While commendable efforts to curb teenage pregnancy have been made, through policies like the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy in Schools (PPMLPS), challenges persist in implementation owing to resource constraints, cultural barriers and gaps in education. 

To address these issues effectively, a multi-stakeholder approach involving schools, healthcare facilities, civil society organisations, communities and families is crucial. Vital strategies include emphasising comprehensive sexual education, empowering teenagers, engaging parents and leveraging digital tools.

Well Being Africa (WBA) is marking this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) by calling attention to the interconnection between GBV and teenage pregnancy, which has grown at an alarming rate in South Africa. The organisation is also sharing the outcomes of a symposium on the prevention and management of teenage pregnancy held on 27 September 2023 and organised by the WBA in partnership with the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR).

In South Africa, evidence indicates a strong correlation between GBV and teenage pregnancy. A considerable proportion of teenage pregnancies result from forced sexual encounters, often involving intimate partner violence or sexual abuse. A report shows that around a third of South African girls experience sexual violence before the age of 18. These findings highlight the alarming connection between GBV and teenage pregnancy in South Africa and emphasise the urgent need for comprehensive interventions to address both issues concurrently to protect the well-being of adolescents.

Teenage pregnancy prevention: How can we achieve more?

The efforts by the DBE regarding teenage pregnancy prevention are laudable. In 2021, the DBE published the PPMLPS, aimed at reducing the increasing number of learner pregnancies. The policy affirms the following: 

• Providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education (CSE) and services to teenagers;
• Retaining learners following childbirth and returning them to the appropriate grade;
• Ensuring access to antenatal care for pregnant learners;
• Facilitating a stigma-free, non-discriminatory and non-judgemental environment for pregnant learners and those with babies; and
• Creating a positive and supportive environment where learners can access professional advice, information referrals, treatment, care, counselling and support.

While the PPMLPS is well articulated and comprehensive, its implementation is not without challenges and is also not consistent across provinces and schools. Some of the highlighted setbacks are: many schools are under-resourced and lack adequate infrastructure for effective implementation; not all educators are comfortable teaching sensitive topics related to sexual health or they receive inadequate training, thus affecting the quality of CSE; and in some cases, there has been resistance from parents or community leaders who feel that such education might conflict with their cultural or religious beliefs. 

Other hindrances to effective teenage pregnancy prevention include inconsistent messages to youths from different sources; gendered social norms which put young women at a disadvantage; and poor monitoring and evaluation of strategies and programmes on teenage pregnancy prevention. 

Despite the challenges, it has been reiterated that there is a need for collective efforts by all stakeholders (multisectoral approach) to win the fight against teenage pregnancies. For example, a collaboration between schools, healthcare facilities, social services and community-based organisations can provide a robust support system for teenagers. 

More efforts are needed to reduce teenage pregnancy risk factors while strengthening the protective factors. These include building capacity in teenagers to delay their sexual debut; involving parents/guardians; and creating a more positive school environment and supportive community structures where risk factors such as GBV are addressed. Communities need to be made more aware of the issues and capacitated to deal with them. Men and boys also need to be included in the conversations about preventing teenage pregnancy. 

Other opportunities include using trained peers and young people to deliver a planned sexuality curriculum, which can lead to more open discussions and higher retention of information. In addition, digital interventions, such as the use of mobile apps, online courses or social media campaigns can supplement traditional methods of providing information. 

Protecting the rights of teenage girls during pregnancy and post-delivery. What more can be done? 

Leveraging the DBE’s PPMLPS and the Maputo Protocol (MP), of which South Africa is signatory, is essential to enhance support for teenagers who become pregnant. The MP includes a section that stipulates: “States should ensure that women can access the necessary information, education and counselling support to effectively breastfeed their children and should establish and strengthen existing pre- and post-natal health and nutritional services for women during pregnancy and breastfeeding.”

More efforts are required to ensure that pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers are supported to achieve their academic and other goals without compromising their health or that of their babies. We need to think about creating a more supportive school environment by:

• Intensifying measures to make the school environment non-discriminative and stigma-free for learners who are pregnant or post-delivery. Lactating teenagers in particular would be prone to stigma if their breasts leak at school;
• Having access to maternal healthcare information for pregnant teenagers and mothers and relevant people;
• Empowering teachers to be better equipped to assist pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers by providing them with basic training on maternal care;
• Introducing school nurses and school social workers, for example, to serve a certain number of schools in a region;
• Establishing policies and strategies that support teenage mothers to provide optimal nutrition for their babies through breastfeeding, which will benefit not only the baby, but also the mother and community at large. Considerations could include: i) setting up an exclusive breastfeeding room in the school where teenage mothers can express breast milk; ii) giving breastfeeding mothers extra breaks for expressing breast milk; iii) allowing teenage mothers who live near the school to go home to express breast milk or breastfeed; iv) calling for donations of breast pumps so that teenagers can easily express breast milk; and v) creating awareness among learners regarding breastfeeding as an optimal mode of feeding infants, to encourage and vouch for breastfeeding among young mothers in schools; and
• Encouraging collaboration between the DBE and organisations and movements that support maternal health including breastfeeding. For example, civil society organisations could help ensure that breastfeeding is supported and encouraged among young mothers in schools.

The intersection between GBV and teenage pregnancy in South Africa demands urgent, comprehensive and collaborative action. Moreover, ensuring a supportive environment for pregnant teens and teenage mothers within schools, including access to maternal healthcare and breastfeeding support, is imperative. By prioritising these measures, the rights and well-being of teenage girls in South Africa would be safeguarded. DM

Mojisola Debbie Kupolati is a registered nutritionist and holds a doctoral degree in nutrition. She is a social entrepreneur and is passionate about improving people’s health through nutrition education/advocacy, research and social service interventions. In 2018, she, in conjunction with her colleagues, established Well Being Africa, an NGO operating in nutrition, psychosocial support and skills development. She has coordinated several community projects, including breastfeeding support, nutrition education for teachers, prevention and management of teenage pregnancy, promoting women’s right to breastfeeding under the Maputo Protocol, and more.