Social consequences of teenage pregnancy are school drop-out or interrupted education; vulnerability to or participation in criminal activity; abortion; being abandoned by their peers, child neglect; school-adjustment difficulties for their children; lack of social security and poverty. Research has shown that teen pregnancies and HIV prevalence among young people living in urban informal areas such as Alex township is double that of other teenagers living in other areas.
This also brings us to the scary fact that girls and boys are engaging in intercourse at such an early age. With this come many sexually transmitted illnesses (STIs), infertility at a later stage, cervical cancer and of course HIV. There has also been an alarming increase in the number of teenagers being infected with HIV.
Adolescents, like many other age groups in South Africa, are greatly impacted by the HIV/Aids pandemic due to early sexual activities. It is therefore important that safe sexual behaviour is encouraged and practised, and that patterns of high risk sexual activity, of which teenage pregnancy and HIV/Aids are major consequences.
Sexual exposure poses the greatest risk for being infected. It is important that our children are also made aware of the risks especially as now children are becoming sexually active from a younger age. Children should be educated about HIV which is duly done so at schools, but should be reinforced by parents and care givers. Teenagers should be kept in school until Grade 12, as we find that higher levels of education protect against HIV. The more knowledge our teenagers have, the better their chances of not falling pregnant and contacting STIs and HIV.
Knowledge is of course power. Our future also relies on a more educated population. Although many interventions are taking place in schools by various organisations including the City of Joburg on teen pregnancy, statistics still indicate increase in teen pregnancies in Alex. It is time for more parental involvement before we lose our children to becoming teen mothers who depend on their parents. Parents – start talking more often to your kids and being firmer with their behaviour.
