Children having children is a great concern – DA
A total of 33 260 teenage mothers gave birth in Gauteng in the three years from 2011 to 2013.
This figure was released by Gauateng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, in a written reply to questions in the legislature.
The number of babies born in Gauteng state hospitals to teenage mothers is as follows:
* 2011 – 11 227 (5.5 per cent of all births)
* 2012 – 10 457 (5 per cent of all births)
* 2013 – 11 576 (5.4 per cent of all births)
“This is a worryingly high number of teen births, which appears to be stable rather than increasing or decreasing,” says DA Shadow MEC for health Jack Bloom.
“It has been noted that the majority of teenage mothers do not attend early antenatal care and, therefore, are in danger of obstetric haemorrhage, miscarriage, developing gestational hypertension, developing anaemia, and are at risk of delivering preterm babies.
“I requested a breakdown of teenage mothers under 15 years old, but such a record is not kept.
”It would be useful to monitor very young mothers more closely, so as to guide intervention efforts in problem areas.”
According to Bloom, children having children is a great concern, often destroying the life chances of both, particularly with regard to acquiring a good education. ‘
”These figures show that many young women are having unprotected sex, which raises the risk of contracting HIV/Aids,” he says.
“We need to do more to cut down on teen births for both health and social reasons.” – @NalediBoksburg
