Sunday Tribune

Zikalala stresses need to stem tide of teen pregnancies

LINDA GUMEDE linda.gumede@inl.co.za

THE Department Of Social Development, in partnership with the UN Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency (UNFPA) launched the State of World Population 2022 report, focusing on the crisis of unintended pregnancies.

The dialogue, entitled, “Seeing the Unseen: The case for action in the neglected crisis of unintended pregnancy, the State of World Population 2022 report”, highlighted the fact that 121 million unintended pregnancies were recorded every year.

The discussion was aimed at revealing the scope and impact of unplanned pregnancies on women, girls, households, societies, countries and global development. The event was also attended by SADC region dignitaries, SA Cabinet ministers, as well as representatives of the UNFPA.

Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu said in the State of the World Population report that the conditions under which women and girls were confined required nations to unite and play their part.

“Over the years, women and girls persevered through several persistent inequalities, injustices and ill-treatment imposed upon their lives by primitive and rigid systems.

“This is a brutal system which did not only capture our economic terrain, but also had a huge negative social impact on how we live, associate, and treat women and girls in all arenas of life,” she said.

Zulu added that the report revealed that unintended pregnancies continued to burden many countries in east and southern Africa, even during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has since strained health systems, leading to the reallocation of personnel and resources, shortages of medical supplies, and disruptions to routine healthcare service provisions.

“Last year, more than 18 million unintended pregnancies were prevented due to the use of modern contraception. Each year, an additional 2.2% of unintended pregnancies are on average avoided due to modern contraception usage in our region,” she said.

Zulu said efforts by the UNFPA Supplies partnership programme should be applauded. She said it played a vital role in making long-acting methods, such as implants and intrauterine devices (IUDS) available for use by countries in the region.

“Here in South Africa, since the dawn of Covid-19, adolescents were more vulnerable following the implementation restrictive measures which were put in place as part of the Risk Adjusted Strategy in March 2020.

“This affirmed the notion that school closures during crises can result in girls spending more time with men and boys than they would if they were in school, leading to a greater likelihood of engagement in risky sexual behaviour.

“But we cannot deviate from the fact that many teenage pregnancies relate to a lack of education on sexual and reproductive health because at home, children may receive little or no guidance on sexuality, or it may be based on stereotypical gender roles and social expectations,” said Zulu.

Kwazulu-natal Premier Sihle Zikalala said the rate of teenage pregnancies in the province and country remained relatively high.

“What is even shocking is the pregnancy rate among girls who are still in the pre-teenage stage. It is reported that the majority of girls in South Africa who fall pregnant drop out of school.

“KZN experienced 18 550 births by girls aged 10 to 17 in one year, while girls and young women aged 15 to 24 are getting infected with HIV in the country every week,” said Zikalala.

The unintended pregnancy phenomena was a societal problem that required targeted awareness and educational campaigns, the premier added.

“It requires every family, parent, teacher, traditional and democratically elected leaders to take an active interest in the life of their girl children and women in society.

“It requires that young boys and men be trained and educated to counter the negative impact of unintended pregnancies on the lives of adolescent girls and young women.

“These unintended pregnancies do not happen on their own. There is a perpetrator and we need to intensify programmes to target the perpetrators. We need innovative strategies to reverse and arrest the drivers of this phenomenon in our province and country,” said Zikalala.

METRO

en-za

2022-06-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

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