Guyana’s teen pregnancies twice global average

Nov 09, 2018 News

In Guyana, “adolescent fertility” carries a rate that is twice the global average. This is according to a country profile, released in 2017, on Adolescent and Youth Health in Guyana, executed jointly by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).
The report shows that for young women between 15 and 19, there have been 90 births per 1000 young women, or 9% of teenage girls in that age group. This is one of the highest fertility rates in Latin America and the Caribbean; as the regional average is 67 births per 1000 young women in that age group. The global estimate sits at 46 births per 1000 young women, about half of Guyana’s.

PANCAP Representative, Dennis Glasgow

Data for previous years show that, in 1980, Guyana’s adolescent fertility was over 100 births per 1000 young women in that age group. However, the country has made modest improvements in provision of sexual and reproductive health services, it has progressed very slowly, compared to most countries; as the global average has seen much better improvement. While from 1980 to 2015, the world has collectively lowered adolescent fertility rate by about half, Guyana has only recorded a 10% decrease.
ASPIRE Youth Network Country Director and Regional Youth Advocate with the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP)’s Youth Steering Committee, Dennis Glasgow, said that such issues are not solely the government’s responsibility; that society “must own up to social issues”. However, he said that government could equip youth with more knowledge on their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) by implementing Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in the education system; a programme which he said, should consider the intersection of maternal and adolescent health.
Non-Governmental Organisations, like ASPIRE and Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) have been advocating for the inclusion of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in public schools, to replace the Health and Family Life Education programme, as they have opined that it is not comprehensive enough to provide youth with the tools they need to care for their sexual health.
Also important to SRHR providers and advocates is the provision of safe, affordable medical abortions. It was only in 2015 that GRPA appealed for second level care professionals to be allowed to administer medical abortions. Since then, they have been providing affordable abortion services. Before then, public hospitals only provided abortions for women with ongoing complications, while private clinics provided the service at a high cost.