Essay on Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies in the United States and South Africa

The current age presents a high prevalence in teenage pregnancies across the globe. The United States and South Africa represent many of those nations where teenage pregnancies present an issue of urgency not only to the health care providers but the society as a whole. These nations have measures put in place which aim at prevention of teens getting pregnant. The issue affects girls who are still young and have the potential of creating amazing lives for themselves and prevention of pregnancies at their age will help them stay on track and work towards empowering the young woman in the United States, South Africa and the world as a whole. It is, therefore, essential to look at all the aspects surrounding prevention of teen pregnancies in the two countries.

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As a future healthcare practitioner, it is necessary that I get a clear picture of the issue of prevention of early pregnancy. I have a significant role to play in the problem, and an understanding of the prevention of teen pregnancies and all the aspects surrounding it will help in the development of my expertise is handling the issue. It also presents the perfect opportunity for me to identify how I can help adolescent girls avoid getting pregnant at an early age. I will get the chance to empower them because I will have the necessary information that will give me an edge in reaching out to them. I will also be part of the health care professionals who will develop effective measures that will see teenage pregnancy eradicated not only in the United States and South Africa but the world as a whole.

There are various causes of teen pregnancies, and one is that peer pressure especially towards being sexually active. In many instances, these girls lack the necessary knowledge on sexual behavior and abstinence. Many of them engage in unprotected sex which leads to them becoming pregnant. There is also the issue of absentee parents, and therefore the adolescent girl lacks the necessary guidance a parent will provide towards sexual education. They will also try to find love to replace the absentee parents especially if it is the father. They look for it in men who take advantage of their vulnerability and make them pregnant. The current age gives a misconception of issues that concern sex (McCracken & Loveless, 2014). Media and society are slowly moving towards publicly glorifying sex and therefore giving these teenagers a reason to engage in sex. In many instances, they do not understand the emotionality that surrounds sexual activity. They will, therefore, engage in sex blindly and thus increase their chances of getting unintended pregnancies.

The society has various ideas towards teenage pregnancies. The girls get pregnant out of wedlock and in many communities it is an issue that goes against the social norm. Therefore there is a lot of discrimination by teenage pregnancy, in particular for the girls. Society will view one as different and immoral. Such an attitude is not justified. It makes the girls feel unwanted, and in many cases, they experience psychological distress, and some may even opt for suicide to save themselves from the social shame that comes with adolescent pregnancies. Judging the teenagers does not make the problem go away but makes them feel bad about themselves and think that they are failures. Getting pregnant as a teenager does not mean the end of the girls life and that is what society needs to show them.

Statistics indicate that teenage births were 6.3 percent of the total births that were reported in the United States in 2014. They totaled up o 13.9 percent of all non-marital births in the United States. The rates of teenage pregnancies increase and decrease over the years, and the drop between 2006 and now, the rates are still alarming because they remain higher than most industrialized countries around the world. It is the reason why prevention of teenage pregnancy is fundamental to all stakeholders in the United States (Penman-Aguilar et al., 2013). South Africa is no different. Prevention of adolescent pregnancies through appropriate and efficient services for the teens is a national priority in the country. The prevalence of the issue in the country is high with statistics showing that there are some schools in the country where sixty to seventy percent of the girls are reported to be pregnant (Taylor et al., 2014).

There are various organizations in the United States and South Africa that work towards the prevention of teen pregnancies in these countries. In the US there is Candies Foundation that deals with educating the youths on matters that concern teenage pregnancies. The organization raises communication causes that help raise awareness about the issue of teenage pregnancies in the US. It focuses on changing the teen culture through the involvement of celebrities in their ads. The organization provides a platform for the teenagers to talk to these celebrities in a language they can clearly understand. South Africa has the Dignity Center which aims at providing holistic help especially information, prevention education and awareness on teenage pregnancies. The organization moves to primary and secondary schools talking to girls on matters that touch on teen pregnancies. They also help out those girls who get pregnant while still young and are experiencing a crisis.

