Georgetown: Regional Health Officer (RHO) for Region One, Dr Latchmie Lall has disclosed that of the 259 cases of teenage pregnancies recorded from January to November of this year, only a very small amount are from the migrant population.
“It is very important that I clear this up as reading the various media houses I get the impression that they are of the view that the number of teenage pregnancies are being fueled by the migrant population when this is not the case. It’s only a very small number of the 259 are migrants as a major amount of the number are residents of Region One,” Dr Lall stressed
The RHO said that from the reports that they have garnered from several of those teenage pregnant mothers’ unemployment and economic challenges are fueling it, noting that there is evidently a need for serious attention to be placed on addressing this social challenge.
RHO Lall said that her staff are aggressively seeking in assisting these young mothers, stating that from a medical point they have been doing their best. She however said that she and her staff are concerned over the situation. “There is definitely cause for concerns as with numbers like these with just a very small amount representing migrants, it tells you that definitely something is wrong and whatever it is we will have to address it,” Dr Lall said.
She reiterated that while the Regional Health Services are faced with its own challenges as it relates to migrants, teenage pregnancy is certainly not one of the challenges. She pointed out that the registration and vaccination of the migrants are an ongoing process. “We have been receiving great support and cooperation from the migrants getting vaccinated and registered and that process is moving along. However, we just want to dismiss the perception that it is the migrants who have contributed significantly to this 259 and to say no, the number was made up primarily of residents of region one,” she stressed.
Dr Lall disclose that with last year figure representing 152 and this year already at 259, there is a need for a concentrated approach in educating and sensitizing residents about teenage pregnancies. She said that from January to December 2018 they were 152 pregnancies.
“There is certainly a need to educate residents so that they can become aware that while there is a lot of teenage pregnancies going on around them that it shouldn’t be a trend that they should follow as there are a number of challenges that comes with teenage pregnancy,” she asserted.
She added, “We have seen as young as twelve-year-old who have given birth and what it tells us is that a number of our young girls are sexually active from an early age. As such, there is need for more education because several of these girls are challenged in their own way and with limited opportunities for them in many ways the end results of sexual intercourse may be pregnancy.”
Dr Lall noted that the culture of young girls getting pregnant is soon becoming a reality within he region and urged that there is a critical need for the collaboration of various stakeholders coming together so as to address this increasing challenge. She said that her department has been working in a collaboration with a number of agencies including Child Care and Protection, stressing that they have been forging more collaborative relationships.
You must be logged in to post a comment.