SOUTH African lockdowns and other restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus crisis have led to a rise in teenage pregnancies in Africa, with aid organizations warning of a regression in girls’ rights to education and health.

The number of children born to teen mothers in South Africa’s most populous province, Gauteng, has jumped 60% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Save the Children.

New figures from the Gauteng Department of Health show that more than 23,000 girls aged under 18 gave birth between April 2020 and March 2021 – of which 934 were aged under 14 – compared to 14,577 girls aged 19 and under having babies in the same period a year earlier.

Gauteng is home to more than 15 million people, a quarter of South Africa’s population, and includes the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, and its administrative capital, Pretoria.

In the Northern Cape, more than 5 000 schoolgirls have fallen pregnant between April 2020 and June this year.

The provincial Education Department has raised concerns about the alarming number of pregnant teenagers saying some are as young as ten.

MEC Zolile Monakali said the provincial education department has now invested in life skill programmes to support learners.

“When the pandemic started up to the end of June this year, we recorded 5015 pregnant cases of girls between the ages of ten and nineteen and of those 154 is accounted for by girls between the ages of ten and fourteen that is a big concern for our education system,” said Monakali.

“Currently in the Northern Cape Department of Education, we are attending to five cases which involve educators and learners. When educators are found guilty in such cases, it is a dismissible offence, we even go so far as to contact the South African Council of Educators to scrap their names from the educators roll.”

In August this year, The Soul City Institute for Social Justice said it’s not surprised by the figures that close to a thousand young girls in Gauteng gave birth between March this year and April last year.

The Institute says although the COVID-19 pandemic might have put the issue in the spotlight, this is not a new problem. The Gauteng Health Department recorded over 23 000 teenage pregnancies between April 2020 and March 2021, with 934 being girls aged between 10 and 14.

Soul City Institute CEO Phinah Kodisang says this is a reflection of how the country continues to fail children.

“For us as Soul City Institute it’s not a shock. We know this has been an ongoing problem. The numbers have been escalating probably because of COVID-19. But this problem has been a standing problem. And because we do not call it what it is, it’s statutory rape when a 10 or 14-year-old is having sex. Because the age of consent in South Africa is 16 years.”

Early pregnancy and motherhood in South Africa forces many girls to drop out of school, traps many in a cycle of poverty dependant on public assistance, and leaves many stigmatised by society for being teenage mothers or forced into early marriage.

It also creates a greater risk in terms of maternal complications resulting in low survival rates of babies and forces many girls to prematurely take on an adult role which they are not emotionally or physically prepared for. This has devastating social and economic costs.

Marumo Sekgobela, Save the Children South Africa’s Health and Nutrition Thematic Manager, said:

“Watching a child turn into a mother is heart-breaking. Children need to be children, not birthing them. It’s particularly devastating to learn that many of the girls who gave birth last year were barely teenagers.

“The global pandemic risks being a time of irreversible setbacks and lost progress for girls. Unless we act fast and decisively, the impact on girls’ futures – and on all our futures – will be devastating.

“There has never been a more important time to empower teenagers to take control of their sexual health and stay safe. Save the Children calls on the Government of South Africa and Gauteng province to ensure that adolescents, regardless of gender, have access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and services. We also call on families, communities, religious & traditional leaders to support reproductive health rights of teenagers. It is time that we dismantle the barriers to accessing services.”

Unintended pregnancy among adolescents requires holistic approaches that build girl’s empowerment, help them make decisions about their lives, including around sexual and reproductive health, engages the support of men and boys in their lives, and offers them real opportunities so that motherhood is not seen as their only destiny.

A key factor contributing to the sexual and reproductive health risks that adolescents face in South Africa is lack of access to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) as well as access to affordable, and appropriate health services.

In South Africa, Save the Children implements an integrated and holistic programme that aims to support children, adolescents and young people to stay in school, stay healthy, and achieve their full potential.

Last Friday, the Department of Basic Education said scores of young girls between the ages of 10 and 19 years old are infected with HIV every week.

