Teenage pregnancies are known to be associated with adverse outcomes
during pregnancy and childbirth. Teenage pregnancies are becoming a
major concern in Sri Lanka, with 6.5 percent of the total pregnancies
registered during 2009 being in the 15-19 year age group.
Despite a general decline in teenage
pregnancies between 2007-2009,
it remains high in certain districts as
indicated by the table.
Why are girls
becoming teen mothers?
A combination of
factors hinders
the decline in teenage
pregnancies in these districts.
These include:
- A high level of unmet need for family planning due
to myths about practicing family planning
- Lack of accessibility to reproductive health services
- Non-use of any family planning methods due to lack
of knowledge and opposition from ‘spouse’
- Opting not to seek the services of public health midwives
- Social, cultural and economic issues as reflected in the diagram
- Targeted interventions for identified risk groups. These
include, families with low socio-economic background, lower educational level of parents, mother working abroad and other unsatisfactory family environments such as heavy
alcohol usage of the father leading to domestic violence,
severe economic difficulties at home and teenagers living
with relatives other than their own parents
- Providing comprehensive sexuality education in schools
- Improving the role of public health midwife to include counselling and provision of reproductive health services to
adolescent girls. Improving access to contraceptives through government service delivery points and social marketing
- Implementing a comprehensive behavioural communication strategy
