Print

Mail

wiki links

Teenage motherhood risks lives

One out of 10 babies in the world today is born to a teenage mother, greatly increasing the risk of death to both mother and infant, the humanitarian group Save the Children said yesterday in an annual report.

An estimated 70,000 girls aged 15 to 19 and over 1 million infants born to young mothers die each year from complications related to childbearing, the report said.

"In developing countries, pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among teenage girls," said Mike Kiernan, a Save the Children spokesman.

Some 99 percent of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, he said.

Girls in sub-Saharan Africa face the highest risk rates for young mothers, Kiernan said. Outside Africa, the risks are especially high in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Yemen, Guatemala, Haiti and Nicaragua.

The group's annual State of the World's Mothers report ranks the well-being of mothers in 119 countries, taking into account health, education and political status.

The report found that education was the single biggest factor in helping girls postpone pregnancy and have healthier children.

In Nigeria, for example, research showed that only 7 percent of women with seven years of schooling gave birth before age 20, compared with 43 percent of those with no education, the report said.

"The longer a girl stays in school, the less likely she is to be married young, give birth young and suffer death or disability due to young pregnancy," said Mary Beth Powers, the reproductive health adviser at Save the Children. "The longer the girl stays in school, the more likely her children are to survive."

The report's "Mothers' Index," which ranks the top 10 and the bottom 10 countries for mothers, shows a large literacy gap between the two extremes. In Sweden, ranked the best country for mothers, more than 99 percent of women are literate, while in Niger, ranked lowest, only 9 percent are.

After education, health care is key to addressing problems of child motherhood, the report said. It recommended tailoring health services to newly married girls and first-time mothers, with voluntary family planning a key component.

"Young married girls need access to contraception so they can delay first births until they are 20 when their bodies are more mature," Powers said.

Save the Children is part of a coalition of aid groups that will call upon the US government during the G-8 Summit in June to commit US$1 billion to global education by the year 2006, Powers said. Last year, the allocation was US$326.5 million.

"We think the United States' fair share is triple that amount," she said.

After Sweden, the best countries for mothers are: Denmark, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the US.

After Niger, the lowest-ranking states are Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Sierra Leone, Yemen, the Central African Republic and Mauritania.
This story has been viewed 2313 times.