‘Early Pregnancy Claims 50,000 Teenagers’

The National Population
Commission (NPC) has blamed the death rate among teenage girls on early pregnancy.
The Chairman of NPC, Eze Festus Odimegwu said this during the celebration of 2013 World Population Day (WPD) in Port Harcourt.
The chairman, who was represented by the NPC Commissioner in Rivers State, Dr Wokoma Donald Wokoma, said “pregnancy is the biggest killer of teenage girls world wide. “For girls and women aged 15-19, pregnancy and child birth is the number one killer. It is the cause of 50,000 teenage deaths every year”.
Wokoma said that 60 per cent of babies delivered by teenagers under 18 years are likely to die, noting that the “pregnancies are mostly unplanned and thus, more unlikely to receive antenatal care”.
The commissioner called for the implementation of national and international conventions that seek to curtail teenage pregnancy, adding that “in May 2011, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution urging member states to accelerate actions to improve the health of young people”.
He also frowned at the rate of teenage marriages in the northern part of the country and said serious steps should be taken to reduce marriages before the age of 18 years and pregnancy before the age of 20.
The NPC boss also advised to be cautious adding that 80 per cent of teenage mothers do not get married to their partners.
He stated the preparedness of the commission to carry out a scientific survey of teenage pregnancy in the state.
Also speaking, the state Project Officer of Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), Mr Emmanuel Owor, called on mothers to give their children sex education to save them from getting wrong information about sex from their friends.
Owor also reiterated the need for government to establish youth friendly centres and also release the PPFN finance support made available in the budget.