Sex education will reduce teenage pregnancy – UN

 

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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Nigeria State with the highest rate of teenage pregnancies - NPC

The National Population Commission, NPC, disclosed yesterday that Katsina State has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and motherhood in the country.

 Chairman of NPC, Eze Festus Odimegwu, who disclosed this at a briefing to mark the 2013 World Population Day in Abuja, said while the state accounted for 65 percent of teenage pregnancy, Edo State recorded the least percentage of 2.9.

 Odimegwu said: “Teenage pregnancy varies markedly in the Northern and Southern zones, as well as in urban and rural areas.

 “They are higher in the Northern geo-political zone’s rural areas.

 One in every three teenage girls in the North has started child bearing in 2008, compared to one in every 10 in the South.

 Odimegwu, who was represented by the Head, Technical Management, NPC, Mr. Festus Uzor, noted that pregnancy was the highest killer of teenage girls worldwide.

 He said for girls and women aged 15-19, pregnancy and child birth were the number one killer, adding that they were the cause of 50,000 deaths of teenage girls every year.

 He opined that: “Teenage pregnancy not only imposes severe health and psychological strains on their baby and the teen mothers but also have a long term negative impacts on sustainable development efforts.

 “It worsens the population and reproductive health situation and compromises genuine efforts to promote gender equity, educational attainment, family values and economic development”.

 Odimegwu named the negative impacts of teenage pregnancy to include unsafe abortion, pregnancy complications, poor ante-natal care, week pelvic bones, high fertility rate and curtailment of educational attainment.

 He blamed poverty for increased incidence of teenage pregnancy, noting that teenage pregnancy remained the most prevalent among girls from poor households.

 According to him, poor teenagers are also the least likely to use condoms among women who had high-risk sexual intercourse in the 12 months preceding the surveys.

 Calling for a concerted effort to combat the ugly trend, Odimegwu said: “Teenage pregnancy is still high in Nigeria with a resultant poor sexual and reproductive health.

 “For a nation that seeks to improve the welfare of the people on a sustainable basis, pursuing a concerted effort with broad based national consensus and international support in combating teenage pregnancy is an absolute necessity.

 “It is, therefore, imperative for Nigeria to implement national and international conventions that seeks to curtail teenage pregnancy.

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