This was revealed during the department’s state of Teenage pregnancy and Comprehensive Sexuality report presented to the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on Tuesday.

The report has revealed that teenage pregnancy increased by 30% higher than the annual average between April 2020 and March 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Deputy director-general Dr Granville Whittle said poverty, rape, gaps in the Comprehensive Sexuality Education, and school dropouts are among the culprits. 

“Girls are four times more likely to be impacted or affected by HIV compared to boys. 46% of sexual abuse complaints in South Africa are children, 15.1% of all the girls experience rape, sexual harassment, verbal abuse or bullying in schools.”

In the first quarter of 2021, just over 35 000 pregnancies were recorded among young girls aged between 15 and 19 years old. 

1053 pregnancies were recorded among children aged between 10 and 14 years old.

These numbers were increased by the countrywide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. 

Whittle told Parliament that the numbers are alarming and need immediate action and solutions. 

Additional reporting by Reliefweb

THE Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has undertaken to financially assist students left stranded in Turkey after the suspended ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule’s foundation failed to pay up.

 Magashule’s foundation sent the students to Turkey in 2017.

DIRCO said letters sent to suspended Magashule’s foundation regarding the students stranded in Turkey went unanswered, leaving embassy officials to help them out, according to departmental spokesperson, Lunga Mgqengelele.

“Letters were written to the foundation and all other stakeholders. To date, nothing has been forthcoming from the foundation,” said Ngqengelele on Sunday.

According to media reports, officials from the embassy in Ankara had to fork out money from their own pockets to put the 21 students up in two tiny two-bedroom apartments after they were evicted, leaving some sleeping in a park.

They managed to put the 21 students up in two tiny two-bedroom apartments after they were evicted, leaving some sleeping in a park.

The students, who the Sunday Times met in Istanbul this week, were sponsored to study at the private Bahcesehir University.

They are now anxious about what they will face tomorrow when the booking of the flats they have rented runs out, and they again find themselves on the streets.

Aged between 20 and 28, the students have completed three years of study and have one year left, and are desperate to complete their qualifications.

A male student who asked not to be named said after they were evicted he slept on a bench in a nearby park.

Others slept on the ground on their clothes and belongings.

“It was humiliating,” he said. “The security guard at the park showed us a place where it was warmer, between two buildings in the park. We slept there for two nights before an official at the embassy gave us some money for these two tiny apartments. But we don’t know where we are going tomorrow.”

A mission report from the embassy reportedly stated that Magashule’s promises to pay the owner of the private student housing service “were unfulfilled”, and officials were “concerned that this matter would attract media attention and put SA in a bad light”.

The report was dated 5 September 2021.

The owner of Bogazici Student Dormitories, Mehmet Kara, said Magashule owed him over R13 million (€800,000) after not paying his bill for 32 months.

The students reportedly completed three years of their studies and had one year left to be done with their qualifications.

The foundation has yet to respond to the allegations.

VICE-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT) Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng has apologised to the LGBTQIA+ community for a seminar she co-hosted on Sunday, September 4.

The seminar, which was hosted by Phakeng with Dr Kgomotso Mathabe, a practising urologist and a member of the Steve Biko Academic Hospital’s Gender Clinic, was streamed on social media platforms last weekend.

The seminar, titled “What does science say about LGBTQA+”, raised the ire of many on social media.

In addition to finding the title of the seminar distasteful, the LGBTQIA+ community was also dismayed by Mathabe’s comments that being born intersex was potentially life-threatening and required medical correction.

Gender groups also commented that the seminar itself could be seen as misinformation.

The Triangle Project, a non-profit LGBTI human rights organisation based in Cape Town, stated, “The public outrage on all social media platforms responds to the innate violence and harms this seminar has caused on trans and intersex persons and their families who feel the daily violence of medical and pathologised diagnosis that have no positive outcome on their lives.”

According to a statement by UCT, the apology came after some deep reflection on Phakeng’s part since the session.

The university said Phakeng was deeply saddened by the pain the seminar had caused.

