By Louise and the KTD196 Dream Team | Managing Director
Spring is here! Finally, at least for a few days! The sun is shining and life is moving forward once again. I am ecstatic to report that our 4 partner organizations are starting to wind up activities and linking once again with KTD196.
One issue we have all noted is the 60% increase in teenage pregnancies we have experienced in the schools in which we work, during the Covid Lockdown period. South Africa’s Gauteng Health Department has recorded more than 23,000 teenage pregnancies between April 2020 and March 2021.
In a recent article by SouthAfricaNews.com:
Between April 2020 and March 2021, the Gauteng Health Department in South Africa recorded over 23,000 teenage pregnancies.
“Teenage pregnancy is a severe social and health concern in South Africa," says Nomathemba Mokgethi, a member of the Gauteng Health Member of the Executive Council (MEC). “It is harmful to both the mother and the child's health, as well as having societal effects, such as continuing the cycle of poverty and early school dropouts.”
According to the Gauteng Health Member of the Executive Council (MEC)Nomathemba Mokgethi, 934 of the girls were between 10 and 14 years, raising more questions about teenage pregnancies.
It was further revealed that 2,976 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 tragically decided to terminate their pregnancies.
"These numbers are sad and incredibly troubling considering that these are young girls still have bright futures ahead of them. Teenage pregnancy remains a serious social and health problem in South Africa. It poses a health risk to both mother and child, and it also has social consequences such as continuing the cycle of poverty and early school dropout."
The statement further revealed that 934 babies were delivered by girls between the ages of 10 and 14, while over 19,000 were delivered by those between the ages of 15 and 19.
The department did not have the profile of the fathers but a few cases of statutory rape were recorded.
“There are no statistics collected specifically on statutory rape by the department of health. The cases are reported to SAPS and arrests remain their mandate,” Mokgethi said.
Mokgethi has called on the Gauteng departments of Social Development, Education, and Health to intensify their campaigns to prevent teenage pregnancy.
“Teenage pregnancy remains a serious social and health problem in SA. It poses a health risk to both mother and child and it also has social consequences such as continuing the cycle of poverty and early school dropout,” she said.
One of the causes of teenage pregnancies in South Africa, according to Anandita Philippos, a youth and gender specialist, is a lack of access to education or a lack of knowledge focused on sexual and reproductive health. South Africa also has the world's highest poverty rate of 57% and the world's largest HIV/AIDS epidemic, with 7.5 million individuals living with HIV in 2019.
Because of your support of KTD196, we fervently support the children and teenagers' choice to abstain. Through this choice, children and teenagers prevent not only early pregnancies but also sexually transmitted diseases. To that end, despite a massive increase in teenage pregnancy during Covid times, we have had no report of pregnancy amongst our children instead of statistically 100 of our girls becoming pregnant during this time.
That also means, with the children abstaining, there is no spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Thank you for all that you do and the impact you are having on the lives of our kids.
I am also happy to report that now we are in level one lockdown, we are starting back up with our partners and our numbers are climbing back up to over 1,000 children a week.
Thank you for your heart and commitment to supporting the children we serve, together we are helping them to build a future. It is extraordinarily important especially given all the pressures the whole world is experiencing.
God bless you
Louise
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