Empowering youth to stop teenage pregnancy in Tanzania
Tanzania faces high rates of teenage pregnancy. According to the UNFPA, one of four girls aged 15-19 is pregnant or has given birth already. In Tanzania, if you’re in school and you become pregnant, it could mean the end of your education. This is a result of dated and overly harsh laws that prevent teenage mothers from continuing their education. Drivers of teenage pregnancy include poverty, gender inequality and social norms, low levels of education, and the lack of comprehensive reproductive health education. This is why Amref Health Africa empowers youth, especially girls, with education about reproductive health and rights so they can make informed choices that lead to safer sex practices.
Lameck is a teacher at a primary school (up to 8th Grade in the USA) in the Simiyu Regions of Tanzania. Lameck was trained by Amref Health Africa’s Uzazi Uzima project on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Lameck was trained to lead open discussions and lessons about puberty, menstruation, preventing teenage pregnancies, family planning and sexually transmitted infections.
Since his training, Lameck has been sharing what he learned with his students at school:
“This project has contributed to the reduction of teenage pregnancy incidences at our school. Since the project started at our school, our graduating students passed without any of them being pregnant. Before the project, there were cases at a range of two to five students who were pregnant while in school. Another great results is that 70% of girls at our school have passed grade 7 and will be going to secondary schools (high school).”
