescent pregnancies, Ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare, Social Development Officer Child Protection Department, Patience Rupende said there was need to address the growing scourge of teen pregnancies and save the future of the girl child.
Teenage pregnancies are a result of child protection violations such as sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and neglect. The prevalence of child protection violations leading to teenage pregnancies increased in the first quarter of 2021 with a record of 2207 cases being recorded.
“There has been an upsurge in protection violations-evidence Childline, Musasa pointing teenage pregnancies-impact on children psychologically hence the need to address protection issues in preventing and responding to teenage pregnancies,” Rupende said.
A research by the Ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare shows that they are many key drivers which caused the upsurge in teenage pregnancies in the year 2021.
“COVID-19 lockdown restrictions which resulted in the disruption of most families livelihoods is exposing children to different from abuse, in particular sexual abuse. Some areas have illegal mining sites which saw children vending at mining sites an activity which is exposing them to various forms of abuse especially sexual and physical abuse. Parents neglecting their children as they are leaving them unsupervised whilst they attend to other informal.
“Economic activities, whilst others are crossing the border in search of greener pastures. This absence of parents from the protective role has also led to poor supervision of children as evidenced by the increased reports of children in conflict with law , in some issues. Food security and in some cases poverty at household level leads to sexual abuse and negative coping mechanism which have seen children exchanging sex for food.”
Kwadzanai Nyanungo, the Chief Director for learners Welfare ,Psychological Services and Special Needs in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education also highlighted that it is possible to address the phenomenon of teen parenting through existing programs as provided for under various frameworks.
“Under the Children’s Act, we can strengthen capacity of duty-bearers, stakeholders and institutional linkage. There is also need for community engagement with focus on parent-child relationships, parenting skills training and safety nets for exposed children. The should be a systematic surveillance and monitoring of school attendance reasons for absenteeism, appropriate action case by case,” Nyanhongo said.