The Congressional Research Service has come up with a book Teenage Pregnancy Prevention that takes a look at the statistics of teenage pregnancies. The book goes further to identify all the programs geared towards the prevention of adolescent childbearing and any financial help these girls can get. The book is relevant in providing the necessary information especially on available avenues that may help prevent the problem or even help those girls who are already affected. It also provides a basis for the creation of necessary measure that can contribute to avoiding teenage pregnancies. There is also a website https://thenationalcampaign.org/ which aims at the prevention of teen and unplanned pregnancies. The site aims at preventing childhood pregnancies which will eventually reduce other social issues including poverty especially in children, failure and dropout from school, low-birth weight, the absence of fathers and the poor preparation for the workforce, especially for young women. It collects data and develops statistics that will help in creating of measures that will result in the prevention of the problem. The website also avails the data for any individual who needs to get a clear picture of matters that concern teen pregnancies. There is also a movie that shows the plight of teenage mothers. The movie is Mom At Sixteen, and it brings out the problem a young girl goes through as she tries to raise her child when she is sixteen years. She, however, joins a support group of other teens who are experiencing similar issues. She even goes further to talk o her schoolmates concerning matters that surround teenage pregnancies. The movie is appropriate because it provides an experience that shows the adolescent girls all the problems that come with being a mother while still young.

The two countries have measures through which they are using to prevent teenage pregnancies. In South Africa for example, the government and other organizations have introduced a form of training in primary and secondary schools. They use schools as a kind of vehicle for the delivery of life orientation training (Willan, 2013). It includes issues of abstinence, decision making, contraception and other ways that will help in dealing with teenage pregnancies (Chandra-Mouli, Camacho & Michaud, 2013). In the United States, the government also has various programs in place that work towards prevention of early pregnancy. Some of these programs include the Adolescent Family Life (AFL) which mainly works with teen mothers in preventing second pregnancies and taking care of them. There is also the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program which funds various projects in the United States geared towards prevention of adolescent pregnancies (Goesling et al., 2014).

A structural intervention would be effective in addressing the issue of teenage pregnancies across the globe. Such a response factors in all the factors the teenager can control and those that are out of her control including socio-economic disparities. It involves the adjustment of social and cultural norms to include the empowerment of young women on matters concerning sexuality. It can be through the provision of information and training on issues of contraception and abstinence. The structural approach will also need o focus on improving schooling opportunities for the girls through availing of grants and scholarships that will help them finance their studies. The method will be more efficient compared to other methods because it is a comprehensive approach. It factors in all the aspects that surround the teenager other than just looking at one side of the coin.

As a future health practitioner, my aim is to work on the total eradication of teenage pregnancies. Currently, the methods in used are not adequately dealing with preventing the problem, and it seems like there is a gap that interferes with solving the problem. I will, therefore, focus on dealing with the girls as individuals. Each of them is unique and has various factors that may push him/her to get pregnant. Research and more training will be my basing factors that will ensure my goal of reducing the rates of teenage pregnancies in the United States and the world, in general, is fulfilled.

References

Chandra-Mouli, V., Camacho, A. V., & Michaud, P. A. (2013). WHO guidelines on preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in developing countries. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52(5), 517-522.

Goesling, B., Colman, S., Trenholm, C., Terzian, M., & Moore, K. (2014). Programs to reduce teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and associated sexual risk behaviors: a systematic review. Journal of Adolescent Health, 54(5), 499-507.

McCracken, K. A., & Loveless, M. (2014). Teen pregnancy: an update. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 26(5), 355-359.

Penman-Aguilar, A., Carter, M., Snead, M. C., & Kourtis, A. P. (2013). Socioeconomic disadvantage as a social determinant of teen childbearing in the US. Public Health Reports, 128(2_suppl1), 5-22.

Taylor, M., Jinabhai, C., Dlamini, S., Sathiparsad, R., Eggers, M. S., & De Vries, H. (2014). Effects of a teenage pregnancy prevention program in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Health care for women international, 35(7-9), 845-858.

Willan, S. (2013). A review of teenage pregnancy in South AfricaExperiences of schooling, and knowledge and access to sexual & reproductive health services. Partners in Sexual Health, 1-63.