Teenage pregnancies hit record low

The danger with getting good news year on year is that people start to take their eye off the ball

Harry Walker, FPA Spokesman

Office for National Statistics data show the under-18 conception rate is now 24.5 per thousand women compared with 27.9 per thousand the year before.

This is a drop of 13%. Pregnancies in under-16s also fell.

At the same time, however, the conception rate among women over 35 has been rising.

Historically the UK has had one of the highest teenage pregnancy and abortion rates in Western Europe.

In recent years the government put a series of strategies in place in an attempt to get these figures down.

But the sexual health charity the FPA says there is no room for complacency.

Harry Walker, a spokesman for the charity, said: "We are no doubt still seeing the lasting effects of the government's 10-year teenage pregnancy strategy.

"But the danger with getting good news year on year is that people start to take their eye off the ball and forget that the figures we are seeing today are the result of a complex series of actions over a number of years by professionals at a national and local level.

"Any complacency now and we will see a knock-on effect in years to come."

The charity says the UK is still lagging behind other countries in Western Europe.

According to their records in 2012 the UK had lower teenage pregnancy rates than only Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia of the 28 countries of the European Union.

EU yaanzisha mradi kukomesha ukeketaji

UMOJA wa Ulaya (EU) kwa kushirikiana na Shirika la Kimataifa la Plan umeanza mradi maalumu wa miaka miwili katika wilaya ya Tarime mkoani Mara, kuzuia ndoa za utotoni na vitendo vya ukeketaji kwa watoto wa kike utakaogharimu zaidi ya Euro 400,000. Mradi huo utakaotekelezwa pamoja na shirika la utu wa mtoto (CDF) ambalo litafanya kazi moja kwa moja kwa wananchi utafanyika katika kata tano zenye vijiji 21. Hafla ya kutia saini makubaliano ya kuanza mradi huo yalifanyika jana katika Ofisi za Umoja wa Ulaya baina ya Mkuu wa Ujumbe wa Ulaya Tanzania, Balozi Filiberto Sebregond na Mkurugenzi Mkazi wa shirika la Plan, Jorgen Haldorsen na kushuhudiwa na Mkurugenzi wa CDF, Koshuma Mtengeti. Akizungumza katika hafla hiyo, Balozi Sebregond alisema usawa wa kijinsia na kuwawezesha wanawake ni moja na shughuli zao za msingi ambapo wamewekeza zaidi ya Sh bilioni 14 katika miradi ya maendeleo kwa wanawake. Naye Haldorsen alisema tatizo la ndoa za utotoni ni kubwa nchini ambapo kwa mujibu wa takwimu watoto 37 kati ya 100 nchini kila mwaka wanaolewa wakiwa chini ya umri wa miaka 18, hivyo kuwa katika hatari ya kupata virusi vya Ukimwi na vifo vitokanavyo na uzazi. Alisema katika wilaya hiyo ya Tarime tatizo ni kubwa zaidi kwani watoto wa kike 55 kati ya 100 wanaoolewa ndoa za utotoni huku watoto wa kike 40 kati ya 100 wakitendewa vitendo vya kukeketwa.

150 first year students pregnant at DUCE as a result of forced sex

Dar es Salaam: Gender-based violence, such as rape, has been blamed for the high rates of pregnancy in higher learning institutions. Research has shown among 1,000 enrolled students at Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE), 150 are pregnant.

Research conducted by DUCE’s Gender and Equality Unit, between June and November, last year, shows that many of those pregnant are first year students.

DUCE gender coordinator, Dr. Dativa Shilla, revealed this during a gender workshop prepared by the college, highlighting factors for the situation as violence, harassment and assaults committed by male colleagues against the females, in what can be referred to as rape, where the female students are forced to have sex without their consent.

“The research shows that there is no gender equality in getting proper education, because the one who is pregnant cannot concentrate the same way her male counterpart does in class,” she said.
Earlier, a senior lecturer from Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy, Amon Katunzi, urged the government to provide education loans to every students so that female students are financially independent.

He said among the reasons accounting for pregnancies are bad economic conditions which many females face in the college.

“Money is still a problem which needs to be solved by the government soon,” he said.
The workshop aimed at delivering education and recommendations to students so that they could abstain from sexual relationship and focus on their studies.

Married students have also been urged not to get pregnancy during their education years in order for them to concentrate on their studies.

