A majority of the more than 4 000 girls aged between 10 and 19, who gave birth in public health facilities in Eastern Cape in the past three months, were impregnated by their peers.
This was revealed by the Eastern Cape health department following a visit by Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa to Zwelitsha Senior Secondary School, which has the highest incidents of teenage pregnancies in the Alfred Nzo West education district.
A total of 19 girls are currently pregnant at the school and the number is suspected to be higher because 13 girls, who are believed to be pregnant, dropped out after the June holidays.
Since April, 4 055 girls aged 10 to 19 years have given birth at public health facilities in Eastern Cape. Of these, 3 961 were aged 15 to 19 years, while 94 were 10 to 14 years old.
In the period between April 1, 2023 and March 30 this year, a total of 16 222 girls aged 10-19 gave birth in public health facilities in the province. Of this number, 395 were girls aged 10 to 14 years.
Last year the national Department of Health reported that during the 2023/24 -financial year, a staggering 2 716 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years and 119 586 girls between 15 and 19 years became -mothers.
National health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the figures were only for girls who gave birth in public healthcare facilities.
“On the other hand, 1 226 girls aged between 10 and 14 years and 19 246 aged 15 to 19 years terminated pregnancies, a majority of which were unplanned pregnancies,” he said.
Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Mkhululi Ndamase said of the births recorded this year in the 10 to 19 age group, most of the girls indicated that they were impregnated by their peers. “Whenever a teenager is admitted at any of our facilities to give birth, our healthcare workers always enquire as to the father of the baby, especially girls still under the age to legally consent to sex. In most cases, they say they have been impregnated by boys the same age as them,” he said.
He said teenage pregnancies were mostly prevalent in rural areas of the province.
The problems of teenage pregnancies in Eastern Cape, and the high rates in the Alfred Nzo and Amathole districts, were also flagged by the parliamentary portfolio committee on basic education when it conducted oversight visits to assess the readiness of the education department for the 2024 academic year.
“Alfred Nzo is said to be confronted with high pregnancy rate among school-going children,” the committee said in its report after its oversight visits which took place on January 24 to 28, noting that in Amathole there were pupils, some in grade 8, who were pregnant.
Ndamase said the provincial departments of health, social development, and education in its engagement with parents, pupils, teachers, and community members in the Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo districts identified a lack of informal and factual education around sexual reproductive health and peer pressure as some of the factors that contributed to teen pregnancies.
“[There was also a] lack of adequate parental care, support and supervision, especially in child-headed families,” he said adding that gender-based violence was a challenge, especially in areas where there are no school hostels, resulting in children renting rooms on their becoming easy targets of GBV.
He said the department was working with other departments including education and social development and non-governmental organisation such as the UN Population Fund’s Beyond Zero, TB HIV Care and KeReady to strengthen services at the 513 youth zones that are run by the department of health.
“Youth zones make it easy for the youth to access health facilities without having to wait in queues. The youth are seen in dedicated consulting rooms and are seen by younger nurses. They also get an opportunity to discuss their own issues and get more information on sexual reproductive health and rights services,” he said.
He said the department has also established district integrated school health task teams in the Amathole, Chris Hani, Nelson Mandela Metro and Sarah Baartman districts to monitor the provision of -integrated school health -services which reproductive health and rights.
