As Suma Sedhai from Central Department of Population Studies, Tribhuvan University (CDPS/TU) presented this and many more appalling data in her presentation titled ‘Adolescent Pregnancy – Status Analysis’ at a seminar jointly organized by CDPS and Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at Nepal Administrative Staff College, Jawalakhel on Friday, young participants at the seminar gasped in unison. [break]
In a developing country like ours, where only less than half (45 per cent) of the women’s population is literate and where about 25 per cent of population live below the poverty line (Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Nepal), and where ancient norms and values continue to dictate people’s lives, child marriage doesn’t even arouse as much curiosity in many parts of Nepal today.
While the Civil Code of Nepal has clearly stated that no boy or girl under the age of 20 (18 in case of guardians’ agreement) can get married legally, NHDS’s 2011 survey states that the average age of marriage in Nepal is 16.But, adolescent pregnancy is not a problem of third world countries alone. Even in developed countries, one out of six girls has either given birth already or is pregnant before they surpass their teen (Adolescent Pregnancy Fact Sheet, 2012). However, the comparative analysis of NHDS’s adolescent pregnancy survey does show that education, economic status and places of orientation (urban/rural) play a vital role in determining the occurrence of teen pregnancy. According to the survey, 17.8 per cent of teenage girls living in rural areas are pregnant before they hit 20 years of age compared to 9.3 per cent of girls of the same age living in cities.
Likewise, a whopping 31.6 per cent of uneducated girls tend to become a mother in their teens compared to just 8 per cent of girls who have passed SLC and above. Teen girls belonging to middle class family are more vulnerable to premature pregnancy: 22.1 per cent of middle class teenage girls get pregnant in their teens compared to 18.4 per cent of lower class and 6.7 per cent of upper class teens.
Lack of education and awareness aside, the teens who get married early owing to various circumstances, don’t even have proper access to health services. The NHDS survey clearly shows that out of the 59.4 per cent of teen girls wanting to use contraception, only 17.6 per cent have the access to it. 60 per cent of teen girls don’t have any idea regarding abortion laws while 47 per cent of them don’t know where to go for a safe abortion. And with 58 per cent of teen girls giving birth at home without the assistance of any expert health worker, the infant mortality rate is quite high at 69 deaths out of every thousand births.
At the seminar, Mangala Manandhar, Senior Public Health Officer, Family Health Division, MoHP, and Komal Tara Bajracharya, Youth Focal Person of Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN), also presented their papers on ‘Policies and programs addressing adolescent pregnancy’, and ‘Comprehensive Sexuality Education and FPAN’ respectively. While Manandhar focused on government’s efforts in bringing down the occurrence of adolescent pregnancy in Nepal, Bajracharya highlighted the effectiveness of CSE on encouraging safe sex amongst teenagers. They also explained how teen pregnancy have branched out to other problems in forms of deteriorated reproductive health, increased infant and maternal mortality rate, population growth, increased cases of miscarriages and reduced quality of life.
As the participants of the program including youth and teachers from various schools and colleges, students of CDPS, and representatives from government and non-governmental organizations actively discussed the significance of education and awareness programs and the role of intergenerational dialogue to check adolescent pregnancy, Giulia Vallese, representative of UNFPA, said, “We have the facts and figures, and we know what needs to be done to control adolescent pregnancy. If we all do our part of the duty sincerely, we will definitely reach our goals.”
By 2015, the Government of Nepal aims at lowering the adolescent pregnancy at 70 out of 1000.
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