By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
The wife of the Vice President says Pujehun and Kono Districts have "the highest percentage of teenage pregnancy and child marriage" in Sierra Leone.
Khadijah Sam-Sumana told a conference on "gender equality and the reduction of teenage pregnancy" in Pujehun that she was committed to "combating the burning issues undermining women's development in the district".
She said because "women and children constitute the greater percentage of people in the country, the highest political authorities must address their empowerment issues and fight teenage pregnancy" adding that Sierra Leonean women had gone through "terrible situations during the civil war in the country and even today rape and child marriage are taking place." She called for "the total commitment of our men" to the struggle against teenage pregnancy", and urged "all women not to allow your weaknesses to overcome you".
The District Medical Officer in Pujehun, Dr. Mohamed Vandi said "the magnitude of the problem of teenage pregnancy is not known by many people". He said this had "greatly undermined the economic development of the country".
Dr Vandi said the Millennium Development Goal for 2015 dealing with maternal and infant deaths was "unlikely to be met even in 2020 unless something dramatic is done to combat teenage pregnancy" arguing that Sierra Leone had been "working on borrowed statistics" and that the promotion of family planning was the answer to combating teenage pregnancy. He pleaded with the Pujehun District Council to formulate bye-laws as a means of addressing gender challenges in the district.
An official of the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs disclosed that "by 18 years of age 47% percent of girls would either be pregnant or would already have had a child."
The Rev. Fanny Bundor said his ministry's "mission is to protect and promote the rights of women, children and people with disability including other marginalised groups through development" and promised that bye-laws were being developed "in consultation with women, human rights organisations and duty bearers" as a way of addressing the problem of teenage pregnancy. He encouraged civil society organisations to "make noise about issues that affect women and children in society".
(C) Politico 20/02/14
