Vuyo Mkize and Adam Sege
TEENAGE pregnancies in Gauteng have reached alarming levels. Joburg hospitals have recorded high numbers of births from teenage mothers – statistics that have since prompted MEC for Health Ntombi Mekgwe to launch a campaign to tackle the issue this year.
Between December 2010 and February 2011, 317 girls under 18 gave birth at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
According to records from the hospital’s maternity ward, the number of babies delivered in December was 1 708. Of these mothers, 120 were under 18.
In January this year, 1 912 babies were born, and 103 of these mothers were under 18.
In February, 1 840 births were registered – 90 of them from mothers under 18.
Hospital statistics reflect the increasing problem of teen pregnancies. At Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, 63 children were born to mothers under 18 between January and March this year, said hospital spokeswoman Lungi Mvumvu.
Meanwhile, Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital records from last April to March this year show there were 856 births at the hospital. Of this number, 510 involved teenage mothers under 18. The hospital’s records also show that 42.5 births a month involve teenage mothers.
Mekgwe visited Gauteng schools in February to raise awareness around the high number of teenage pregnancies and the preventive measures that could be taken.
When Thandi Sithole*, 16, found out she was pregnant six months ago, the first thought she had was of her parents. Disappointing them haunted her, but abortion was not an option.
“They were angry – my father still is – but I don’t regret my decision to keep the baby. I was also shocked, but with time I’ve become okay with it,” she said.
Thandi’s slightly rounded belly was obscured beneath a green school jersey and an oversized blazer as she walked from school to her home in Dobsonville. She smiled when talking about her boyfriend, the father-to-be.
“He is very supportive. He is older than me and is working. Nothing much has changed in our relationship. We’ve been together for a year now, but I haven’t thought of marriage yet. I wish to still go to university and study journalism,” she said.
Parents of teenagers are also being urged to take responsibility for sex education.
Gauteng Department of Education spokesman Charles Phahlane said: “It is not our wish that they (teenagers) give birth while at school. We have awareness campaigns that include the doll project in high-risk schools, in which we give girls baby dolls to take home to experience what it is like to be a parent.
“We also have the mother-daughter dialogues, which help teenagers and mothers to talk more openly about issues of sexuality, and these are facilitated at the schools.”
Izabella Little-Gates, the founder of Lifetalk – a parenting forum that gives inputs from parents, teens and experts – said the organisation had seen a dramatic increase in promiscuity among teenagers.
“Children younger than 10 are becoming sexually active. Increasing numbers are going through it as though it is just a meaningless exercise… There needs to be more-active parenting,” she said.
Stats SA indicates that 110 477 teenage girls younger than 19 fell pregnant in South Africa in 2009 – 5 000 of those were from Gauteng.
Life is proving hard for the mom of a one-year-old boy, Phumeza Bam*, 17, from Diepkloof.
“It’s not easy for me: all I get is the child grant of R250, which I use to buy nappies,” she said.
“Being a young mother is not nice because I’m in school and there is just no money at home. I’m always absent from school as I have to take the baby to the clinic.”
* Names have been changed to protect identities