Alarming statistics revealed by the Eastern Cape Department of Health, South Africa, showed that 4,000 teenage girls had given birth in the province since April 2024.
Eastern Cape Health spokesperson, Mkhululi Ndamase said a total of 4,055 gave birth at public health facilities.
The majority of the girls – 3,961- were aged between 15 and 19, while 94 of the girls were aged between 10 and 14.
Ndamase said the girls claimed they were impregnated by boys who were the same age.
“Whenever underage girls give birth at our facilities, they are asked who impregnated them. They always say it’s boys their age,” he said.
He said contributing factors to the teenage pregnancies were revealed during a dialogue conducted by the Department of Education and the Department of Social Development with parents, learners, educators and school governing bodies (SGB) in the Alfred Nzo District, and Ingquza in the OR Tambo district.
He said various factors that contributed to the high number of pregnancies included:
“Lack of adequate parental care, support and supervision, lack of factual education around sexual reproductive health, alcohol abuse, peer pressure and gender-based violence.”
National spokesperson for the Department of Health, Foster Mohale said between April 2023 and March 2024, a total of 2,716 girls between the ages of 10-14 years, and 119,586 girls between 15-19 years became mothers in the country.
In addition, he said that 1,226 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 terminated their pregnancies, while a further 19,246, aged 15-19 years, also had abortions.
“These are young girls still attending primary and early in high school level,”
Mohale said these statistics were only from from public health facilities, adding that there could more if the figures of those who delivered in private health facilities were added.
The Department said they were implementing Youth zones which would make it easier for the youth to access health facilities without having to wait in queues.
“The youth are seen in dedicated consulting rooms and are seen by younger nurses.”
The statistics between April 2023 and March 2024 nationally showed that KwaZulu-Natal had the highest numbers of teenage pregnancies, followed by Gauteng and then Limpopo
Province Ages 10-14 Ages 15-19
Eastern Cape 395 15,827
Free State 106 5,395
Gauteng 430 19,406
KwaZulu-Natal 610 30,478
Limpopo 375 16,262
Mpumalanga 293 11,534
Northern Cape 70 3,538
North West 151 7,525
Western Cape 286 9,62