Sunday, September 26, 2021

Teenage pregnancies soar in Africa as schools shut for COVID by Stella Mapenzauswa

By Alexia Patino

The consequences of a virus that made people stay at home were unknown, not only for the U.S. but by the entire world.  In Africa one of the main outcome of Covid-19 has been the raise on teen pregnancies. Due to the fact that teens have to stay home the pregnancies are high on numbers. In south Africa, teen pregnancies have risen by 60%; and it is also being mentioned that going back to school would be hard for many vulnerable children. 
Between April 2020 and March 2021, more than 23,000 girls under 18 have given birth and about 1000 of them are under 14 years old. Just like in any country, schools are a form of protection and people feel save and spend most of their time there. During February and January of 2021, about 5000 girls became pregnant and 2000 entered early marriages. In countries like South Africa, girls as young as 10 years old have become pregnant over the past 18 months. According to the article most of these girls come form low-income households. 
Lastly, most of the African countries see abortion ad taboo and it is prohibited, despite the fact that many of these pregnancies are due to sexual abuse. 


https://news-decoder.com/teenage-pregnancies-soar-in-africa-as-schools-shut-for-covid/ 

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