By Mustapha Kamara jnr
A community nurse at the Kroo Bay, one of the biggest slums in Freetown, has warned of a sharp rise in the number of teenage pregnancies within the last few months in the community.
Zainab Barry told Politico on Tuesday that the Kroo Bay Community Health centre was recording at least fifteen cases in a month.
“I have been working here for the past two years, but I realized that there has been an increase in the number of teenage girls getting pregnant,” Nurse Barry said.
She said most of the girls were school going pupils, and the situation had become worse because the girls were now spending more time at homes.
Nurse Barry said that the community health centre was providing free treatment for girls through the government’s Free Health Care services for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under the age of five.
She however noted that they were faced with challenges in providing all required treatments for patients at the centre and said the clinic was not able to deal with some pregnant cases, which they often refer to the Princess Christian Memorial Hospital (Cottage) in Freetown.
“Sometimes these girls have nobody to take responsibility for their pregnancies, they are left to struggle with their pregnancies alone,” Barry said, adding that the girls needed help.
She advised that the government through the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs endeavour to monitor communities and enforce teenage pregnancy laws through the local community chiefs and heads so as to prevent the rise of the phenomenon.
“I think government needs to do a thorough sensitization,” she opined.
The Deputy Director of Gender Affairs at the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender, and Children’s Affairs Marian Goodie Sowonie said the ministry had not done any survey to prove claims that there were rises in the number of teenage pregnancies in the country.
But the head of the Family Support Unit in the Sierra Leone Police, Superintendent Mira Koroma, recently told Politico that the Ebola outbreak had caused a huge rise in sexual assault cases in the country. She said the number of sexual assault cases in 2014, the year Ebola broke out, was 2201 against 1481 in 2013. Meanwhile, on Tuesday a child advocacy organization called Coalition of Young Talented Quotients held a sensitization program in the community at a separate occasion aimed at discouraging teenagers from practices that encourage teenage pregnancy.
Theresa Mbomaya, National President of the organization, said they specifically targeted Kroo Bay because of its high prevalence of teenage pregnancy.
The organization also targeted the area now ahead of Valentines Day, which falls on February 14, when young girls and boys are said to engage in indiscriminate acts of sex which results to more unwanted pregnancies.
Tuesday`s session was the launch of a campaign targeting five communities in the western urban and western rural districts.
“Every year teenage pregnancy increases and it is expected to increase even more this year considering many girls are at home because of the Ebola epidemic,” Ms Mbomaya said.
Members of the organization staged a skit depicting the impact of teenage pregnancy on young girls and families.
Deputy Minister of Political and Public Affairs, Karama Kabba, admonished the girls to learn from the play, saying girls, like their male counterparts, could be any thing they wanted only if they are determined and focus on their goals. He assured them of government`s commitment to ensuring that schools are re-opened.
But if any girl wants to go to school, they must ensure they do not get themselves pregnant, the minister advised.
© Politico 11/02/15
