South African provincial health department reveals figures on teenage pregnancy since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
Admin GHRTV
Ever since South Africa underwent the first COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, there have been consistent reports of underage pregnancies across the country. The latest figures, revealed by the Gauteng Member of the Executive Council for Health, Dr. Nomathemba Mokgethi, on August 17, 2021, indicated that more than 23,000 (twenty-three thousand) girls in the Gauteng Province, northeast South Africa, aged 10 to 19, gave birth between April 2020 and March 2021.
Teenage pregnancy poses a lot of health risks for both young mothers and their children. Pregnancy between the ages of 10 and 19 is associated with higher maternal and infant mortality than pregnancy at a later age. In addition, early pregnancy may severely affect girls’ physical and psychological well-being in the long term.
The percentage of teenage pregnancies in South Africa increases with age; the older the age group, the higher the pregnancy rates. Pregnancy in girls between the ages of 10 and 14 amounts to 4 percent of the overall cases in the Gauteng province, with the remaining 96 percent falling into the 15-19 age group. Of these pregnancies, almost 3,000 (three thousand) girls went through abortion.
Various factors can be attributed to cases of teenage pregnancy, including but not limited to early marriage, lack or absence of sexual education, limited availability or affordability of contraceptives, sexual violence. According to Dr. Nomathemba Mokgethi, cases of statutory rape are being reported to the South African Police Service and the Department of Social Development, but the statistics are not available to the public due to limited data collection. Underage pregnancies are a serious issue in South Africa, and the provincial departments of Social Development, Education, and Health are currently actively educating girls on their rights, providing guidance and counseling services.
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934 girls aged 10 to 14 fell pregnant and gave birth while South Africa experienced the first outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year
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