It further said that she would meet with the LGBTQIA+ community in sessions over the next few weeks in an effort to learn, understand, grow and try to heal some of the hurt caused.

“Her intention with the session was to bring a spotlight to matters that marginalise and deeply hurt the LGBTQIA+ community and this was done in an effort to bring change,” said UCT.

On September 6, soon after the seminar, the university said it had noted some views in regard to both the recent VC Open Lecture and a social media session hosted by the vice-chancellor.

The university said it respects the rights of the LGBTQA+ community on its inclusive campus and beyond.

It said the matter was receiving the urgent attention of the Chair and Deputy Chair of Council.

“UCT will immediately put together a panel to review the matter and come up with the university’s position. The panel will have LGBTQA+ representation,” it said.

“Professor Phakeng respects the rights of the LGBTQA+ and has decided to put on hold any other sessions on LGBTQA+. She will continue with any other subjects she may have planned as part of her #StrengthInDiversity series on social media.”

Chair of Council, Ms Babalwa Ngonyama said:
“As the Chair of the Council of the University of Cape Town, I note and welcome the unreserved apology from the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng for the hurt and distress caused by the session that she hosted on Sunday, 5 September entitled, ‘What does science say about LGBTQIA+’.”

“I appreciate her humility, integrity and courage in reflecting on this matter and her recognition that there was harm caused.”

Ngonyama added: “I have no doubt that the VC will use this moment of learning to come back even stronger in her continued quest to work towards inclusivity and diversity for all. She has at the centre of her work and vision for the institution always promoted human rights and dignity for all.”

“I am sure she will work very hard to reach out to the LGBTQIA+ community and those concerned with what transpired and will attempt to make amends.
I have no doubt that the excellent work done all across UCT that has placed us at the forefront of issues of inclusivity and diversity will continue and go from strength to strength.”

* Inside Education

THE Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has confirmed that over 73 000 successful Grade 1 and 8 applications were recorded on Monday 13 September 2021, on Day 1 of the Phase 2 applications.

The provincial education department says it has received over 73,000 Grade 1-8 online applications for 2022.

“As of 12 noon on Monday – four hours since going live, a total of 73,305 applications were recorded on our system,” said provincial education department spokesperson Steve Mabona.

Of that, 69,300 applications were recorded for Grade 1 and 3,981 Grade 8 applications.

Parents who were unable to register their children for Grade 7 are also now able to make online applications.

“It must be noted that, before the system opened this morning, approximately 9,000 parents were on the landing page waiting for it to open,” said Mabona.

“As such, this caused an administrative delay which needed developers to clear the said users after opening the system at 8am,” he added.

Parents and guardians must upload their documents onto the system within seven days of applying.

They can also submit the documents directly to the school they applied to.

“It is incredible that our online admissions system keeps advancing and making strides as the years progress. This year was the first time we launched our two-phased application approach and the extent of its success has been astounding,” said Mabona.

Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said: “We are grateful to all parents and guardians who have conveyed their success in applying for their children using our system.”

The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s education MEC Khume Ramlifho has also urged all parents and guardians to secure their child’s school placement and ensure that they do not miss a day of schooling by submitting their applications through the online admission system.

“Delays in applying for online admission has had a huge negative impact on the future of our children in that many learners across the province have missed months of schooling,” said Ramulifho.

“This is the most critical level of learning as the child will be starting their first stage of academic life at a primary school and everything must be planned properly so that they enjoy the new beginnings. In most cases, failure by parents to apply timeously affects both them and their child as they will be frustrated, and will be unable to budget for school uniforms, stationery, and scholar transport, not be knowing whether their child has secured a place or not.”

Department officials will still be available for assistance during phase-two applications on all social media platforms, decentralised walk-in centres and the call centre on 0800-000-789.

* Inside Education

NHLANHLA MPOFU and MNCEDISI MAPHALALA|

IN many countries where many languages are spoken, English is often the language of teaching and learning in schools.

Learners get their knowledge of school subjects through the use of English – be it reading and writing or speaking and listening.

