Africa
has the world’s highest rates of adolescent pregnancy, a factor that affects
the health, education, and earning potential of millions of African girls,
according to a report released last month by the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Niger
tops the list with 51 percent of women between 20 and 24 reporting a birth
before the age of 18. And of 20 countries with the highest rates of adolescent
pregnancy, 18 are African, the report, “Motherhood in
Childhood: Facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy”, says.
When
a girl becomes pregnant or has a child, her health, education, earning
potential and her entire future may be in jeopardy, trapping her in a lifetime
of poverty, exclusion and powerlessness, the report says.
“Adolescent
pregnancy is intertwined with issues of human rights. A pregnant girl who is
pressured or forced to leave school, for example, is denied her right to
education”, UNFPA’s Executive Director, Babatunde Osotimehin, explains in the
report foreword.
“There
are 580 million adolescent girls in the world. Four out of five of them live in
developing countries. Investing in them today will unleash their full potential
to shape humanity’s future,” he adds.
Africa’s
women and girls offer enormous untapped potentials to drive African
development. Women account for two thirds of our smallholder farmers, for
example. So this report shines light on a critical issue.
The
distorted transitioning of girls into womanhood as a result of early pregnancy
ought to be seen as a significant economic loss.
In
its 2012 report “Jobs, Justice
and Equity: Seizing opportunities in times of global change”, the
Africa Progress Panel challenges African leaders to scale up efforts to
achieving the MDGs while keeping the post-2015 development agenda in mind.
African
governments must pursue policies that bridge the gender disparity between boys
and girls in access to health care, education and other basic social services.
Leaders must also accelerate efforts towards universal primary education that
gives particular focus to girls.
Blog is originally published at : http://www.africaprogresspanel.org/africa-has-worlds-highest-rate-of-adolescent-pregnancies-unfpa-says/
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