Some 20 teen mothers and mothers-to-be from the community of Sophia participated in an interactive session on Tuesday. The session was aimed at assisting the Government in developing policies and programmes to improve the nutritional status of adolescent mothers.

On the forefront was the issue of anemia which affects one in every five pregnant women globally and is especially dangerous to adolescent mothers who not only require iron for themselves but for the developing fetus.
The event, which will be held annually, is an initiative of the Public Health Ministry’s Food Policy Division and took place at the Sophia Exhibition Complex.

It was themed ‘Help Me so I Can Help You’ and saw remarks coming from representatives from the Ministry of Public Health, non-Government organizations and the Small Business Bureau (SBB).

In an interview with media operatives, Adolescent Health Services Officer, Dr. Travis Freeman said that the women were chosen primarily from the Sophia Health Center as it services one of the highest numbers of teen mothers in the region.
“We realized that a lot of our teenage moms are anemic so we’re trying to remedy that situation,” Freeman said, later adding:

“This is a fraction of the young ladies at Sophia because a lot of them have other commitments but we tried to get at least 20 per cent of them to come out to the centre. So they would include mothers who are currently pregnant and also postnatal mothers.”
Freeman said that in the cases of anemic pregnant adolescent mothers, where the baby and the parent compete for iron, several complications can arise as a result.

“There are complications such intrauterine growth retardation which means that the baby is born smaller than usual. Also there is prematurity and other developmental issues and those babies who are born are usually slow learners.
“When it affects the mother is when that mother would have had great blood loss during the pregnancy…which may be critical for the mother,” he said.

He said further that education plays a crucial role in eliminating this issue and that the engagement forum will allow the necessary parties to better structure future strategies for the benefit of the target group.
At the forum, too, were several diagrams and posters on display; some of which were provided by the Vector Control Unit which educated the women on malaria, as it too contributes to anemia and nutritional deficiency.

Added to this were talks on pica practices during pregnancy which result in pregnant women experiencing cravings for non-nutritional and non-food substances such as mud and chalk which also heightens the anemia risk.

The Adolescent Health Unit has three initiatives at the Sophia Health Centre: a Community Parenting Support Group, an Adolescent Antenatal Clinic and an Adolescent Health and Wellness Clinic.