Escalating teen pregnancy caused by communication barriers
According to a recent study by the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), nurses' attitudes and scolding, is one of the factors creating a major barrier to teenagers accessing contraception.
“South Africa has a huge teen pregnancy problem, with one in three girls having had a baby by the age of 20,” says David Harrison, CEO of LoveLife, South Africa’s largest youth-targeted HIV/Aids organisation.
The head of a local clinic, known to the Advertiser, disputes this allegation, and blames communication breakdown caused by the age gap between nurses and teens as the barrier.
She also adds that patients with issues such as family planning, pregnancy, STI’s and HIV/Aids become aggressive towards nurses who ask them sensitive compulsory questions.
“We don’t make baseless decisions; we have to establish your history by first asking relevant questions, before assisting you. Before being nurses, we are also humans and we react to this aggression by patients,” she says.
The Department of Health says that there are 121 youth-friendly services, which have been established in Gauteng clinics to tackle communication challenges that are taking place between nurses and teenagers.
“The department has introduced youth-friendly services in clinics together with Lovelife. These services provide a platform where young people can interact with their peers to receive sexuality education, in an environment where there are no adult/child barriers,” Simon Zwane, media liason officer for the Gauteng Department of Health tells the Advertiser.
Sharon Rushton, founder and director of Life Link Pregnancy Crisis Centre, a registered non-profit organisation for women facing unplanned pregnancy, adds that there are also communication barriers between young girls and their parents.
“Young girls need to be taught by their parents that they are more than just sex objects, and that they don’t need to be validated by men,” she says.
Sharon goes on to add that sex education in schools should not be limited to prevention of pregnancy and HIV/Aids, but should also include instilling morals, core beliefs and strong values in teenagers.
Some parents have managed to effectively keep communication lines with their children open.
Two sisters in Grade 10 and twelve respectively, at Hoërskool EG Jansen, say that they are not sexually active, because of the morals that have been instilled in them by their parents.
“Teen pregnancy is sad, because the girls don’t realise that they are throwing away their lives; you can’t have a child while you are still a child,” says the older sister.
Both sisters say that they will only have sex once they are married.
Three young boys who are also pupils at EG Jansen in Grade 10, say that they will only think about sex once they are eighteen years old.
“We are too busily involved in sporting activities and our school work to think about sex,” says one of the boys.
