Ondjiva – At least 1589 cases of early pregnancy were recorded by the health authorities in southern Cunene province between January and April this year, the local Reproductive Health supervisor, Benvinda Tutaleni said Tuesday.
In 2023, Cunene province recorded 921 cases of teenage pregnancy in the same period.
According to Benvinda Tutaleni, the upward trend has been spotted in greater demand for prenatal consultation services, since previously adolescents with early or unwanted pregnancies had a taboo against going to health centres, due to fear of discrimination within the family and society.
Despite the high number, the health official said, the demand for health services is a positive aspect for better monitoring pregnant women.
Benvinda Tutaleni considered teenage pregnancy to be a worrying problem, not only for public health, but also for families and society in general, having emphasized the importance of collaboration between the traditional authorities and religious institutions to promote awareness-raising campaigns amongst young people.
The official said that the sector, in collaboration with some partners, promotes sex education activities in communities, schools and families to prevent these cases, adding that the maternal mortality rate in the province's health units has fallen from 15 in 2023 to four in the first four months of this year.
She said that compared to the previous year, there has been a big reduction as a result of training for technicians on obstetric emergencies for prevention, having cited the lack of follow-up during pregnancy, postpartum hemorrhages, hypertension, decompensate eclampsia, among others, as the main causes of maternal deaths.
Benvinda Tutaleni emphasized that these pathologies, when left untreated during pregnancy, can lead to various risks for the pregnant woman and that although the figure is low, mortality cases still represent a major challenge for the institution.
The International Day of Action for Women’s Health was established at the Fourth International Meeting on Women and Health held in 1984 in the Netherlands.
The date aims to alert the population to the inequality between women and men in access to health care and to promote actions to raise awareness of the importance of women's health.FI/LHE/OHA/AMP