Learners who are comfortable using specific English language structures, phrases and terms as they are used in each school subject have greater academic success.

Some school systems therefore aim to teach language and subject content at the same time.

Organising the curriculum this way is known as Language Across the Curriculum. In South Africa – a country with 11 official languages – it’s referred to as English Across the Curriculum. This is because English is the language of learning and teaching from grade 4, where pupils tend to be 10 years old.

The English Across the Curriculum strategy is to develop English language skills across all high school subjects, not just by studying English itself. It pays attention to how English is used for developing knowledge in other subjects such as Life Sciences, Mathematics or Geography.

Realising the importance of this approach, South Africa’s Department of Basic Education published a Manual for Teaching English Across the Curriculum in 2014.

The manual provided high school teachers with subject-specific activities and lesson preparation demonstrations so they could follow the language strategy.

But in 27, the department reported that high school teachers weren’t using this approach as was expected of them. This meant some high school learners would find it difficult to acquire subject knowledge.

Subject concepts and skills can’t be understood outside the language they occur.

We decided to explore whether this problem arose from the training that teachers were getting. Our study explored how student teachers in different universities were prepared for integrating language and subject learning.

Student teachers in our study sample acknowledged the importance of developing English language in subject learning. But most of them indicated that their preparation to use the English Across the Curriculum strategy was largely incidental. Their curriculum didn’t ensure it.

Secondly, they rarely saw their own lecturers modelling the strategy.

Preparing teachers

We held several focus group discussions with 102 final year Bachelor of Education students from three universities in South Africa.

The Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation also supports the English Across the Curriculum strategy.

It states that teachers who successfully complete an initial professional qualification should be proficient in at least one official South African language as a language of learning and teaching.

We found that at University A, there were no specific English Across the Curriculum courses or activities. A course that the student teachers mentioned as coming close was academic literacy. But this was a generic course that all first-year students took to develop academic language skills. It had little to do with English Across the Curriculum.

At University B there was a well-defined curriculum for the study of English Across the Curriculum. It allowed the students to choose between two languages of instruction, namely, Afrikaans and English.

Student teachers who selected English as the medium for teaching enrolled for a number of courses in their four years of study which modelled how to infuse language and subject learning.

The student teachers seemed confident that they would be able to do this in their future classroom. But they worried that during their teaching practice, they didn’t observe the mentor teachers using the strategy.

At University C student teachers were prepared as English Across the Curriculum practitioners using one course in their fourth year.

The aim of this course was to guide student teachers on how learners acquired language skills that would develop their thought processes in subject specific content. This course focused on how student teachers could use listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in subject learning.

Overall, we found that the student teachers weren’t confident that they could create the conditions for subject learning using English as a language of instruction. They didn’t have a thorough understanding of integrating English language skills and subject learning.

Some universities, like University B, are making efforts to prepare student teachers to follow the strategy. In others, like A and C, this preparation is largely fragmented, unintentional and left to chance. It shows a mismatch between policy and practice.

Identifying gaps

There’s no perfect teaching approach guaranteed to prepare student teachers to practise English Across the Curriculum. But there are a number of opportunities that universities can use.

Based on our research, we propose a specialised language knowledge for content teaching approach. This is different from the current strategy in teacher education, where English language is used for academic activities but not meant to enhance subject-specific proficiency.

In the approach we recommend, lecturers in different disciplines across the teacher education curriculum use language to represent content knowledge in an accessible way. This goes beyond linguistic forms such as vocabulary and grammar. It looks at how language is used for communication in a specific subject.

Learning activities such as lectures, microteaching, lesson planning, portfolio development, reflection exercises and teaching practice should all be used to develop student teachers’ specialised language knowledge for content teaching.

Going forward

Our study initiates an important discussion that various universities through their faculties of education can have. But planning for the simultaneous development of student teachers’ subject and language knowledge isn’t easy.

It requires a review of the teacher education curriculum, reworking the knowledge base for student teachers and providing professional development for lecturers who teach student teachers.

