Pregnant schoolgirls weigh up several factors when deciding whether to stay in school throughout and after their pregnancies. Stephane De Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images After Boitumelo gave birth she decided not to go back to school. She assumed that, because she was now a mother, she would be barred from returning. Then she had a surprising interaction: They [school] were like, why did you not come back [to school], do you attend [school] elsewhere? I was like, no, I have a child. Then they were like, on January we need you here, this school is empty without you, and that gave me the confidenc ..read more

Not all unplanned pregnancies are unwanted. Shutterstock Much has been made recently in South Africa about the increase in teenage pregnancies in the past year, fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Sensationalisation of such pregnancies isn’t new. Every couple of years newspaper headlines shout moral outrage at the rates of early reproduction. The focus of discussions then usually turns to prevention. Solutions posed are mostly premised on the assumption that young women are responsible for their situation – through ignorance, fecklessness, rebellion, or lack of assertiveness. We ar ..read more

shutterstock There are a number of reasons why many girls marry young in Ghana. They include gender inequality, poverty, traditional and customary practices, social norms, peer pressure and poor parenting. The impact of early marriage on girls’ lives can be negative, especially if they drop out of school and are not ready for adult responsibilities. But some adolescent girls report being happy in their marriages, saying their quality of life is better than it was in their parents’ home. Education is a key factor in giving girls more choice about when they marry. In this episode of Pasha, Eliza ..read more

Most young, married girls in Ethiopia don't have the family planning information they need. GettyImages Despite progress in reducing the rate of adolescent pregnancy, more than 16 million adolescent girls globally become parents each year. According to the World Health Organisation, 90% of these young mothers live in the global South. Girls in countries with the highest adolescent fertility rates, many of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, are also the most likely to be malnourished without access to quality maternity care or safe abortions. This leads to complications and consequences that can ..read more

Arresting pregnant teenagers won't curb pregnancy rates. Shutterstock Teenage girls in Tanzania are routinely excluded from school if they become pregnant and are prevented from returning to complete their education. Yet a recent case in the Rukwa Region involving over 200 pregnant girls dropping out of school in six months, shows even this is not the worst outcome girls may face. The threat of criminal prosecution continues to be wielded by government officials trying to find a solution to the escalating rates of teenage pregnancy in the country, up by 4% between 2010 and 2015. In the case fr ..read more

Teenage girls who fall pregnant in Zambia are often mocked and feel isolated. DFID/Flickr, CC BY-ND Becoming pregnant constitutes a threat to young girls’ health. That’s because they have a higher risk of maternal complications than adult women. In fact, these complications were the leading causes of death among 15 - 19 year old girls in 2016. And national data from 2012-2013 reveals that almost one third of women aged between 20 and 24 in Zambia had given birth before they turned 18. This trend continues. Child marriage has historically been an important factor but even if that practice has d ..read more

Seeking advice. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock For years now newspapers have been reporting that girls as young as 12 are being given contraceptive implants without parental consent. In April, an article in the Daily Mail reported that more than 10,500 underage girls had been given the implants on the NHS in the past two years, quoting statistics from NHS Digital. These implants – which are put in the upper arm and release the hormone progesterone to prevent an egg being released – are an effective contraception if used in accordance with proper guidance. Though they will not protect agai ..read more

Schoolgirls spoke about sex and relationships in relation to other hurdles and opportunities they faced. Farl/Flickr In Tanzania, if you’re a schoolgirl and fall pregnant, it could mean the end of your education. Even though successive governments have made a push for girls education, those that fall pregnant are routinely expelled from school, and prevented from returning. Most recently this punitive approach was taken to the extreme when school girls were arrested and may now be forced to testify in court as to who got them pregnant. These harsh reactions are as a result of dated laws which ..read more

Shutterstock A new survey from Ipsos Mori reveals that the public in 38 countries have deeply inaccurate views about crime, terrorism and many other important social issues. And this is not just the result of random guessing – there is a systematic pattern to our errors. We tend to think things are worse than they are, and they’re going downhill fast. The Perils of Perception study found that only 7% of people think the murder rate is lower in their country than it was in 2000 – but it is actually significantly down in most countries, and, across the countries overall, it’s down 29%. Only 19 ..read more

A study of 78 Kenyan secondary schools shows up critical gaps in sex education. Reuters/Joe Penney Imagine giving Kenyan students something that has been proven to help them make healthy informed choices about their sexual and reproductive lives. The solution already exists: comprehensive sexuality education. To be comprehensive, sexuality education needs to be scientifically accurate, age-appropriate, nonjudgmental and gender-sensitive. The lessons should extend to prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as well as contraception and unintended pregnancy. The studen ..read more