The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have reported that over 15 million teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth every year as a result of rape and sexual assault. Nigeria is said to be ranked amongst the ten countries with the highest burden of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) with over 40,000 cases.
UNICEF in a
statement yesterday said many of the pregnancies result from
non-consensual sex.
According to UNICEF, despite advances in the last 20 years to
checkmate such cases, there had been too little progress in preventing
adolescent pregnancies, abortions, maternal deaths, sexually-transmitted
infections and HIV.
“There are significant gaps in availability, quality and access to
comprehensive se*uality education and services for young people,
especially in low-income countries.
“Relatively simple and well-known interventions, like midwifery
services and gender-based violence prevention and response, can make a
huge difference if scaled up and coupled with investments in
innovations, especially in the area of contraceptives,” the statement
said.
The statement quoted Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director,
UNICEF, as saying, “one in 40 fifteen year-old girls living in
sub-Saharan Africa faces the risk of dying during pregnancy and
childbirth in her lifetime.”
The world body further noted that maternal mortality has declined,
stressing that;
“in 2013, the global Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) was
210 maternal deaths per 100, 000 live births, down from 380 maternal
deaths per 100 000 live births in 1990 (a 45% reduction).
”The global reduction of MMR has accelerated, with a 3.5% annual
decline from 2000-2013, as compared with 1.4% between 1990 and 2000.
”However, at current trends, most countries will not achieve the MDG
target of a 75% reduction in MMR from 1990 to 2015. An average decline
of 5.5% or more every year since 1990 is needed to meet the target on
time.”
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