DEFINED by the Segen Medical Dictionary as pregnancy of a female from ages thirteen to nineteen, before reaching a level of emotional, physical and psychological maturity, teenage pregnancy is a fairly common occurrence globally, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) approximating that 16 million women between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth each year. This amounts to 11% of all births worldwide.Guyana, according to the State of the World Population 2013 Report, has the second highest teenage pregnancy rate within the Caribbean and South America, behind Dominica. The question that should be asked is: Why are our rates so high? And while there is no one reason, there are several which should garner some concern.

HFLE PROGRAMME
Currently, within the education system, there exists an unrealistic position of abstinence only when it comes to sex education. In Guyana, there is the Health Family Life Education (HFLE) programme policy that has been accepted since 2001.
However, the programme itself was not implemented until 2006; and even then, it was in very few schools, and the teaching was not up to date, given factors such as unqualified teachers and counsellors and abstinence-only supporters within the education system.
As a result, many students were, and still are, not aware of the contraceptive measures they can employ. We see how the contributing effect of lack of proper sex education can lead to teen pregnancy, and how this in turn can lead to a draining of resources from the country’s coffers through things such as health care, foster care, and lost tax revenues, which according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), can be due to “lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers.”
While no correlative data exists here, this undoubtedly has a role to play in Guyana’s high teen pregnancy rates, which in turn put a strain on the country’s healthcare system. For example, in 2015, Minister of Health, Dr. George Norton, stated that teenage pregnancies contributed significantly to Guyana’s high mortality rate.

CERVICAL CANCER
Advances in research on data of women’s health have identified early teenage sex, which can result in pregnancy, as being a contributor to the rising rates of cervical cancer. This is of particular importance when considering that the Ministry of Health, in 2014, listed Guyana as having the third highest rate of cervical cancer in the Western Hemisphere.
Then of course there exists the factor of poverty. Poverty has both a causal relationship with teenage pregnancy and a consequential relationship. With limited job opportunities, a teenage mother may not be able to provide for her child’s basic needs. As a result, there will be considerable absence of investments in developmental needs, which can lead to the occurrence of inter-generational poverty.
According to a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2010 Report, children born into a life of poverty are 42% more likely to remain in the same economic circumstances when they get older. Inter-generational poverty would, of course, have an effect on the country’s economic stability, as the country would be losing tax revenues that would otherwise have been gained.

EFFECT ON ECONOMY
How teenage pregnancy can affect the economy is important, when one considers that it often has a long-term effect upon a woman’s long-term health.
Additionally, the existence of this issue has resulted in an increase in technical knowledge in related areas via support from external agencies.
The UNICEF-funded 2009 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), for example, has revealed that early childbearing, particularly among teenagers, has had negative socio-economic and socio-cultural consequences, such as early school dropouts, given the difficulty in managing child-rearing with education, work and other pressures.
These reports all point to the common conclusion that poverty has a large role to play in the rate of teen pregnancy, as, due to their not being able to afford it, many young women would not be able to access healthcare services and treatments such as contraceptives and abortions, even if they are aware of them.

Of course there are also other contributing factors, one being culture. The UNICEF, in collaboration with the Government of Guyana, had recently carried out a research on teenage pregnancy here, which found that one in every five Amerindian girls between the ages of 15 and 19 was a mother, as was one in every four girls who lived in poor homes. The numbers for those in a higher financial bracket is one in every 10.

The analysis, carried out in 2015/2016, found that, on the whole, approximately 15% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 had begun child bearing, and that prevalence is dependent on the area the girl lives, her ethnicity, and her poverty status.
For example, recognising the issue has resulted in inter-departmental social initiatives that not only impact the direct effect of teenage pregnancy, but also corollary issues. For example, the Ministry of Education, in partnership with the Child Protection Agency of the Ministry of Social Security, is in the process of developing a programme to help adolescent girls stay in school, even after they would have given birth.
The Ministry of Health has also put in place many services to help young teen mothers take care of not only their offspring, but also their own health and contraceptive concerns. These initiatives would, if successful, help to negate some of the dysfunctional effects teenage pregnancy has upon the society; as education levels would rise, and as such, job opportunities would be opened and economic stability would be improved.