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Prevention of early pregnancies

Only a quarter of young people aged 10-24 years in Eastern and Southern Africa complete upper secondary school and a quarter of young women aged 20-24 give birth before their 18th birthday. There are about 21.6 million unintended pregnancies in this region every year. 

 

Maternal conditions are the leading cause of death among adolescent girls 15-19 years old globally.

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This education programme is vitally important to support the community and region.

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*statistics on this page have been taken from UNESCO Supporting the Education and Health of Young Mothers in Africa

Scope of the problem

In sub-Saharan Africa, more than six million pregnant and parenting girls (aged 10–19) are out of school.  Eastern and Southern Africa is also the epicentre of the HIV crisis, where 76 per cent of new infections among young people aged 15-24 years are acquired by girls.

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There is hope...

The good news is that every extra year a girl stays in school can increase her future income by 10 per cent and a child of a mother who can read is 50 per cent more likely to live past the age of five. Girls who complete secondary education tend to be healthier, earn more, marry later, have fewer children and provide better health care and education for the next generation, mainly because women tend to reinvest 90 per cent of their earnings into their families. 

 

Education is one of the most protective and powerful tools that an adolescent girl can utilise to be healthy and do better in life.

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