Teenage Pregnancy in Africa - Teenage pregnancy on the rise

[Kofi]

Teenage Pregnancy is on the rise in Africa and around the world. There is this old saying that "children are blessings from God." This is true because only God gives children. Africans have this old mentality that the more children you have, the more blessed you are.

A man with twenty children is consider wealthier than a man with twenty billion dollars because in Africa, money does not count that much. The wealth of a man is calculated from his number of wives and children. The more children you have, the wealthier you are.

However, I don't think there is any blessing in bringing children into this world without what it takes to cater for them. Bringing a child into this world without any preparation is nothing less than cruelty. Bringing children into this world without the hope of ever sending them to school is nothing less than cruelty. This is the case in Africa. children as young as 12 and 13 year olds are giving birth every minute in Africa. These are teenage mothers and fathers who are children themselves.

Teenage pregnancy is very common in rural Africa because most of these girls in rural Africa don't even know what condom is. Those in the big towns and cities also tend to practice what they see and hear especially on the media like the television, etc. Children drop out of school due to teenage pregnancy and most of these children do not live past 40. Most of these teenagers abandon their babies once they give birth because they are unable to cater for them.

Some of these teenagers also die from illegal abortions. The "unfortunate" ones who want to abort their pregnancies do not even have the money and what it takes to go to proper hospitals for the proper medical procedures. Instead they take concoctions with the hope of clearing things out for them and most die from doing so.

Most of these girls also commit suicide due to depression and rejection from parents and friends. Poverty and the lack of proper education are the main causes of teenage pregnancy in Africa. Most of these children don't even know the consequences of their actions while circumstances (especially poverty and hunger) force others into child prostitution

[squintoo]

Teenage pregnancy should be stopped..

they are trying to stop it here in India.. Before the kid starts knowing the world, she gets pregnant.. that is not right and hence severe actions should be taken to stop this

[janwei]

Yes, that's a sad thing. But i don't think lack of condoms or lack of knowledge of condom is the problem here. It sounds to me like a problem of sexual abuse of kids. I don't think 12 year old girls are walking around in the savanna looking for a good f**k.
It's a problem of sexual abuse of kids/teenagers. I saw a report on tv saying that in some regions they have adapted to the habit that rape is even the most common sexual practice.

"When the man wants a girl they come to the villages and take one. The Woman in the region are saying that's just the way of life here"

[Padalda]

Increasing of Teenage pregnancy in Africa is due to the increasing rape cases by the men. This should be stopped by the African government as quickly as possible by giving strict punishment to the criminals.

My take on the rise of Teenage Pregnancy in Africa is something that has to do with curse from God. A greater number of people in Africa have ignored practicing many religious doctrines. Of late, majority of the children in Africa are given birth to out of wedlock. These type of children are religiously referred to as illegitimate children. There are punishment for this; and one of such punishment is the unfortunate increase in teenage pregnancy.
Africans must return to God in repentance!