Over 7million girls give birth before 18 each year - UNFPA Report
Every year 7.3 million girls under 18 give birth, according to The State of the World Population 2013, released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
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Out of this number, two million are girls 14 or younger, who suffer the gravest long-term health and social consequences from pregnancy, including high rates of maternal death and obstetric fistula, according to the report, entitled, “Motherhood in childhood: facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy”.
The report, released ahead of the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP 2013), being held in Addis Ababa, places particular emphasis on girls 14 and younger who are at double risk of maternal death and obstetric fistula.
Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is one of the key issues for discussions at the international forum which will bring together thousands of political leaders, experts, researchers, and advocates from more than 100 countries to call attention to the wide-ranging benefits of helping people plan their families.
Youth speakers will also address the importance of ensuring that young people have access to family planning information and programmes that meet their unique needs at the meeting, organised around the theme, “Full Access, Full Choice,”
The report concludes that adolescent pregnancy is a much bigger challenge in the developing world than in developed countries, although it is still also a significant issue in the latter.
Citing the United States, for example, it said only about half of the girls who became pregnant as adolescents completed high school by 22, compared to nine out of 10 girls who do not become pregnant. Teenage pregnancy also harms the economy as a whole, with nearly $11 billion a year in costs to taxpayers in the US alone.
Ghana to discuss teenage pregnancy
Adolescent pregnancy is a disturbing occurrence, said Mr Bernard Coquelin, UNFPA Country Representative.
“Ghana is yet to launch the report and we will all have the opportunity to debate the issue and find a suitable solution to the benefit of the girl and society at large,” he added.
The report focuses not only at the girls’ behaviour as a cause of early pregnancy, but also at the actions of their families, communities and governments.
UNFPA Executive Director
“Too often, society blames only the girl for getting pregnant,” said UNFPA Executive Director, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin. “The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl’s control. It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information and health care.”
According to the report, early pregnancy takes a toll on a girl’s health, education and rights. It also prevents her from realising her potential and adversely impacts the baby.
‘Children having children severely impacts communities and nations’ economies,’ said the report, yet the global community directs less than two cents of every dollar spent on international development to adolescent girls.
UNFPA says that money is just one part of the solution. The agency, is therefore, promoting a holistic approach to tackling the challenge of adolescent pregnancy which does not dwell on changing the behaviour of the girl but rather on changing the attitudes and actions of the society she lives in.
This includes keeping girls in school, stopping child marriage, changing attitudes about gender roles and gender equality, increasing adolescents’ access to sexual and reproductive health, including contraception and providing better support to adolescent mothers.
