Minister of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson says schools must provide the support needed for teenage girls to continue their education after giving birth. He was speaking at the launch of the State of the World Population report titled “Motherhood in Childhood: Facing the Challenges of Adolescent Pregnancy”.
The report was launched by UNFPA in conjunction with PIOJ at the Chinese Benevolent Centre in Kingston.
Dr. Ferguson said “socioeconomic conditions, cultural practices and in particular educational circumstances are contributing factors to teen pregnancy. In addition, teen pregnancy can have a profound effect on whether girls return to the education system. Child bearing does not have to result in the end of a girl’s prospects for a good education. It does not have to dwarf her future. Her job prospects can be as promising as they were prior to pregnancy. She should be able to and can with the necessary intervention ensure hers and her child’s economic wellbeing.”
The Ministry of Education is collaborating with UNFPA also launched the Policy: Re-Integration of Teenage Mothers into the Formal School System. Dr. Ferguson said this is a step in the right direction.
“While we seek this reintegration, it is equally important that the education system itself properly prepare our children to be productive citizens. We can always make sexuality education and contraceptives available, but it is simply not enough. Our education system cannot fail our children. All our lives depend on it.”
Teenage pregnancy remains a challenge globally. According to the World Health Organisation, across the globe about 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 and two million girls under the age of 15 years give birth each year. This figure rises to over one in three girls in the poorest regions of the world. Over 95 percent of all adolescent births occur in low to middle income countries like Jamaica mainly among the poor and less educated populations.
Information from the National Family Planning Board/Sexual Reproductive Health Authority indicates that in Jamaica, before the age of 20, 40 percent of women have been pregnant at least once, and 85 percent of these pregnancies are unplanned.
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