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Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Week: no more Caribbean child mothers, vows PAHO

Posted: Saturday, October 24, 2020. 10:59 am CST.

By Aaron Humes: The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have today ended a week of activities designed to draw attention to the issue of adolescent pregnancy in the Caribbean and Latin America.
 
While becoming a mom is an anticipated, even beautiful, landmark event for women, especially those who have planned it and come through nine torturous months safely, adolescents who get pregnant experience far more negative and irreversible consequences for mother and child.
 
The organizations say adolescent pregnancy disproportionately affects girls who are already marginalized and further affects their educational and employment opportunities, thus contributing to the continuation of intergenerational cycles of poverty, exclusion, and marginalization.  
 
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) ranks second among the regions of the world in terms of adolescent pregnancy rates with 60.7 births per 1,000 girls between the age of 15 and 19 years (2015-2020). Each year in the LAC region, five out of every 100 pregnancies occur in girls under the age of 20, and 2 million children are born to young mothers between the age of 15 and 19 years.  With an estimated adolescent fertility rate of 60.2 per 1000 girls aged 15-19 years, the Caribbean sub-region is below the overall LAC rate, though countries’ individual rates vary.
 
“The call is clear: Together, we must take concerted actions toward reducing adolescent pregnancy. Our adolescent girls need us to protect them from violence, empower them, guarantee their access to comprehensive and quality health services, and offer them real opportunities to be their healthiest selves and look forward to bright futures,” stated Alison Drayton, Director of UNFPA Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean.
 
Added Dr. Andres de Francisco, Director of the PAHO Family, Health Promotion and Life Course Department: “Efforts to reach the most affected and vulnerable groups are insufficient and we see the inequity gaps are increasing. It is critical that resources are invested in concrete interventions with proven efficacy. From the remarkable progress made by some countries in our region in recent years, we know that it is possible to significantly reduce adolescent fertility in a relatively short time.”
 
Physical consequences and risks of early pregnancy include damage to the pelvic floor and increased risk of pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, premature delivery, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STI), including HIV, and maternal deaths. In addition, early pregnancy has potential mental health implications, including anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and attempts, and posttraumatic stress, especially when the pregnancy is the result of sexual violence. Consequences for the child range from premature births; low birth weight; less likely to breastfeed, less likely to receive proper nutrition, health care, and early childhood development, among others.
 
To no one’s surprise, COVID-19 has interrupted the provision of sexual and reproductive health services, with clinics closed or having reduced services resulting in less access to contraception, combined with fear and government lockdowns. And the UNFPA projects that if this continues for another six months at least, there will be as many as seven million unwanted pregnancies, 31 million cases of gender-based violence, and 13 million child marriages worldwide.
 

Six Latin American countries studied by UNFPA reported costs of nearly US$9 billion annually associated with adolescent pregnancy, including lost education and labor gaps, preventable health care costs, and lost taxes.  

 

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