Adolescent fertility: knowing it, preventing it and controlling it

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 4 (ACN) The proposal of a group of immediate and comprehensive measures to reverse the indicators associated with the high incidence of teenage pregnancy in Cuba was presented at the most recent meeting of the government commission for the attention to demographic dynamics, chaired by Political Bureau member and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.

Based on a diagnosis that included the evolution of the issue in the world, the region and Cuba, the project identified direct responsibilities of governments, agencies and organizations with this sensitive issue, explained Dr. Tania Margarita Cruz Hernandez, first deputy minister of public health.

In this regard, she illustrated that in the country 82 % of adolescent fertility corresponds to the 15 to 19 years age group, while 18 % is in the under 14 years age group.

The data on births among women under 15 years of age show a tendency to increase in 2021, 2022 and 2023, she warned.

Among the measures, Cruz Hernandez mentioned actions aimed at strengthening training and communication on issues related to the phenomenon, consolidating comprehensive sexuality education, making access to counseling spaces more flexible, improving sexual and reproductive health services, as well as deepening the content of parental responsibility and confronting this issue.

In this regard, the Prime Minister reiterated that this is a social phenomenon that requires an intersectoral approach with the participation of territorial governments, given the magnitude of the problem, while recognizing the potential of the measures, which require effective implementation, monitoring and control by authorities at all levels.

During the meeting, the specialists agreed that, with respect to teenage pregnancy, social rejection and risk perception of its physical, psychological and social consequences for the integral development of adolescents is not always achieved.
The provinces with the highest adolescent fertility rates are the eastern provices of Las Tunas, Camagüey, Granma and Holguin.

However, as stressed by Antonio Aja Diaz, director of the Center for Demographic Studies of the University of Havana, it is no longer a problem only in the eastern region, but is present throughout the country with different manifestations.

On the urgency of adopting the corresponding measures in the preventive order, training, criminal legal confrontation and in the family environment, Alina Montesino, deputy attorney general of the Republic, said that there is a group of rules, especially the Family Code and the Civil Code, which are in force and prohibit marriage and legal recognition of the affective relationship with a minor, a person under 18 years of age.

Another analysis made was that, in recent years, adolescent pregnancy rates have shown an upward curve, despite the existence of policies, laws and other legal provisions that protect the rights of this age group.

As part of the agenda of the meeting, which was attended by several deputy prime ministers, proposals were presented to improve the care services provided in homes, according to the different alternatives established.
(Taken from the Presidency's website)