IT is
indisputable that Africa has the world’s highest rates of adolescent pregnancy,
a factor that affects the health, education, and earning potential of millions
of African girls, according to a report released by the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA). Although Tanzania’s record is not shockingly high at
the continental level it is a headache on the home front. Niger tops the list
with 51 percent of women between 20 and 24 reporting a birth before the age of
18. And of 20 countries with the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy, 18 are
African, the report, “Motherhood in Childhood: Facing the challenge of
adolescent pregnancy”, says. When a girl becomes pregnant or has a child, her
health, education, earning potential and her entire future may be in jeopardy,
trapping her in a lifetime of poverty, exclusion and powerlessness, the report
says. “Adolescent pregnancy is intertwined with issues of human rights. A
pregnant girl who is pressured or forced to leave school, for example, is
denied her right to education,” according to a UNFPA report. There are 580
million adolescent girls in the world. Four out of five of them live in
developing countries including Tanzania. Investing in them today will unleash
their full potential to shape humanity’s future. The distorted transitioning of
girls into womanhood as a result of early pregnancy ought to be seen as a
significant economic loss. As mentioned before, underage pregnancies are a
headache especially in regions of Dodoma, Mara, Manyara, Kilimanjaro and Mbeya.
Indeed, Tanzania must pursue policies that bridge the gender disparity between
boys and girls in access to health care, education and other basic social
services. Leaders must also accelerate efforts towards universal primary
education that gives particular focus to girls. Current statistics on underage
pregnancies are hard to come by in Tanzania but the country has one of the
highest adolescent pregnancy rates in the world. In fact, thousands of girls in
Tanzania have their educational pursuits cut short every year as a result of
pregnancy. This diabolical situation, which is indeed, a communal and national
headache, affects girls’ health, education, future employment and prevents
victims from reaching their full potential in life. Every year more than 8,000
girls drop out of school due to untimely pregnancies. The African Charter on
the Rights and Welfare of the Child says in Article 21 that: “States shall take
all appropriate measures to eliminate harmful social and cultural practices
affecting the welfare, dignity, normal growth and development of the child.” The
Charter also says that: “Child marriage shall be prohibited and effective
action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify the minimum age of
marriage to be 18 years and make registration of all marriages in an official
registry compulsory.” Tanzania is a signatory to the charter. In another
development, a report by the Legal and human Rights Centre (LHRC) in 2010 said
that teenage pregnancies are a major hindrance to the ability of girls to
access adequate education. According to the “Basic Education Statistics in
Tanzania” for 2012, a total of 610 primary school girls dropped out of school
due to pregnancy. In 2011, a total of 5,157 secondary school girls dropped out
due to pregnancies. Underage marriage is another critical problem. Thousands of
underage brides are often married off to men in some parts of rural Tanzania.
In some cases, the husbands turn out to be older than their own fathers. Early
marriage is a serious social problem in this country. Thousands of girls are
married off before the statutory age of 16. Of course, the government, in
league with NGOs and religious establishments, is now trying to eradicate this
misguided practice. But even the statutory age of 16 is inappropriate. This age
should have been pegged at 18, the age of majority. It should be understood
that a girl aged 16 years is not biologically ripe to make children. She may be
tall and robust. She may even look heftier than her own mother. But the reality
is that she remains unripe for the task of managing a pregnancy, excruciating
labour pains and delivery. Marrying off young girls to husbands is an old
tradition that can be traced back to numerous generations. It remains
persistent today. The practice is one of the principal causes of the now
numerous pregnancy complications in young mothers. Many such marriages fail to
work. The practice also denies the unfortunate girls access to education,
especially those who get married at tender age. A girl aged 15 years is
expected to be a Form Three student somewhere - not someone’s wife. Traditions
are so powerful in many parts of Tanzania, especially among the Wamasai, Wakurya,
and Wachagga in the north; the Wahehe and Wamakonde in the south; and the
Wahaya in the west. Traditions also die hard in central Tanzania mainly among
the Wagogo and Wanyamwezi. Deeply entrenched traditional values here mean that
the local practice is for girls to marry when they are very young. Of
particular concern to the government is the large number of pregnancy
complications amongst young girls whose bodies are not yet ready to bear
children. According to a report by the Women’s Dignity Project, obstetric
fistulas are common complications. Women who have the fistula are often the
young girls who are married early, before 15 for example, who are too poor to
attend health services and try to deliver at home. Apart from being poor, these
young mothers are often ignorant about motherhood. Medical experts say an
obstetric fistula can occur because the woman’s pelvis is too small; the baby’s
head is too big, or the baby is badly positioned; the woman can be in labour
for five days or more without expert medical help and other unfortunate
reasons. In most cases the baby dies. If the mother survives, she is left with
extensive tissue damage to her birth canal that renders her incontinent -
either of her bladder or bowel functions. This is the beginning of a medically
pathetic situation for the young mother. Medics say corrective surgery is
possible as long as the fistula - or hole - is not too big. Without surgery,
young women damaged by an early pregnancy remain physically and psychologically
scarred. This irreparable damage wrecks the life of the young woman. At the
level of the family trouble for the woman starts at this juncture. The husband
who took this unfortunate girl-bride in the first place will often turn his
back on his wife, appalled at the smell and her inability to control her own motions.
Many such women grow old childless in a tribal setting where motherhood is the
essence of a woman’s value. A childless woman among the Wakurya is seen as a
social misfit or outcast. Women’s dignity activists insist that the best
approach now is to stop girls getting pregnant. It is imperative to insist here
that underage marriages are abominable. Some of these unfortunate girls miss
the prospect for education. Others drop out of school to get married. And there
are those who marry immediately after accomplishing primary school education.
Many get married off just before they comprehend the world around them.
Throughout the world today there is a concern to recognize the constitutional
rights of children.
SOURCE: DAILY NEWS
2/11/2016
No comments:
Post a Comment