Health Department concerned over rise in teenage pregnancies
The National Health Department has on Wednesday raised concerns over the rising number of teenage pregnancies across the country.
"As the Department of Health, we are very concerned about the increasing number of teen mothers because this has potential to affect their future as some of them may be forced to take a break from academics and look after their babies," says Health spokesperson Foster Mohale.
This comes after more than 145 teen mothers gave birth across the country.
The National Health Department on Tuesday confirmed that 1708 babies were born on Christmas Day in the Country.
This compared to 1414 babies that were delivered on Christmas Day in 2022.
Gauteng delivered 387 healthy babies followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 255, Western Cape with 231 , Eastern Cape with 221, Limpopo with 209, North West with 121, Mpumalanga with 161, Free State with 76 and Northern Cape with 47.
Mohale says the Department has established a sexual and reproductive health awareness campaign, that is meant to help empower young people to make use of health services with contraceptives and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and diseases.
"As part of efforts to address the low uptake of health services amongst young people, the Department has established dedicated areas called youth friendly zones in the primary health care facilities to ensure that young people do not wait in the queue with the rest of the patients and also get served by the young healthcare workers to openly discuss all their health needs."
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