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*700 Underage Girls Gave Birth In 2022 - Zimstat*

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Ruth Labode, a Member of Parliament from Matabeleland North Province, has demanded that the Ministry of Health take immediate and drastic action to prevent child pregnancies.

This follows the release of a report by the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (Zimstat) showing that about 700 girls under the age of 15 gave birth in the country in 2022.

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Labode raised the matter in Parliament recently and requested Health Minister Vice President Constantino Chiwenga to bring a Ministerial Statement outlining his strategy to curb the scourge of child pregnancies. She said:

> I am making reference to the Zimbabwe Statistics. Disaggregated data on the Distribution of Births by Age of Mother released during the launch of the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (ZimStats) Vital Statistics Report shows that 700 girls aged 10 to 14 gave birth in 2022. What does this say about this country?

> Could the Minister of Health and Child Care bring a Ministerial Statement and tell us what strategy they have to curb this scourge of teenage pregnancies? A ten-year-old is not a teenager but a baby.

In response, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa, said:

> This question touches a lot of Zimbabweans, in particular a lot of women. The issue of teenage pregnancies is an issue that the whole country is seized with.

> The Government is seized with it and the Ministry of Health is putting a lot of strategies that they would need to articulate in this House.

> I think it is in order when the Hon. Member asked for a Ministerial Statement which will articulate step by step what they are doing.

> To have 700 young girls aged 10 to 14 getting pregnant is very sad. A ten-year-old is a child and what has gone wrong with our people?

> This is an issue that is not going to be just dealt with by the Ministry of Health alone but by inter-ministerial strategy.

> This is something that we need to understand from the Home Affairs Ministry to see how many people have been jailed or castrated if they need to be.

Mutsvangwa assured Parliament that measures will be taken to deal with the perpetrators and also asked for unity of purpose in dealing with the vice. She said:

> I think there is an element of madness that needs to be dealt with; an element of cruelty or animal behavior that needs to be dealt with.

> Penalties should be quite high. I would obviously take this up with my colleagues.

> We need to get that report and I certainly agree with her so that at least we can work together as a country.

> It is about all of us as leaders in the areas where we live. It is also about us as parents working together, united as Zimbabweans to fight against this evil.

According to Plan International, some of the causes of teenage pregnancies include a lack of information about sexual and reproductive health and rights, inadequate access to services tailored to young people, family, community and social pressure to marry, sexual violence, forced marriage, which can be both a cause and a consequence and a lack of education or school drop-out.

More: Pindula News

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