Covid-19 hinders access to health services among pregnant teens
Monday July 05 2021
Activists say most teenage mothers are not able to access health services due to Covid-19 restrictions. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA
Covid-19 pandemic is making it difficult for teenage mothers to access health services. While UNFPA figures show that teenage pregnancy cases reduced to 19,701 between January and December 2020, from 23,628 cases in 2019, it is not yet clear whether cases have dropped due to awareness campaigns.
It is understood that the numbers could have reduced due to limited access to health facilities and prenatal care during the lockdown and the subsequent restrictions on movements.
Annet Mwizerwa, adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights programme officer at Health Development Initiative, a local non-government organization aimed at improving public health, the Covid-19 has introduced many challenges that couldt have interrupted outreach to teen mothers.
“Covid-19 has limited access to health services and information which would not lead to anything positive. The pandemic has also interrupted co-curricular activities in schools, laid of children for months without school and exposed vulnerable girls,” she explained.
Mwizerwa added that Covid-19 has subjected families to poverty, unemployment and discomfort. All of which have led to an increase in gender-based violence, defilement and rape inclusive. Andrews Kanaga, a lawyer and executive director at legal aid forum, a network that provides legal aid services to the indigent citizzens , beneficiaries who seek legal services regarding teenage pregnancies and sexual abuse have increased by at least 25 percent since the pandemic in March 2020.
“It could be a two-fold result; our clients are now more aware of the rights and platforms available for them as a result of awareness campaigns or more teenagers are getting pregnant,” he explained, adding that any number of teenage pregnancies should be a concern.
According to Rwanda Biomedical Center, between January and June 2021, 11,373 girls have accessed contraceptive programmes. There is no available data on the type of contraception methods given but these services were given to girls aged between 15 and 19.
Access to contraceptive services, products and information is said to be one of the strategies to curb teen pregnancies.