The 2gether 4 SRHR programme (UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNFPA, and WHO) in partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, hosted a dialogue on high-impact practices on 11 September 2022, to avert teen pregnancies in the SADC region.
By Staff Reporter
The hybrid discussion was a call to action for decision-makers and public health professionals to ensure teenage pregnancy is curbed.
University of Cape Town researcher Silinganisiwe Dzumbunu highlighted that key drivers of teenage pregnancy include poverty, natural disasters and climate change that lead to food and resource insecurity, and harmful cultural norms.
“These factors can cause adolescents to engage in risky sexual behaviours,” Dzumbunu said.
The UNFPA “Seeing The Unseen” report highlights that 13% of all young women in developing countries begin childbearing while still being children themselves. In eastern and southern Africa, the overall weighted pregnancy prevalence among adolescent girls and young women (10-24 years of age) is alarmingly high at 25%.
UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Director Anne Githuku-Shongwe said it is alarming to see how we have normalised the abnormal where young girls have children being children themselves.
“We have been challenged by many young people who have been saying to us: ‘Why do we even use the term teenage pregnancy?’ Because when we use that term, we place the burden on the teenager, instead of talking about the defilement and the abuse that happens to these young girls,” Githuku-Shongwe said.
Githuku-Shongwe called for the protect the human rights of young boys and girls including their sexual reproductive rights, while also emphasising the need to harness and listen to youth voices.
As the Executive Director of Zvandiri, a Zimbabwe-based youth organization, Nicola Willis agreed, saying young people need to be at the center of any youth-focused interventions and services.
Willis quoted a young mother in Zimbabwe living with HIV who said: “They say family planning is exactly that, planning for a family. As they don’t think I’m ready for a family, they don’t think I need access to information about contraceptives.”
Coceka Nogoduka, Chief Director: Care & Support in Schools at the Department of Basic Education, South Africa said education systems have a crucial role in supporting adolescent mothers.
While we look at the health of both the adolescent mother and the child, we also need to empower learners with issues of self-esteem and ambitions, she said.
Nogoduka highlighted that “as the [Department of Basic Education], we are looking at our schools and how educators respond to pregnant adolescent girls”.
To avert teenage pregnancy, there is a need to employ health and social interventions. Speakers mentioned that this includes scaling up mental health and services that prevent and respond to gender-based violence for young mothers living with HIV. Governments and organisations also need to strengthen access to information for young mothers living with HIV, their partners and communities.
Meron Negussie, Adolescent and Youth Program Specialist at the UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office said there is a correlation between gender inequality and teenage pregnancy.
“Unless we start working on gender inequality, it will be difficult to address teenage pregnancy,” Negussie said.
