The Executive Director of Tricia Initiatives for the Development and Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Youths (TIDEA) Patricia Bah yesterday revealed that, recent data shows that 42% of girls have a child or are pregnant by age 18years, 26% of women aged 15-19 have already given birth, while 34% of all pregnancies occur amongst teenage girls.
This alarming statistics was revealed at the official launch of an assessment report of teenage and adolescent pregnancy, in the wake of the Ebola epidemic, at the Buxton Methodist Memorial Hall, on Charles Street in Freetown.
Further making her presentation, Madam Bah explained that the findings of the report reveal that the Ebola crisis has greatly affected adolescent and teenage pregnancy programming in Sierra Leone, and that there was an increase in adolescent and teenage pregnancy during the Ebola crisis.
She said analysis from key informants showed that key drivers of adolescent and teenage pregnancy were due to poverty, anti-social behaviours, and inattentive parenting.
Madam Bah called on all present, especially women advocate to continue to urge government to enforce laws, poor attitudes towards contraception, and the reduction in reproductive health services for pregnancy prevention.
During the assessment, she said that quality data control and analysis, helped field staff to overcome some of the many challenges, especially at rural level and an alarming figure of over 30,000 teenage and adolescent pregnancies were reported in the 44 health facilities across the Country for 2014.
The Executive Director disclosed that 58% of the pregnancies occurred during the Ebola crisis, and the overall teenage and adolescent pregnancies increased by 27% nationwide.
In almost all of the districts, Madam Bah noted that statistics show that the views among participants in the assessment were that teenage pregnancy has worsened during the Ebola crisis.
Despite this, there were isolated cases where people suggested that the Ebola situation has brought down teenage pregnancy.
Madam Bah explained that in the assessment, a family support unit officer (FSU) in Kono was of the view that teenage pregnancy has come down in the district as a result of the restriction of movement of people.
She noted that apart from the Western Area, Kenema, and Kailahun, teenage and adolescent pregnancy has not shown patterns that are significantly different from the period before the Ebola outbreak.
Launching the assessment report, the President of the West African College of Nurses (WACN), Amelia Gabba, commended the management of TIDEA for their initiative and commitment to carry out the assessment, which revealed that much more needs to be done to reduce teenage and adolescent pregnancy, nationwide.
She said TIDEA has chosen the right time to launch the report and go into action, which is in line with Government’s National Strategy on Teenage Pregnancy Reduction, which has a pillar on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.
Madam Gabba, who is also a nursing sister of long years, called on government and other health partners to collaborate with TIDEA, as it is through effective collaboration, teenage and adolescent girls will be able to achieve their full potential.
Concluding the WACN President appealed that the Ebola disease should not make room for more girls to become pregnant.
As she put it “Let girls be girls, not mothers”.
By Ade Campbell
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