The United Nations as well as the National Population Commission, yesterday in Abuja called on.
The United Nations as well as the National Population Commission, on Thursday, in Abuja called on the Federal Government to ensure the provision of comprehensive sex education in schools to reduce the trend of teenage pregnancy in the country.
While the UN said it was supporting the government in the implementation of basic education programme and the Child Rights Act 2003, which criminalises child marriage, the NPC noted that the “inclusion of sex education in the curriculum of schools” would reduce adolescent pregnancy.
The UN’s Resident Coordinator, Mr. Daouda Toure, who was represented by the Country Director of Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, Dr. Bilali Camara, said this during the roundtable discussion in commemoration of this year’s World Population Day, with the theme: “Adolescent pregnancy: Young people’s Access to information and services.”
Toure said, “Complications from pregnancy and childbirth can cause grave disabilities, such as obstetric fistula, which are the leading cause of death for these vulnerable women. Adolescent girls also face high levels of illness and death due to unsafe abortion.
“To address these problems, we must get girls into primary school and enable them to receive good education through their adolescence.
When a girl is educated, she is more likely to marry later, delay childbearing until she is ready, have healthier children and earn more income.”
Also, the NPC Chairman, Chief Festus Odimegwu, represented by the Chairman of the commission’s Technical Management Team, Dr. Festus Uzor, assured that the commission would take the lead in efforts to manage Nigeria’s population for further development.
He said, “In Nigeria, most teenagers lack information and education on reproductive health issues, particularly on the need to avoid pre-marital sex, unwanted pregnancies and seek counselling on reproductive health services.”
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