With creative thinking, universities and government departments can find practical solutions that should enhance the academic success of school children through quality language and subject learning.

* The Conversation

A four-year-old girl from Soweto has been raped, allegedly by a man living at the daycare centre she attends, the Gauteng Department of Social Development has confirmed.

The Gauteng Social Development MEC Morakane Mosupye said the department has since sent a team of investigators to establish if the Silindokuhle Day Care Centre was operating legally.

“In terms of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, partial care facilities are places of care for children between 0-6 years which must provide a safe and secure environment for children,” said  Mosupyoe.

“Furthermore, this investigation will enable the department to take legal steps to remedy this unfortunate event and provide the family and toddler with psychosocial support,” said Mosupyoe.

Mosupye added: “Women and children are constant targets for rape and abuse in our country. If indeed any fault is found regarding the ECD in question the department must take action immediately.”

The incident comes off the back of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on Sunday.

He spoke about the country’s progress in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, but he also touched on the country’s “other pandemic” – which is the violence against women and children.

“This month alone there have been a number of terrible crimes committed against women and girls,” said Ramaphosa.

University of Fort Hare law student Nosicelo Mtebeni was murdered and dismembered in East London; a Grade 1 pupil from Khensani Primary School in Soshanguve was raped in the school’s toilets; Palesa Maruping was found hanging from the ceiling of a house in Khuma location in the North West; Pheliswa Sawutana was strangled to death in Kosovo informal settlement in Cape Town.

“These are just the cases that were covered in the media; there were others that were not. These gruesome acts of violence cannot go unpunished,” said Ramaphosa.

It is unclear if police have made any arrests yet.

NATIONAL Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), run by the education ministry, has bagged global recognition from UNESCO for its innovative approach towards education.

The recognition is for educating differently-abled people through technology-enabled inclusive learning material.

The NIOS move has a specific focus on Indian sign language-based content, the organization said on Sunday.

According to UNESCO, the shift to online learning due to the covid-19 pandemic has impacted over 320 million children in India alone.

The lack of education devices, disabled-friendly online teaching and special assistive technologies has further hampered access to education for children with disabilities.

By awarding NIOS the King Sejong Literacy Prize, the jury has recognized the value of providing for the unique educational and language needs of PwD learners by developing teaching content in sign language through digital mode.

“The award-winning programme focuses on the use of digital tools and local language to help persons with disabilities the option to access Indian Sign Language (ISL)-based content.

The programme notably developed Indian Sign language as a language subject at secondary level and videos in sign language version in seven subjects at secondary level and senior secondary level as well as an ISL dictionary, made available through the NIOS portal,” NIOS said.

To be sure, NIOS, an open learning school board, is also implementing the government’s virtual school initiative announced last month.

Every year, the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes focus on a specific theme. This year, the focus was on inclusive distance and digital literacy learning.

Along with NIOS, this year’s UNESCO International Literacy Prizes was awarded to other five outstanding literacy programs from Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guatemala, Mexico, and South Africa.

Established in 1989, with the support of the Government of the Republic of Korea, the recognition is awarded to governments, governmental agencies or nongovernmental organizations displaying merit and achieving effective results in the fight for universal literacy.

Mint.com

FINALLY, the DStv Schools Netball Challenge provincial finals are upon us. Starting on 10 September, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, and Western Cape schools will battle it out for the two top spots in each province to represent the respective provinces at the highest schools netball competition in the country.

So far the Northern Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State already have their representatives for the national competition which will take place between 23-26 September.

Hoërskool Diamantveld and Wildeklawer represent the diamond province, Hoërskool Pietersburg, Hoërskool Ben Vorster, Hlabi Secondary School and ME Makgato Secondary School will represent Limpopo while KwaZulu Natal will have Edendale Technical High School and Ashton International College in its corner. Wilgerivier High School and Teto Secondary School from the Free State complete the determined teams for the final round.

