MaraviPost iReport: Teen pregnancy may have steadily declined in the United States since 1991, but it is rapidly becoming an epidemic in lesser-developed areas of the world. Save the Children has found that an estimated 13 million children are born to mothers under the age of 20 globally, and that 95 percent of those teenage births take place in developing countries. The highest rate of pregnancy among adolescents aged 15 – 19 occurs in sub-Saharan Africa, where most women marry at an earlier age than their contemporaries.
Severe Health Risks Unique to Pregnant Teens
Unfortunately, whether a child is a result of a planned or an unplanned pregnancy, teenage mothers and their babies are more vulnerable to certain medical risks. Without the support of adults in the community, it may be difficult to receive proper prenatal care especially when they have to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. Prenatal check-ups are vital for monitoring the health of both the mother and the baby, and for dealing with medical issues as they occur. Access to prenatal vitamins containing folic acid is also helpful in preventing major birth defects.
Pregnant teenagers also have a higher risk of pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, as well as an increased risk of preeclampsia, when compared with older mothers. Preeclampsia is a serious condition that combines hypertension with the swelling of a mother’s hands and face, excess protein in her urine and possible organ damage. These major issues can lead to further complications such as premature birth (birth occurring prior to 37 weeks gestation) and low infant birth weight.
When it comes time for the birth, the risks for girls aged 15 and under increase ten-fold. The girls’ underdeveloped pelvises can lead to severe difficulty throughout labor and childbirth. In industrialized nations, obstructed labor can be circumvented by Caesarean section, however in developing nations, such services may not be readily available. This is one of the major reasons why developing countries statistically carry a much higher percentage (per capita) of eclampsia, maternal death and infant mortality.
Teenage Pregnancy in the Developing World
Pregnancy is the number one killer of teenage girls in the developing world. The World Health Organization states that pregnant women ages 15 – 19 are twice as likely to die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth as their counterparts that are just ten years older. Babies born to mothers under the age of 18 are also 60 percent more likely to perish in their first year of life than those who are born to older mothers.
Unlike the Western world, teenage pregnancy in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan African nations, not only affects the lifestyle and future life decisions of the mother, but it can also be a matter of life or death. According to Dana Hovig, chief executive of Marie Stopes International, “Every year, 358,000 women die due to pregnancy or childbirth – that’s one woman every two minutes. Many of those women did not plan to be pregnant. Equally tragic is that 47,000 women die every year because of unsafe abortions.” It has actually been estimated that approximately 3 million teenage girls in the developing nations attempt unsafe abortions annually.
There are areas of Uganda and the surrounding sub-Saharan African nations where nearly 50 percent of the teenagers already have children. As a matter of fact, according to Reproductive Health Uganda, 10 percent of the children born in Uganda are born to girls 15 years of age and younger. The organization also notes that Uganda’s population growth rate is one of the highest in the world at 3.3 percent.
There are many reasons for the large number of teenage pregnancies in these developing countries. For example, in sub-Saharan African countries, such as Uganda, early marriage is traditional, and an early pregnancy is seen as a blessing denoting a young woman’s fertility. Another reason for the dramatic statistics is rape. A staggering 60% of teenage mothers in a South African study admitted to unwanted sexual advances resulting in their pregnancies. The Guttmacher Institute also found that 60 percent of girls aged 15 and younger were forced into sexual relations with men at least 6 years older than them.
In addition to the horrific risks that teenage mothers face around the globe, teenage mothers and their babies in the developing parts of Africa face further dangers. Inadequate nutrition among teenagers due to poverty is already a serious issue in the area, and the lack of healthy and nutritious food for pregnant teens affects the mother as well as the developing fetus.
Teenage mothers that continue to be sexually active during pregnancy also risk the acquisition of sexually-transmitted diseases such as chlamydia, herpes or HIV, and these diseases have a high probability of infecting the uterus and the growing baby. In countries such as Uganda, the risk of acquiring HIV is markedly higher than it is in Western nations, and many expectant mothers are pained to learn that they are HIV positive after pregnancy occurs, which means that the child has a 50 percent risk of being born with the virus.
What is being done to help?
Because there is a lack of education on safe sex from parents and schools in sub-Saharan Africa, efforts are being made to teach the population about birth control methods. Volunteers from industrialized nations have made it their mission to set up clinics in underprivileged nations to provide young women in these areas access to birth control and family planning materials.
The British government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation held a summit on family planning to provide 120 million of the world’s poorest women access to contraception methods, which they hope will significantly lower mortality rates. It has been estimated that there are over 215 million women globally that wish to avoid pregnancy, or at least plan when they would like to become mothers, yet they do not have any way to access contraception methods locally.
United Nations Population Fund executive director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin concurs, “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.”
However, the future for teenage mothers in developing areas is slowly starting to brighten. There are many non-governmental agencies, such as Marie Stopes International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation which provide contraception for women in developing nations all over the world. Also, with an increase in female literacy and education, many teenage girls have rejected the practice of childhood marriage and have improved their lots in life. This has led to an increase in the age of mothers at the time of their first pregnancies, and a decrease in the mortality rate among teenage girls in poverty-stricken nations.
