Adolescent health

Journal of Adolescent Health, 2016

National wealth, income inequalities, and expenditures on education can profoundly influence the health of a nation's women, children, and adolescents. We explored the association of trends in national socioeconomic status (SES) indicators with trends in adolescent birth rates (ABRs), by nation and region. Methods: An ecologic research design was employed using national-level data from the World Bank on birth rates per 1,000 women aged 15e19 years, national wealth (per capita gross domestic product or GDP), income inequality (Gini index), and expenditures on education as a percentage of GDP (EduExp). Data were available for 142 countries and seven regions for 1990e2012. Multiple linear regression for repeated measures with generalized estimating equations was used to examine independent associations. Results: ABRs in 2012 varied >200-folddwith the highest rates in Sub-Saharan Africa and lowest rates in the Western Europe/Central Asia region. The median national ABR fell 40% from 72.4/1,000 in 1990 to 43.6/1,000 in 2012. The largest regional declines in ABR occurred in South Asia (70%), Europe/Central Asia (63%), and the Middle East/North Africa (53%)dregions with lower income inequality. In multivariable analyses considering change over time, ABRs were negatively associated with GDP and EduExp and positively associated with greater income inequality. Conclusions: ABRs have declined globally since 1990. Declines closely followed rising socioeconomic status and were greater where income inequalities were lower in 1990. Reducing poverty and income inequalities and increasing investments in education should be essential components of national policies to prevent adolescent childbearing.

Iconic Research and Engineering Journals, 2020

The issue of teenage pregnancy has across the years had a negative impact on the learning and educational systems for most of the developing countries around the world. Girls with promising futures have had their educational life cut short due to teenage pregnancies. Failure by the governments in some of the developing nations, to implement the right measures aimed at dealing with the issue has led to a significant rise in the cases of teenage pregnancy. According to the study, various measures should be implemented in dealing with social vice. Firstly, the inclusion of sex education in the curriculums for the developing nations could play a critical role in the lowering of the cases of teenage pregnancy. The promotion of awareness to communities on the negative effects that are associated with some of the backward cultural practices is another strategy that can be embraced for dealing with the social vice. The secondary data collection method has been applied in the research and data was gathered from secondary sources, mainly journals. The expected outcomes for the study included a negative correlation between teenage pregnancy and the academic performance for the victims; failures by some of the schools to effectively attain learning goals; and an increase in the cases of girls dropping out of school. The study concluded that teenage pregnancy is a major challenge in the developing nation's education system. The issue is directly linked with high school drop-out rates among the girls and low academic performance.

According to offi cial data of World Health Organization, every year, an estimated 21 million girls aged 15 to 19 years, and 2 million girls aged under 15 years become pregnant in developing regions. Approximately 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 years and 2.5 million girls under 16 years give birth each year in developing regions. Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death for 15 to 19 year-old girls globally. Every year, some 3.9 million girls aged 15 to 19 years undergo unsafe abortions. Adolescent mothers (ages 10 to 19 years) face higher risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis, and systemic infections than women aged 20 to 24 years, and babies born to adolescent mothers face higher risks of low birth weight, preterm delivery, and severe neonatal conditions than those born to women aged 20 to 24 years.

Book Publisher International (a part of SCIENCEDOMAIN International), 2022

There is little statistical information from developing countries on the prevalence of early and late teenage pregnancies and associated health and psychosocial sequelae. Developing countries cannot be studied as an entity since they differ widely in terms of cultural background, religion, traditions, etc. However, characteristics of an underprivileged situation are: an early reproductive debut, high fertility and close spacing of pregnancies, and high maternal and infant mortality. The high maternal and infant mortality rates are related to socioeconomic parameters but also specifically to the age of the mother, being increased for mothers under the age of 20, particularly for the younger ones and when there are repeated teenage pregnancies. Low minimum age of marriage for girls, typical of many developing as well as developed countries, means a consent of society for early family formation. Epidemiological studies and studies on changing reproductive behaviour in situations undergoing modernization processes are required to estimate the magnitude of the problem from health and psychosocial aspects, and in order to design appropriate services.