Hoërskool Middelburg hosts the Mpumalanga provincial competition where six high schools from around the province will do battle for the honours while Hoërskool Dinamika and Edenvale High School will open the competition in the Gauteng leg at Hoërskool Dr E.G. Jansen Boksburg.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic had stalled most of the action of the Netball Challenge owing to the lockdown restrictions.

The tournament was launched in May with local inter-school leagues which progressed to regionals and now provincials before the big one, the national competition which will be broadcast on SuperSport.

The competition will unearth future Spar Proteas and the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town is a huge inspiration for the thousands of players who took to the court throughout this competition.

South African Schools Netball president, Di Woolley hopes that the ongoing pandemic will no longer be a hindrance in completing the competition.

“I am hoping this horrible thing called Covid stays out of our lives so we can continue with our programme as scheduled and planned because these children are looking forward to playing ad doing what they do best. I am just hoping and praying people stay safe, look after themselves so we can play and enjoy ourselves to the best of our abilities,” says Woolley.

“The children are not as fit as they should be or can be. So we are allowing a couple of players per team to come to the national championships so they can substitute and so on because these children are not very fit. And to get back into things will take so much effort and time. But I think our netball kids are up and running and want to do things the way it should be done,” adds Woolley.

Netball fans can catch the exciting action via streaming on the SuperSport Schools App from 9am.

* Supersport.com

IMPROVING the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy, especially ‘reading for meaning,’ is now an apex priority for the Department of Basic Education.

Addressing the UNESCO World Literacy Day, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the department remains convinced that literacy and numeracy are the heartbeats of basic education.

“His Excellency Mr President Cyril Ramaphosa has given us as the basic education sector a mandate to ensure that every learner can read with comprehension across all the subjects by their tenth birthday. Thus, we have since coined eleven priorities to take the basic education sector to the next level,” Motshekga said.

The Minister added that in 2019, the department launched the National Reading Coalition (NRC) to support reading improvement across the country.

The NRC’s main tasks are establishing reading clubs, training teachers, and material development in reading, numeracy and literacy.

They are also aimed at mobilising resources and expertise to enhance quality teaching and learning in the reading, numeracy, and literacy space.

The Minister announced that South Africa has designed its first-of-its-kind online programme dubbed ‘The Comprehension Across the Curriculum’ that offers an opportunity for teachers to be upskilled in reading comprehension.

“The programme will be launched later this month and will train teachers to teach reading comprehension skills across the curriculum,” Motshekga said.

The department has also launched an Integrated National Reading Sector Plan which aligns with its policy lodestar, the National Development Plan (NDP) that seeks to achieve critical developmental milestones by 2030.

“The NDP envisions that by 2030, schools will provide all learners with quality education, especially in Literacy, Mathematics and Science.

“The National Reading Sector Plan is an overarching evidence-based strategy that will alter the country’s entire reading and literacy landscape,” the Minister said.

The Minister added that the main thrust of this plan is to ensure reading for meaning across the curriculum, in all grades, and in all schools throughout the country. Furthermore, to ensure that all learners are taught to read well and read for meaning.

According to the Minister, the plan would have been successfully implemented throughout the system by 2024, meaning that all teachers would have been trained on the latest reading pedagogies.

Rural Education Assistants’ Programme (REAP)

To address disparities in Basic Education, the department has developed the novel Rural Education Assistants’ Programme (REAP).

The REAP programme uses Education Assistants in the Foundation and Intermediate Phases (Grades 1-4) to improve the quality of education, particularly literacy and reading skills, in rural schools.

DR KIM JONAS|

PREGNANCIES among adolescent girls remain a global problem. An estimated 21 million girls aged 15–19 years in developing countries become pregnant and about 12 million of them give birth every year.

Pregnancies not only have adverse health risks for adolescent mothers and their babies – these problems can persist into the next generation.

For example, girls who become pregnant often drop out of school, limiting their future economic opportunities and perpetuating a cycle of poverty.

South Africa recorded increased rates of teenage pregnancies in some parts of the country between 2018 and 2019 and more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was partly due to the difficulty of accessing contraceptives, which was greater during the COVID-19 lockdown.

