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Ruth Butaumocho Gender Forum
A FORTNIGHT ago, Zimbabweans woke up to the shocking news of a case of infanticide by a Chinhoyi University of Technology student. The student, who was spared jail and given a wholly-suspended sentence on condition that she doesn’t commit a similar offence, is said to have stuffed the body in a suitcase, fled her shared accommodation, before taking refuge at her parents’ place in Harare.

Although her motive was not clear, there is a high possibility that the 18-year-old could not fathom the ideal of being a mother, after she found out that she was pregnant, or perhaps the boyfriend had denied responsibility.

She is among thousands of girls who are falling pregnant every year, disrupting their education, ruining their future, while placing heavy financial burdens on their families.

On moralistic grounds, the girls are killing innocent children, denying them an opportunity to grow up and fulfil their right to live.

The problem of teenage pregnancy is not something new, but has just become multifaceted, and now demands a multi-sectoral approach to reduce the incidents before the situation becomes out of hand.

The upsurge in teenage pregnancies has also seen an increase in backstreet abortions, high rate of infanticide and baby dumping, while the not-so-faint-hearted teens — who fail to abort — are becoming mothers at the age of 14. Alarming figures that were released by a provincial education officer during a National Aids Council meeting held early this year indicated that school and college pregnancies have doubled in the past year, despite the country’s efforts and resources spent on sex education and awareness on HIV and Aids over the years. What makes teenage pregnancy a cause for concern not only to the affected girls and families is that it has a negative impact on the country’s mortality rate; it erodes the gains achieved in reducing new HIV infections among the 15-19 age groups, while creating a generation of single parents.

Research has shown that the risk of maternal death is twice as high for girls aged 15 to 19 than for women in their 20s, and five times higher for girls aged 10 and 14 years. And yet that group has been touted as the “window of hope” in the fight against HIV and Aids, because it is quite open to new ideas, is flexible in terms of thinking and can easily change their behaviour without pushing the boundaries.

Statistics indicate that from that age group, adolescent girls ages 15 and 19 constitute a quarter of the 960 women that die in Zimbabwe as a result of pregnancy-related complications.

Sadly enough, it is the same age group that has high rates of HIV infection and pregnancy, raising questions about the effectiveness of sex education in schools, which the Government introduced in 2000, hoping the curriculum was going to solve problems on sexual and reproductive health issues among young people. At face value, it might appear as if youth delinquency is an issue of hormonal challenges that teenagers may need to deal with, but on a closer look, it points out to policy frameworks and information gaps on matters related to sexual reproductive health for young people in the country.

The increase in these teenage pregnancies and illegal abortions show challenges emerging from limited access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services required by students in schools, colleges and young people in general.

There is a glut of information and resources in all the country’s health centres, but it’s not reaching the intended beneficiaries, creating a big gap which eventually results in problems that are facing use today.

Instead of acknowledging that children as young as 12 are now sexually active, some parents and even health workers are refusing to avail services like contraception and comprehensive sex education, arguing that the youth might misconstrue the approach as an encouragement for them to indulge.

It is well and fine for the churches, communities and the family unit to emphasise to the youth the importance of abstinence, a decision that is based on moral and religious belief and has also proved to be effective in some communities.

The problem comes when they fail to take heed of the positive attributes of abstinence and decide to indulge — without the necessary information on contraception and the long term implications of premarital sex.

With reality pointing out that children as young as 12 are now sexually active, it becomes imperative that information pertaining to their sexual and reproductive health be made available, not only in schools, but within communities, particularly in the family unit.