Teenage and pre-teenage pregnancy in SVG. Is it a scourge?

Editor: Teenage and pre-teenage pregnancy is pervasive throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines. Promiscuous sex, failure to use a condom in sexual activities and experimenting with sex for the first time are likely factors that contribute to this societal scourge.

Teen and pre-teen pregnancy could be regarded as a scourge, based on the reality that these young mothers are a burden to the state, which has to assume the responsibility of providing for these unemployed mothers and their offspring through welfare grants. The health risk of sexually transmitted diseases is another reason for viewing teenage and pre-teenage pregnancy as a scourge. Compounding this scenario is the ugly reality that some of these young mothers are oblivious of their offspring’s paternity.

With an ultimate rise in the population of a country with scarce resources to adequately take care of its citizens, teenage and pre-teenage pregnancy is indeed a scourge in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Perhaps health practitioners here are duly concerned about this state of affairs. But what proactive measures are put in place by health officials to assist in the alleviation of these adolescents becoming pregnant before they are ready for motherhood? A possible solution is the forging of links between the Ministry of Health and the school or alternately a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the homes of pre-teenagers and teenagers.

Patmos Richards