According to a second year student Gosbeth Kihanga pregnancy at college is associated with difficult lives of many students, adding that the workshop has helped them understand a lot in sexual relationship and violence.

What's the answer to teenage pregnancies?

 MWAPE MUSONDA

OUR country has for a long time been afflicted by teenage pregnancies which have now reached alarming and crisis levels, according to a statement issued by government.

Many interventions have been sought in order to arrest the situation, but nothing much in terms of results has been achieved because the numbers of teenage pregnancies have been rising.

According to a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) report published in 2013, over 30 percent of 15-19-year-old girls in Zambia have already been pregnant or have had a child.

The report indicated that early marriage and adolescent pregnancy were the two main triggers for the high maternal mortality rate in the country.

Further statistics reveal that about 42 percent of Zambian women are married before the age of 18 and that 38 mothers, mainly teenagers, die each month due to complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth.

Many stakeholders’ civil society organisations have called for the scaling up of political will in reducing teenage pregnancies in the country. I also want to add my voice on the issue, especially that we celebrated youth day recently.

Young girls should be valued as a virtue and government should take the lead to ensure that they complete their education and are inspired to be economically empowered by creating an enabling environment.

We should note that as long as girls are still dropping out of school because of pregnancies and child marriages, it will be very difficult for Zambia to aspire to realise the  Vision 2030.

Teenage pregnancy has now become a menace to our society and ending it is a struggle that needs to receive as much attention and focus as the struggle against HIV.

I am calling on all leaders from the church, private and public sectors, politicians – especially in our country – to use their strategic advantage to take up this issue seriously and ensure that, as a nation, we come to terms with reality so that we can enforce a permanent solution to this problem.

I fully understand that making available condoms and other contraceptives to the young men and women to prevent them from unwanted pregnancies is one of the most controversial issues in our country but I think this will be the most effective way of curbing teenage pregnancies.

We need to understand and accept that many youths are engaging in sex, and by not providing them with this information, the number of girls becoming mothers before the right time.

We are a Christian nation, but we also have an obligation to protect our adolescents from the resulting effects of teenage pregnancies by giving them real options.

While I say so, I do not mean to encourage immoral behaviour among the learners but just to ponder on the option that will help prevent teenage pregnancies.

What is important is to furnish these young girls with appropriate moral information on the repercussions of engaging in sex and also provide them with the means to protect themselves if they decide to.

Currently our laws allow for 16-year-olds to get married and, therefore, information and tools such as condoms and contraception should be made available to these teenagers.

Reports of young girls dropping out of school or accessing unsafe abortions and being married off have become almost a permanent feature in our news headlines and little effort is being made to curb these vices because we are too scared to make certain decisions.

I want to say the time to act and stop teenage pregnancies is now. Let us make condoms in schools available to those teens who are above the age of 16 so that we can preserve their lives and the future of our country.

The author is a Christian humanism activist and a member of ZICA.

RUPA TANZANIA: Dar yavunja rekodi mimba za utotoni (2)

RUPA TANZANIA: Dar yavunja rekodi mimba za utotoni (2): Baadhi ya wanafunzi wa kike wakiwa katika moja ya mikutano kuhusiana na udhalilishaji wa kijinsia. Picha ya Maktaba Kwa mujibu wa ta...

Dar yavunja rekodi mimba za utotoni (2)

Baadhi ya wanafunzi wa kike wakiwa katika moja ya mikutano kuhusiana na udhalilishaji wa kijinsia. Picha ya Maktaba

Kwa mujibu wa takwimu zilizotolewa na mkuu wa Mkoa wa Dar es Salaam wakati wa hafla ya uzinduzi wa kampeni ya kuzuia matukio ya ujauzito kwa watoto wa kike hali si ya kuridhisha.

Mwaka 2011 idadi ya wanafunzi waliopata ujauzito ilikuwa ni 13,146, 2012 ikashuka hadi kufikia 11,419, lakini kwa mwaka 2013 idadi hiyo iliongezeka na kufikia 21,420.

Pamoja na kuwepo kwa sababu mbalimbali zinazotajwa kuwa chanzo cha mimba hizo hususani kwa maeneo ya mijini ni madereva bodaboda na pamoja na makondakta wa daladala.

Uchache wa maeneo ya ndani ya miji umekuwa ni chanzo cha uanzishwaji wa shule za pembezoni.

