Fifteen years and expecting a baby? That’s the story that has been plaguing many developing countries. Can you imagine that nearly 7 million teenagers under 18 years of age are giving birth every year? The United Nations report does say that the number of teen pregnancies is now on the decline in the developing countries.
Do you have any clue how dangerous it is for a teen girl to give birth to a child when her body has not blossomed fully? On Wednesday, United Nations released a report regarding the whopping number of teen pregnancies. It’s the toughest for the girls who’re 14 years or younger .
This age group makes up nearly 2 million out of the 7.3 million total teen pregnancies and has left the U.N. Population Fund alarmed as they are aware of the long term health and social challenges and perils faced by these girls. The authorities are focusing on the women less than 18 years, the main causes of the pregnancies, and the ways to deal with this.
Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the UNFPA executive director, announced, “The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl’s control. It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information and health care.”
United Nations report
The report also highlights that adolescent pregnancies also showed a strong link to the social problems faced by the adolescents. The experts have stated, “Early pregnancies reflect powerlessness, poverty and pressures from partners, peers, families and communities. And in too many instances, they are the result of sexual violence or coercion.”
Almost 95% of women, who have given birth, are under 18 years in the developing world. According to collected statistics from the Middle East, about 10% women falling in the age group of 20-24 years said that they had had a child before 18 years of age. The same was the case seen in 22% women in South Asia and 28% women in Central and Western Africa confirmed the report.
Osotimehin gave his statement to the press saying, “The birth or pregnancy in one adolescent is unacceptable. Whether it’s going up for down is not the issue — 7.3 million is huge.”
The surprising thing was that pregnancy was paramount in the mind of some girls under 18 years but the report said that pregnancy on maturity meant better health and the experts insisted in their report that “Childhood must never be derailed by motherhood.”
