1 109 TEEN PREGNANCIES: DPM SPRINGS INTO ACTION

MANZINI – “We can’t be bystanders as teenagers are impregnated by adults,” says the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thuli Dladla.

Dladla was reacting to the statistics which revealed that the number of teenagers who visited health facilities for their first antenatal care (ANC) appointments in the last three months was 1 109. This publication, on Friday, reported that these minors included three 12-year-old pre-teenagers, four of them were 13 years old, 29 were aged 14 years and a total of 82 were 15-year-olds. The DPM said following these alarming statistics, her office would consult other relevant stakeholders and establish how best the situation could be dealt with, as there were laws in the country to deal with such acts. Dladla said her office shall not deal with the issue in a shortsighted manner, as that could lead to the minors shying away from public health facilities, which could result in them losing their lives due to complications.

Disheartening

“We need a think-tank within the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice (and Constitutional Affairs) and the police in order to come up with the best way to deal with this disheartening issue,” said Dladla. She minced no words as she explained that guardians and/or parents of the minors had a role to play in identifying and bringing those responsible for impregnating the youngsters to book. She said the parents and/or guardians at some point got to know who was responsible for impregnating their children and based on that, it was also their responsibility to report the statutory rape to the police. The DPM said: “This issue is quite disturbing, as I have at some point, found pregnant underage girls at the Mbabane Government Hospital. My biggest concern is that in addition to the rape, some of the children are not able to return to school.”

Dladla further said laws that would permit abortion in such instances could not be rushed to, as the key issue was to determine the cause of this act and deal with it. The DPM emphasised that this issue was quite complicated and her office was still brainstorming on how best to deal with it. In vernacular she said: “Ngisayidlela ematsambo engcondvo.” This publication had sought the DPM to establish what steps her office would take to ensure that the people responsible for impregnating the minors were dealt with through the country’s laws. The Health Promotional Officer in the Ministry of Health, Calvin Dlamini, was on Friday quoted saying to record such numbers in the first quarter meant that by the end of the year, the numbers would have increased drastically. He said last year they recorded an overall total of 4 469 teenagers who made their first ANC visit.

According to Dlamini, 1 179 came from the Hhohho Region, 1 073 from the Lubombo Region, 1 156 from the Manzini Region, and 1 061 teenagers were from the Shiselweni Region. Dlamini stated that in the past three months, from January to March, a total of 154 teenagers aged 16 years, 228 aged 17 years old, 297 who were 18 years old, and 312 aged 19 years, made their first ANC visit in various health facilities. Dlamini said these age groups were not well-matured and their organs were still maturing. He said this was a concern because they had over 1 000 teenagers whose pregnancies were at risk.

Episiotomy

He explained that 90 per cent of teenagers were not able to undergo natural birth and needed episiotomy. When asked if they reported the cases of underage teenagers to the police, Dlamini said they were aware of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act’s stance on minors, but they were faced with a dilemma. The SODV Act, 2018, provides that the legal consenting age in Eswatini is 18 years. According to Section 37(1) of the Act: ‘‘A person who maintains a sexual relationship with a child commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 20 years.’’ Dlamini explained that they were fully aware that when a minor came for an ANC visit, they should report the matter to the police. However, he stated that taking the legal route meant that they would be chasing all the pregnant teenagers from seeking medical assistance.

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