Dear Partner,

Greetings from TAMA.

Today, 12 August 2012 is the International Youth Day. However, there is increase in teen pregnancy and birth in Tanzania, being the second in East Africa, After Uganda and the 23rd in Africa. It has 116 births per every 1,000 young women.

FRead in details below and take action to rescue the situation.

Teen Pregnancy & Birth: Uganda tops the list in E.Africa, followed by Tanzania

Country rankings

1. Uganda: Is position 8 in Africa.
2. Tanzania: Is 23rd in Africa with an adolescent fertility rate of 116 births per 1,000 young women.
3. Kenya: Ranks 29th in Africa with a fertility rate of 106 births per 1,000 young women.
4. Rwanda: Has 43 births per 1,000 young women.
5. Burundi: Ranks 48th in Africa with only 30 births per 1,000 young women.

Uganda has the highest adolescent fertility rate in East Africa, while Burundi and Rwanda have the lowest, a new report shows.

The report also highlights the policy headache the region faces in pushing strong pregnancy-prevention messages aimed at teens.
The adolescent birth rate measures the annual number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19.

In the newly launched African Reproductive and Sexual Health Scorecard report, Uganda is among the top 10 African countries with the highest adolescent fertility rate at position eight, with an adolescent fertility rate of 159 births per 1,000 young women aged 15 – 19 years.

The report says Tanzania follows at position two in the region and ranks 23rd in Africa, with an adolescent fertility rate of 116 births per 1,000 young women of the same age.

Kenya takes third position in the region and ranks 29th in Africa with an adolescent fertility rate of 106 births per 1,000 young women.

Burundi which ranks 48th in Africa has the lowest adolescent fertility rates in East Africa with only 30 births per 1,000 young women followed by Rwanda that has 43 births per 1,000 young women.

The rise in teenage pregnancies poses a huge healthcare challenge to African governments, medical experts say, citing risks the young mother and her unborn baby are exposed to.

“Young pregnant women have a higher risk of developing complications such as preeclampsia (hypertension during pregnancy), while their babies are likely to face fetal growth restriction,” said Gathari Ndirangu, an obstetrics gynaecologist and reproductive health advisor in Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health.

The report notes that higher adolescent fertility is also a pointer for early sexual debut and unprotected sexual activity among girls — including forced sex through child marriage.

Studies have shown that keeping girls in school improves their sexual and reproductive health.

A recently released report by Save the Children shows that the higher a mother’s level of education, the lower the children’s under-five mortality rate.

Uganda has the highest adolescent population which stands at 24 per cent of the general population. Tanzania, Burundi and Kenya follow closely with 23 per cent of each of their general population being adolescents, while Rwanda’s stands at 22 per cent.

However, the lifetime risk of maternal deaths is still highest in Burundi and low in Tanzania and Uganda. Burundi has a high maternal risk of 42 (1 in 31) followed by Kenya at 30 (1 in 55) and Rwanda with 27 (1 in 54).

Tanzania and Uganda have low maternal death risks in East Africa of 17 (1 in 38) and 18 (1 in 24) respectively.

The female life expectancy in the region is high with Kenya leading at 62, followed closely by Rwanda that has a female life expectancy of 60.

Pregnancy is a physiological process, presenting with history of missed period, fatigue, breast enlargement and tenderness, abdominal distension, nausea and vomiting together with light-headedness. Abdominal ultrasound, urinary or serum levels of HCG are confirmatory tests for pregnancy. When these happen at age of 19 years or below they are called adolescent or teenage pregnancies.

Factors which contribute to adolescent pregnancies include poverty, areas with low practice of human rights.

METHODOLOGY

A study by Robert Berkow et.al. in 1999 showed that adolescent pregnancy is a multifaceted proble. Without wasting your time I can come by concluding that:

A cross sectional descriptive analytical study which targeted all girls in secondary schools at Tanga municipality,

Results

Low socioeconomic status was found to be an important cause for adolescent pregnancies as 57.1% of respondents suggested. Other factors responsible were luxury and deprivation of education to girls (43.5% and 16.5% respectively). Source of reproductive health education was contrary to most previous studies as 82.6% reported to get it from parents and health centres, while schools and peer groups contributed only 29.1% and

7.2% respectively.

Conclusion

Parents and guardians are important source of reproductive health education to adolescents and useful for prevention of early pregnancies. Early marriages are not as much important as source of adolescent pregnancies.

Recommendations

I encourage parents/guardians, to educate their children on reproductive issues, and to increase access to education for girls, which is of paramount importance in preventing adolescent pregnancies.

it involves social, political, cultural, educational and

economical factors. Some of the risks that the newborn

babies are exposed to are premature delivery, cerebral

palsies and mental retardations due to birth injuries.

Adolescent pregnancies are associated with STDs,

abortions and HIV/AIDS.

The adolescents who become sexually active need

access to reliable contraceptive methods. Adolescent

who are at risk and those with pregnancy and

parenting need psychological support and proper

information and motivation not to conceive again

during adolescence. It is therefore important to tackle

this challenge from all aspects i.e. social, political,

cultural, educational and economical aspects.

This was a cross-sectional descriptive analytical study,

schools were listed to get three schools by random

selection from which a sample of 200 was obtained

by random choice of the classes.