Family Planning Perspectives, 2001

Context: Differences among developed countries in teenagers' patterns of sexual and reproductive behavior may partly reflect differences in the extent of disadvantage. However, to date, this potential contribution has received little attention. Methods: Researchers in Canada, France, Great Britain, Sweden and the United States used the most current survey and other data to study adolescent sexual and reproductive behavior. Comparisons were made within and across countries to assess the relationships between these behaviors and factors that may indicate disadvantage. Results: Adolescent childbearing is more likely among women with low levels of income and education than among their better-off peers. Levels of childbearing are also strongly related to race, ethnicity and immigrant status, but these differences vary across countries. Early sexual activity has little association with income, but young women who have little education are more likely to initiate intercourse during adolescence than those who are better educated. Contraceptive use at first intercourse differs substantially according to socioeconomic status in some countries but not in others. Within countries, current contraceptive use does not differ greatly according to economic status, but at each economic level, use is higher in Great Britain than in the United States. Regardless of their socioeconomic status, U.S. women are the most likely to give birth as adolescents. In addition, larger proportions of adolescents are disadvantaged in the United States than in other developed countries. Conclusions: Comparatively widespread disadvantage in the United States helps explain why U.S. teenagers have higher birthrates and pregnancy rates than those in other developed countries. Improving U.S. teenagers' sexual and reproductive behavior requires strategies to reduce the numbers of young people growing up in disadvantaged conditions and to help those who are disadvantaged overcome the obstacles they face.

Global Public Health, 2015

This paper reviews the evidence on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of adolescent girls in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC) in light of the policy and programme commitments made at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), analyses progress since 1994, and maps challenges in and opportunities for protecting their health and human rights. Findings indicate that many countries have yet to make significant progress in delaying marriage and childbearing, reducing unintended childbearing, narrowing gender disparities that put girls at risk of poor SRH outcomes, expanding health awareness or enabling access to SRH services. While governments have reaffirmed many commitments, policy development and programme implementation fall far short of realising these commitments. Future success requires increased political will and engagement of young people in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes, along with increased investments to deliver at scale comprehensive sexuality education, health services that are approachable and not judgemental, safe spaces programmes, especially for vulnerable girls, and programmes that engage families and communities. Stronger policy-making and programming also require expanding the evidence on adolescent health and rights in LMICs for both younger and older adolescents, boys and girls, and relating to a range of key health matters affecting adolescents. . While the number of countries from each region varies according to the source of data, they typically range from fewer than five in North Africa, Central Asia, South East Asia, West Asia and Eastern and Southern Europe, to 5-10 in South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean and to 31 in Sub-Saharan Africa. We provide regional or sub-regional estimates for the most recent point in time (2005 onwards) by weighting country estimates by each country's population in 2010 and therefore our estimates reflect weighted averages for all those countries for which data were available within each region (for a description of countries included in each regional estimate, see ). Estimates from regions for which data were available for more than 50% of the population, that is, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia, are considered to be regional estimates, and estimates from regions for which data were available for less than 50% of the population are considered to be subregional estimates. We note, moreover, that the number of countries for which data are available varied by indicator.

2015

2001

African Journal of Reproductive Health, 2009

In Uganda teenage pregnancy is considered a problem for moral and social, as well as health, reasons. This qualitative study in Busia District focused on the views of teenagers themselves as expressed in 9 focus group discussions with girls and boys. Their perspectives were contrasted with those of community leaders and mothers of adolescents. The young people blamed teenage pregnancy on failures of the parental generation. They asserted that parents and guardians were both too lenient and too harsh, that they failed to provide for their daughters' needs, and that they pressured them into early marriages instead of giving priority to education. Although poverty and family breakdown were recognized as underlying structural causes of parental failure, the teenagers experienced these factors in their everyday lives as problems with their parents and guardians. The teenagers expressed the 'enlightened' view that adolescent pregnancy was undesireable, even though many girls have few alternatives to marriage and childbearing (Afr J Reprod Health 2009; 13[4]:113-127).