In order to combat the main cause of death worldwide among girls aged 15 to 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) has today published a New directive aimed at preventing the pregnancy of adolescents and its health complications linked to the important.
Among other strategies, the directive urges rapid action to put an end to children’s marriage, to extend girls’ education and to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services and information – all critical factors to reduce early pregnancies in adolescents around the world.
“Early pregnancies can have serious physical and psychological consequences for girls and young women, and often reflect fundamental inequalities that affect their ability to shape their relationships and their lives,” said Dr. Pascale Allotey, director of sexual and reproductive health and WHO research and the United Nations Special Program in Human Reproduction (GRF). “The fight against this problem therefore means creating conditions where girls and young women can thrive – by ensuring that they can stay in school, be protected from violence and coercion, access sexual and reproductive health services that support their rights and have real choices about their future.”
More than 21 million adolescent girls are pregnant each year in low -income and intermediate income countries, about half of which are involuntary. With impacts on girls’ education, social connection and future job prospects, early pregnancy can create intergenerational poverty cycles that become difficult to break. It also causes serious health risks, including relatively higher rates of premature infections and births as well as complications from dangerous abortions – linked to specific challenges to access safe and respectful care.
The reasons for early pregnancy are varied and interdependent, in particular gender inequalities, poverty, lack of opportunities and the inability to access sexual and reproductive health services. There is a strong correlation with children’s marriage: in low and intermediate income countries, 9 out of 10 adolescent girls take place in married girls before the age of 18.
The directive recommends holistic efforts to provide viable alternatives to early marriage by strengthening the education of girls, savings and job prospects. If all the girls finished their secondary schooling, it was estimated This child marriage could be reduced to two thirds. For the most at risk girls, the directive recommends taking into account the incentives to support the completion of secondary schools, such as targeted financial allowances or scholarship programs. The directive also recommends laws to prohibit marriage under the age of 18, in accordance with human rights standards and community engagement to prevent practice.
“Early marriage denies the girls of their childhood and have serious consequences for their health,” said Dr. Sheri Bastien, scientist for the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents to Who. “Education is essential to change the future of young girls, while allowing adolescents – boys and girls – to understand consent, to take care of their health and to question the main genders that continue to generate high levels of child marriage and early pregnancy in many regions of the world.”
The recommendations highlight the need to ensure that adolescents can access high -quality sexual and reproductive health services, including contraceptive options. In some countries, the consent of an adult is required to access services, which is an important obstacle to their use. Young girls who fall pregnant must also be able to access high quality and respectful health care during and after pregnancy and birth, without stigma and discrimination, as well as safe abortions.
Finally, Complete sex education is essential for boys and girls to make sure they know where to access these services and how to use different types of contraception. It has been shown that it reduces early pregnancies, delays the start of sexual activity and improves the knowledge of adolescents on their bodies and their reproductive health.
This directive updates a previous edition of the guideline on the prevention of teenagers’ pregnancy from 2011 and is in particular focusing on the prevention of children’s marriage and the improvement of access and use of adolescents to contraception. He completes related advice regarding health services for adolescents, complete sex education and gender -based violence.
On a global scale, there has been progress in reducing the pregnancies and births of adolescents. In 2021, around 1 in 25 girls gave birth before the age of 20, against 1 in 15 in two decades before. There are still significant disparities. In some countries, nearly 1 out of 10 adolescents (15 to 19 years old) give birth each year.