An increase in the adolescent pregnancy rate strongly suggests challenges with accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare services for this vulnerable age group and is a cause for concern.

Drivers of teenage pregnancy

Even before the pandemic, in South Africa, 16% of young women aged 15-19 had begun childbearing. The figure ranges between 11% in urban areas and 19% in rural areas.

One factor that has contributed to this is violence against women and girls.

In South Africa one in three women experience gender based-violence and one in five children under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse.

Deficiencies in the health system also contribute to teenage pregnancies. It’s not always easy for adolescents to get contraceptives if services aren’t youth-friendly.

Education about contraception for adolescents is inadequate too.

In South Africa, 31% of girls aged 15 to 19 aren’t getting the contraceptives they need – a bigger proportion of this age group than other age groups.

Our research has focused on health systems factors that are associated with access and use of contraception among adolescent girls and young women.

If these factors aren’t attended to, the needs and rights of adolescents could remain neglected even after the pandemic ends.

The rate of unwanted early pregnancies could remain high, affecting the health and life choices of young women and their children.

The research

We conducted two separate studies as part of an evaluation of a South African combination HIV prevention programme for adolescent girls and young women. Our research took place from 2017 to 2018 and from 2020 until 2021.

The first survey, conducted in 2017 and 2018, included 4,425 adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 years living in six districts across five provinces in South Africa. The second survey, in 2020-2021, included 515 adolescent girls and young women.

These two studies revealed a worryingly high rate of pregnancy in this age group. We also found that most (70%) of the pregnancies were not planned.

The survey found that 68.4% had ever had sex and 9% reported having had sex before the age of 15. Among the group who had ever had sex, 36.2% said their first pregnancy had occurred before they were 18.

Our findings show that adolescent girls and young women have a high unmet need for contraception and that health system barriers to contraception services persist. Only 48% of the respondents said they’d ever used a modern contraceptive.

Use of condoms the last time the respondents had sex was reported by 51%. This means half of the adolescent girls and young women were at risk of being infected with HIV or any sexually transmitted infection, or passing an infection on.

Interviews revealed that many young women, especially in the age group 15–19  years, found it difficult to get contraceptives.

We found that they didn’t have information about contraceptives.

Many didn’t know how the different methods work and affect the body. Some believed that contraceptives were not good for the body, based on myths and misinformation. Some believed contraceptives didn’t work at all.

Misinformation and barriers

Some of the respondents said contraception would ruin their wombs and, in the future, they would not be able to have children. Many lacked support to use contraceptives from parents or other caregivers.

They said that health workers asked them embarrassing questions and mistreated them:

The nurses will start asking all sorts of questions; why are you here? Young as you are! Do you have a boyfriend? And because of these questions and that you feel embarrassed you end up leaving without accessing the services …

They won’t speak to you privately in a room, instead they will loudly say why are you here for contraceptives in front of people and you can imagine how many people are at the clinic.

In the second survey, among those who reported they had sex in the year before the survey, only 28% reported using contraceptives consistently.

The reasons included disliking the side effects; running out of contraceptives; inconvenient health service opening hours; stock-outs at the health service; and the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the past year 22% of the respondents said they had been unable to get the contraceptives they needed. And 21% reported challenges getting condoms because of COVID-19 and the lockdown.

Going forward

School-based interventions could be part of the effort to prevent sexual violence and raise awareness about adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Health system interventions and education campaigns to address the socio-cultural beliefs and misinformation that undermine use of contraceptives are needed too.

Free contraceptives should be available not only in health facilities but in safe spaces such as school, community settings and retail pharmacies. Health workers should discuss the concerns and needs of adolescent girls and young women with them and help them find the contraceptive method that suits them.

Finally, evidence shows that provision of incentives to promote adherence to medication is a promising strategy. For example, people could get money for transport or mobile data to get health information. This might promote access and consistent use of contraceptives among adolescent girls and young women.

(Dr Kim Jonas is Specialist Scientist, Health Systems, South African Medical Research Council)

The Conversation