DUE to changing lifestyles, young girls nowadays reach puberty at a very young age, which is behind the rising cases of early pregnancies.
This was said on Wednesday by Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences Lecturer, Professor Andrea Pembe in Dar es Salaam during a workshop, where he said a lot needs to be done to address this challenge.
Prof Pembe said that some years back young girls entered puberty as late as 18 years, but today girls enter puberty as young as nine years, which increases chances of becoming pregnant.
“That is why to avert this problem, it is vital that by that age they are already being taught on sexual reproductive health so that by the time they enter puberty they already know about the dangers of careless sex,” said Prof Pembe.
He said that by doing so, it will reduce early pregnancy cases, considering that sexual reproductive health is a wide topic which requires a lot of attention.
Prof Pembe said that with the rising cases of early pregnancies, it means that cases of unsafe abortions are also rampant, which has caused a lot of deaths.
Prof Pembe was speaking during a workshop on ‘Advancement of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for Women of Productive age in Tanzania’ organised by among others Pathfinder, Marie Stopes Tanzania and Umati, where he said that nowadays more women are unable to conceive because they were involved in unsafe abortion at a young age.
He said that because young girls and boys start being sexually active at a very young age, from nine years to 12 years, they are supposed to be aware of the effects of their actions and that for them to be safe, they should abstain from sex until they are mature enough.
Speaking at the same workshop with the theme ‘From Awareness to Action: Improving Legal Environment Towards Maternal Health, Advocate Fulgence Massawe said that cases of early pregnancies and unsafe abortion will continue to increase because sexual reproduction health and rights is not taught in schools because it is not in the current curricula.
He said that as of 2010-2014, 77 per cent of abortions in Sub Saharan Africa were unsafe, compared with the global average of 45 per cent.
“As of 2019, Sub Saharan Africa had the highest abortion case fatality rate of any world region, at roughly 185 deaths per 100,000 abortions, for a total of 15,000 preventable deaths every year,” he said.
