Teenage Pregnancy: MEN Should Take Action in Protecting Young People
The World Health Organization
describes a teenager as one aged between 10 and 19. Teenagers make up about 25%
of Uganda’s Population’s and among the 25% are either pregnant or have had a
child. A total of 19% of the teenage girls (1,565,500) have had a child and 6%
are carrying their first child. However, when mention of this subject arises
males/men are not mentioned or made pivotal in addressing problems or as part
of the solution. The narrative that seems to uphold precarious male hegemony
will continue finding deeper roots and will be harder to uproot. If durable
solutions against teenage pregnancy are to occur, there is need to leverage
men/male action, stimulate conversations and entrench practices that do not
make the girl child and women sex-toys or play things.
Adolescent pregnancies are a global
problem that occurs in high, middle, and low income countries. Around the
world, adolescent pregnancies are more likely to occur in marginalized
communities, commonly driven by poverty and lack of education and employment
opportunities. Some of the Reasons attributed to this phenomena according to
WHO https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy Include:-
i.
Inadequate access and use of reproductive health
services. For instance among the 15 to 19 year olds, only 11% can access any
family planning methods due including restrictive laws and policies regarding
provision of contraceptive based on age or marital status.
ii.
Young girls are vulnerable to sexual abuse such as
rape and defilement which may result into pregnancy.
iii.
Health worker bias and/or lack of willingness to
acknowledge adolescents’ sexual health needs.
iv.
Adolescents’ own inability to access contraceptives
because of knowledge, transportation, and financial constraints.
v.
Adolescents face barriers that prevent use and/or
consistent and correct use of contraception, even when adolescents are able to
obtain contraceptives.
vi.
Pressure to have children; stigma surrounding
non-marital sexual activity and/or contraceptive use.
vii.
Fear of side effects and lack of knowledge on correct
use and factors contributing to discontinuation like health systems and biases.
viii.
Sexual violence is widespread and particularly affects
adolescent girls: about 20% of girls around the world experience sexual abuse as
children and adolescents.
ix.
Inequitable gender norms and social norms that condone
violence against women put girls at greater risk of unintended pregnancy.
Problem
Analysis
Adolescent pregnancy remains a major
contributor to maternal and child mortality, and to inter-generational cycles of
ill-health and poverty. Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading
cause of death among 15 to 19 year-old girls globally, with low and
middle-income countries accounting for 99% of global maternal deaths of women
ages 15 to 49 years.
Teenagers who have babies while
unmarried are far more likely not to want the pregnancy and are more likely to
carry out abortion. In Uganda 297,000 carryout unsafe abortions every year. 14%
of all the unsafe abortions are among young girls between 15 – 19 years and
their complications are severe which most cases lead to deaths.
Complications during childbirth are
five times higher among teenagers below 18 years and are more susceptible to
Fistula as a result of obstructed labour. Young mothers are also more likely to
be affected by anaemia, malaria as well as HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections.
Teenagers are more vulnerable to
bleeding after delivery and suffer from mental disorders such as depression
because their bodies are not developed enough to cope with the stress of
pregnancy.
Teenagers are more likely to have
stillbirths (baby born dead) and experience death of the baby in the first week
after birth or first month because they are born premature and underweight
which increases the risk of death and other future complications.
Teenagers who become pregnant have to
drop out of school hence don’t get a chance to complete their Education. Based
on their subsequent lower education attainment, they have fewer skills and
opportunities for employment, often perpetuating cycles of poverty. 9% of
girls’ married between 15 – 19 years are estimated to have low incomes which reduces
future economic earnings hence leave in absolute total poverty.
There is a culture of corrective
gender biasness. Almost all the blaming goes to the girl who got pregnant. It
is common for many to blame the girls for carelessness, not taking
responsibility to avoid getting pregnant, tempting the boy/male to make sexual
advances and not doing anything to avoid having sex. Meanwhile, in most cases the boy/male goes
scot-free. In case of any corrective action taken the girl is forced to be
married to the boy or hand over the child to the boy/male’s family.
Addressing Teenage Pregnancy
1. Catalyse and promote an
environment in which policies that make Sexual and Reproductive Health Services
available to Adolescents and Young Adults, sexually active boys and girls,
women and men.
2. Create and ensure
age-appropriate I.E.C materials are available to Adolescents and Young Adults,
sexually active boys and girls, women and men.
3. Enact and enforce laws on
rape and other acts entrenching early sexual debut practices.
4. Ensure access and use of
reproductive health services. For instance among the 15 to 19 year olds, only
11% can access any family planning methods due including restrictive laws and
policies regarding provision of contraceptive based on age or marital status.
5. Address political, social,
cultural and economic factors supporting practices in which young girls are
vulnerable to sexual abuse such as rape and defilement which may result into
pregnancy.
6. Address health worker bias
and/or lack of willingness to acknowledge adolescents’ sexual health needs and
leverage their skills to provide contexts for unconditional positive regard
(UPR).
7. Empower adolescents so
that they own the skills to access contraceptives because of knowledge,
transportation, and financial constraints.
8. Address all situation in
which adolescents no longer face barriers that prevent use and/or consistent
and correct use of contraception, even when adolescents are able to obtain contraceptives.
9. Provide means for
counselling and guidance to be available for those pressured to have children;
stigma surrounding non-marital sexual activity and/or contraceptive use.
10.Involve communities at grassroots by availing I.E.C
materials on consequences of unplanned pregnancies and cultures entrenching
early sexual debut practices.
11. Address toxic masculinity
tendencies in communities which in turn celebrate such acts like sexual
violence. This is widespread and particularly affects adolescent girls. It will
also address structures promoting gender and social norms that condone violence
against women and girls putting them at a greater risk of unintended pregnancy.
12.Provide opportunities and facilitate Public-Private
SRH interventions
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| Information Education and Communication is crucial for all teenagers in addressing their Health Challenges |
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| They are part and partial of the generating, young people should be encouraged to attain quality health care for their babies and themselves |
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| Ensuring that they are given information and education regarding their plans for birth will give them hope to seek continuous health care from qualified health professionals |
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