SHILLONG: The rising number of teenage pregnancy, especially in rural areas, has become a cause for concern, chairperson of Meghalaya Women’s Commission Theilin Phanbuh said.
Phanbuh was speaking at the curtain raiser cum foundation day of the month-long Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) campaign or the National Adolescent Health Programme held on Monday under the theme ‘The future is here, act now’ at the State Convention Centre. According to her, young parents are unable to tackle the matter which brings in a lot of problems leading to broken homes.
A study by NCPCR, India Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy 2015-16, says prevalence of child marriage among 15-19 years old and 20-24 years old is 11.9 per cent and 26.8 per cent, respectively, for girls.
Findings reveal that there are 12 states where more than 40 per cent of these girls have at least one child or more. “Interestingly, we find emergence of states such as Goa (64%), Mizoram (61%) and Meghalaya (53%) with the highest prevalence of teenage pregnancy amongst early married girls,” the report says.
Phanbuh also raised concerns over trafficking of boys and girls and sexual abuse cases which mostly go unreported.
“Young girls approach the Commission as they face cyber crime,” Phanbuh said.
Health Secretary Pravin Bakshi spoke about channelising the talents of the youth in performing arts although the state needs to pick up a lot in sports.
According to him, the restlessness of the youth power needs to be harnessed. It may be mentioned that RKSK under the National Health Mission was launched in January 2014 and targets young boys and girls between the age of 10-19 years and addresses core issues like nutrition, gender equality, non-communicable diseases, mental health and sexual reproductive health through various interventions at facility and community levels.
