Teenage Pregnancy in Tanzania
Background
Adolescence is often a time when choices are made that set the course for young people’s future. More than one in five Tanzanians are adolescents, aged between 10 and 19 years[1]. The 2015-2016 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey found that one in four girls and women aged 15 to 19 are mothers. Forty percent of women ages 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence, and almost 20 percent have experienced sexual violence. Among young people aged between 20 and 24, less than 20 percent of women had graduated from secondary school, compared with 32 percent of men. In the same age group, 20 percent of women had no education at all, compared with less than 10 percent of men[2].
H.E John
Magufuli, president to the Republic of
Tanzania issued a directive in June 2017 stating that
teenage girls that get pregnant while in school would not be allowed to go back
to school; ‘giving them the opportunity for free education and allowing teenage
mothers back to school is encouraging the other girls to get pregnant’, he said.
No data however, shows the correlation between more girls getting pregnant when
they interact with the teenage mothers and when they do not. This comes as a question
considering that Tanzania has ratified several human rights treaties
including the African Youth Charter 2006, the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women, as well as Tanzanian Legislation on Education and Labour; and
the landmark 2009 Law of the Child Act for the Mainland and 2011 Children’s Act
for Zanzibar. Primary focus must be on
prevention of pregnancies, the loss of human potential should be a call for
second chances. Having girls not going back to school after getting
pregnant not only deny them their rights but also come as a negative impact to
the economic growth and development to the country.
Factors contributing to teenage pregnancy in
Tanzania
- Child marriage: While
underage sex is criminalized in Tanzania, parents may marry off their daughters
using a special privilege granted by a 1971 marriage law, which allows a
girl as young as 15 to marry with parental or the court’s consent.
- Lack of information about
sexuality and reproduction: Lack of appropriate and
comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education including
information and services for reproductive tract infections, sexually
transmitted infections and pregnancy-related issues, mean that many adolescents still do not know how or do not
possess the means to prevent pregnancy.
- Sexual violence and exploitation both
at home and in schools
- Economic deprivation and opportunities accessible to teenage girl child can cause young girls to engage in transactional and/or unprotected sex to meet basic needs, survive or to improve their living conditions
- Education level and employment status is associated with the risk of pregnancy among teenage and adolescent girls. Teenagers and adolescents are at higher risk of pregnancy if they have no formal education and if they are unemployed.
Currently, about one-third of Tanzania’s
health facilities are reported to provide “youth-friendly” sexual and
reproductive health services, including access to contraceptives. While the
quality of services provided probably varies greatly, these facilities should
offer a non-judgmental, supportive environment where young people feel
comfortable and confident about expressing their concerns and are able to
receive treatment guidance in language and concepts that fit their experience
and stage of development. Teenage mothers however, are offered vocational
training as an alternative of not going back to school. The girls still tend to
lose a lot in this regard, when they are compared with their mates and
colleagues. There is therefore, the need and more concerted efforts for these
girls to have re-entry program to continue their formal education.
Recommendations
- There is a need to improve the quality and implementation of reproductive and health education for both boys and girls. This means involvement of governmental agencies; local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); the parents and communities focusing on comprehensive sexual education through participatory approaches.
- Youth-friendly health services promoting open communication between parents and children and increasing the coverage in the media with a distinct focus on pregnancy.
- Cultural practices, early marriages and Female Genital Mutilation/Cut (FGM) should be tackled having in place to reach out to the communities that are ultra-conservative. These are behavioral and cultural changes that can be achieved through participatory approach.
- Investing in adolescents will accelerate the fight against poverty, inequity and gender discrimination and contribute to the reduction of maternal mortality and HIV and AIDS.
- Building skills and creating jobs for young people, especially those in the poorest rural communities can help rescue a generation from poverty
- Universal implementation of sex education with focus both on abstinence and safe sex as well as biological and social risk factors.
- Schools should be encouraged to form peer health clubs with the objective of sensitizing on the impact of teenage pregnancy and to also reduce discrimination.
Provisions
That Protect Children’s Rights:
Article 11 (3) African
Charter on The Rights and Welfare of the Child: States Parties … shall in
particular: (a) provide free and compulsory basic education; (b) encourage the
development of secondary education in its different forms and to progressively
make it free and accessible to all; (c) make the higher education accessible to
all on the basis of capacity and ability by every appropriate means; (d) take
measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of
dropout rates; (e) take special measures in respect of female, gifted and
disadvantaged children.
Article 21 (1) of the
African Charter on The Rights and Welfare of the Child: States Parties to the
present Charter shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate harmful social
and cultural practices affecting the welfare, dignity, normal growth and
development of the child and in particular: (a) those customs and practices
prejudicial to the health or life of the child; and (b) those customs and
practices discriminatory to the child on the grounds of sex or other status.
Article 21 (2) of the
African Charter on The Rights and Welfare of the Child: Child marriage and the
betrothal of girls and boys shall be prohibited and effective action, including
legislation, shall be taken to specify the minimum age of marriage to be 18
years and make registration of all marriages in an official registry
compulsory.
Article 11 (6): States
Parties to the present Charter shall have all appropriate measures to ensure
that children who become pregnant before completing their education shall have
an opportunity to continue with their education based on their individual ability.
Countries
that Allow Continuation of Teenage Mother’s Education:
South
Africa: Section 9(3) of the South African Bill of Rights says
that the State must not discriminate against any person based on aspects such
as gender, sex, pregnancy and marital status. Section 8 of the Equality Act
makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender. In particular, Section
8(f) prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.
Benin:
There
is a re-entry program, which allows teenage mothers to go back to school. In
cases where the father is also a minor, the parents to the boy are held liable
to cater for the girl and her baby until the teenage mother is eighteen years
of age inclusive of her education
Malawi:
Both
the boy and the girl must leave school till the girl has delivered. However, if
the girl is willing to remain in school, she is allowed to continue with her
education until she delivers.
Kenya: has a ‘return to school' policy for teenage
mums which was introduced in 1994. A girl that gets pregnant is supposed to be
allowed to remain in school for as long as she thinks she can. After delivery,
she is supposed to be allowed to go back or be given support to gain admission
into another secondary school if she feels there are issues of stigma and
discrimination. There is also a provision for pregnant schoolgirls and
their parents to receive counseling.
By: Nyabena Susan
Blogger/Gender Expert