Sasa kutokana na mbali wa maeneo zilizopo shule hizo, watoto hulazimika kutumia vyombo vya usafiri wakati wa kwenda na kurudi shuleni.

Kwani si jambo rahisi kwa watoto hawa kufika maeneo kama Msongola, Chanika, Mvuti na mengineyo.

Sasa kwa kuwa usafiri unakuwa sehemu ya maisha yao, madereva na makondakta hao hutumia njia mbalimbali kuwarubuni, matokeo yake ni kupatikana kwa hizo mimba tunazozungumzia.

Je, makondakta na madereva hao wanaliongeleaje suala hilo?

Juma Mkumba (42) ni dereva wa daladala zinazofanya safari zake ndani ya Jiji la Dar es Salaam. Anasema hapingani na kauli iliyotolewa na mkuu wa mkoa kuwa madereva na makondakta ni miongoni mwa vyanzo vya mimba hizo.

Pamoja na kuwa kitendo hiki hakipendezi hata kidogo kukisikia masikioni, lakini ukweli ni kwamba haya matukio yapo.

“Tumeshuhudia vijana wengi wakianzisha uhusiano na watoto wa kike. Na pia tumejionea wenyewe wasichana hawa wanavyoishia kukatiza ndoto za maisha yao kwa kupata ujauzito. Kama mzazi sifurahishwi kabisa na jambo hili, kwani licha ya kuleta picha mbaya kwa jamii pia hukwamisha ustawi wa mtoto wa kike na taifa kwa ujumla” anasisitiza Mkumba.

Wito wangu kwa serikali ni kuwachukulia hatua wale wote wanaowarubuni watoto hawa na hata kuwaharibia maisha yao anasisitiza.

CARICOM, UNFPA plan to curb Caribbean teenage pregnancy by 2020

In effort to reduce at least by 20 per cent, adolescent pregnancy in CARICOM Member States, the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), in collaboration with the CARICOM Secretariat, has cultivated a Framework for the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy.
In 2011, the Caribbean Corporation on Health recognised teenage pregnancy as a pressing issue, to be addressed by all Member States. Recent regional statistics proved that the birth rate within the Caribbean ranges from 26 to 97 per 1,000 among girls aged 15 to 19 years old, with Guyana accounting for 97 out of every1000 births to teenage mothers.
This revelation saw, Director, United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean Sheila Roseau saying; “We cannot talk about sustainable development without addressing in a serious way, the needs of young people who make up over 60 per cent of the population of CARICOM.
Teenage pregnancy is one of the major challenges standing in the way of girls’ education and their ability to achieve their full potential, especially when the necessary support systems are not in place.”
Consequently, a series of technical meetings were held in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia, in effort to come up with a strategy to curb the instances of teenage pregnancy between the years of 2015 and 2020.
In May 2013 during the 24th meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development, Education and Culture, it was recommended that a Multi-sectorial and multidisciplinary Regional Task Force led by UNFPA, under the guidance of the CARICOM Secretariat, be established to support the development of the Adolescent Pregnancy Reduction Strategy and Plan.
The plan is to ensure that each Member State makes provisions for children to have access to age appropriate information about sexual education. Speaking on this particular matter, UNFPA Assistance Representative Patrice La Fleur, admitted that boys and girls in our society today, become sexually active as early as the age of 10.
Therefore, it was deemed necessary that all children have comprehensive information on sexuality and how to prevent and protect themselves as part of their school’s curriculum.
Additionally, the framework provides, in accordance with the World Health Organisation (WHO), quality sexual and reproductive health services and commodities. These services and commodities are to be made available, accessible, acceptable, appropriate, equitable, and effective to all adolescents by public health facilities within every Member State.
In keeping with the main objective of the framework, and ensuring that it has reached requirements set out in its strategic plan, all governments in the  Caribbean are to adopt common legal standards concerning ages of marriage, consent, prosecution of perpetrators of sexual violence, and access to social protection, and sexual and reproductive health services.
The vision to be achieved by the year 2020 involves a system where governments in the Caribbean, exchange knowledge and information, while adopting good practices in addressing social determinants of adolescent pregnancy.
In ensuring that the Framework for the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy is a success, CARICOM and UNFPA has teamed up with UNICEF, PAHO/WHO, UNESCO, UN Women, UNAIDS, Government agencies, civil society, other international development partners and adolescent and youths.