TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN NORTH-DAYI

WHAT IS TEENAGE PREGNANCY?

UNICEF defined it as a teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant. The term in everyday speech usually refers to girls who have not reached legal adulthood, which varies across the world, who become pregnant. Another school of thought also defined it as any female individual who is pregnant before 20 years of age, whether married or not married.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

· Half of the world’s population are under 25. Some 1.8 billion are aged 10-25, history’s largest

generation of adolescents, and about 85% live in the developing world.

· Most people become sexually active before their 20th birthday.

· 49% of girls in the least developed countries marry before they turn 18.

· 10% – 40% of young unmarried girls have had an unintended pregnancy according to

community studies.

· Some 14 million children worldwide are born every year to young married and unmarried

women aged 15 to 19.

North-Dayi was the leading district in teenage pregnancy in the Volta Region in the year 2017, and Volta Region topped all other nine regions in Ghana.

CAUSES OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN NORTH-DAYI

1. POVERTY: Poverty been a major cause of teenage pregnancy in other countries is not that different from Ghana, and perhaps North-Dayi. Households find it difficult to make ends meet. Some manage to get three (3) meals, some two (2) meals, some one (1) and others none before the day ends. With these situations prevailing, adolescents tend to go out of homes to look for food in order to survive or to escape the hunger. Some males in communities with menial jobs or occupation use their little earnings as bait to engage the adolescent girls in sexual activities in order to satisfy their sexual desires. They end up becoming pregnant as the popular saying goes "Money na hand, na back na ground".
2. BROKEN HOMES: Broken home is also a causative factor of teenage pregnancy in North-Dayi, hence Ghana. Homes that are broken lack parental control and guidance, parent-to-child counselling as well. Parents by nature are expected to protect and guide their children to achieve their dreams. In broken homes, the adolescents involved tend to listen to one part, either the father or mother or in some circumstances none at all. They mostly live the life they want, they have the freedom to go out anytime, come back anytime, join any group anytime and even engage in immoral practices because there is no one to guide and control them. The fear of "My father is coming with a cane" is not there. Their engagement in immoral practices ends them up in teenage pregnancy because they go to nightclubs, jams, funeral wake-keeping, etc.
3. INADEQUATE SEX KNOWLEDGE: Is a key factor that leads to teenage pregnancy. Most adolescents do not have adequate knowledge of the implications of their actions, therefore they end up becoming pregnant. For instance, some have the idea that I can use the coitus interruptus or “pulling out” method to prevent pregnancy, but there is more to that, which is there is a high probability of sperm cells leaking before ejaculation, and it will end up impregnating the young adolescent who is involved.
4. CULTURAL PRACTICES, BELIEFS, AND NORMS: It is a culture of some African societies to marry their partners at very tender ages. The family of the adolescent gives out the child to a man who is normally older than the adolescent to marry. Since they are married, you have to produce children or else you are tagged as barren in our societies, therefore they begin to give birth at very tender ages to these men.
5. PEER INFLUENCE: Even though some adolescents may not have broken homes, their colleagues or peers influence their decisions a lot. Some peers will manage and convince their immediate friends to engage in relationships, immoral social behaviours, etc. After all these acts, they end up carrying a fetus to their homes.

EFFECTS OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY

Effects of teenage pregnancy do not only affect the adolescent girl but the family and society at large. Below are some stated effects:

1. MALNUTRITION (UNDER NUTRITION): It is a nutritional disorder highly probable to set in a teenager who is pregnant. At this state, most of the teenagers are in transition to adulthood, their bodies need many nutrients to develop, and simultaneously the fetus also need the nutrient to develop well, therefore both bodies will only receive fractions of the nutrient. In this state, malnutrition may set-in in the mother as well as the fetus, leading to low birth weight. In another context, the girl child hardly feeds due to poverty, therefore the fetus may suffer malnutrition.
2. SCHOOL DROP-OUT: The adolescent girl who is pregnant may drop out of school as friends, teachers, community members laugh and tease them. Some, out of disgrace and shame will stop the school and their dreams and carriers are shuttered.
3. ANAEMIA: Anaemia in teenagers who are pregnant is very rampant. The anaemia comes as an account of poor maternal nutrition due to poverty. Some eat once a day, others none. This is a danger sign in pregnancy and must be attended to with prompt intervention.
4. DELIVERY COMPLICATIONS: Complications set in in teenagers that the grown adult woman going to deliver her baby. The complications include a peritoneal tear, Cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD), etc. They normally occur because the teenager's body is not fully developed and can not handle childbirth. In the case of Cephalopelvic Disproportion (CPD), the pelvic bones are not developed to withstand childbirth, therefore, it calls for a surgical intervention known as Cesarean Section (CS). "Either to do the surgery or lose a life' is the situation the health workers face.
5. DEATH: It may occur as a result of complication that normally comes before and during birth. Most of the teenagers deliver at home before been brought to the health facilities and much is damaged before they are brought.  Some run into serious complications even at the health facilities and die. Other teenagers who are pregnant attempt suicide to end their life sufferings and shame.
6. EARLY PARENTHOOD: The teenager who is still been raised by the parents would have to start parenting someone delicate than she herself. The question is "At her age, what has she learned from the parents". In the long run, these teenage mothers feed our streets with children they are not able to raise well, and they end up increasing social vices in the nation at large.
7. HIGH POPULATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT: As the teenage pregnancies continue, population grows faster and exceed job availability, leading to a high standard of living, population, and unemployment.

WHAT CAN WE DO CURTAIL THIS?

The strategies that can be used to reduce teenage pregnancy should involve all stakeholders. The few stated are the strategies health professionals at North-Dayi district use:

1. FREE FAMILY PLANNING: Family planning services and devices are made free for teenagers within the district.
2. EXTENDED FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES: Family planning services have been extended to evenings as late as 9:00pm at some facilities within the district.
3. ADOLESCENT CORNER OR ADOLESCENT FRIENDLY SERVICES: Special Family planning clinic for adolescents to separate them from the masses and render the service to them. The corner enables them to put out their needs easily to the service provider.
4. ORGANIZING DURBARS ON FAMILY PLANNING: Organizing community durbars mainly on family planning issues to enable the masses to have adequate information to make informed choices.
5. FORM ADOLESCENT CLUBS AND SMART SCHOOLS: Adolescent and smart school clubs are social intervention strategies that are been employed in North-Dayi to curb the situation. It helps to engage the adolescents in extra curriculum activities.
6.  CHMC LEGISLATION: It is one of the effective tools to use. Make very good use of the CHMCs to make policies together with the traditional council to regulate teenage pregnancy.

These are some few strategies nurses use in North-Dayi.

References
The Lancet’s Maternal Survival and Women Deliver Series (2006/2007);
2005 World Health Report
2001 Innocenti Report: League Table of Teenage Births in Rich Nations

UNFPA Resource Kit: World Population Day 2008