‘Poor girls hardest hit by teenage pregnancy’
By Ludia Ngwadzai
GIRLS from the poorest households face six times the risk of teenage pregnancy compared to those from the richest households, says SRHR Africa Trust (SAT).
Zambia policy and programmes advisor Perrykent Nkole said the disparity highlighted deep inequalities among adolescents in Zambia.
Nkole said this yesterday during a family-planning session on ‘Evidence, Choice & Responsible Reporting’ in Chilanga District, Lusaka.
He said while Zambia had made progress in reducing child marriage, teenage childbearing and HIV, national figures were hiding serious problems among girls in poor and underserved communities.
“National averages hide a stalled crisis,” Nkole said.
He said Zambia’s national child marriage rate stood at 23.9 percent in 2024, down from 43.3 percent in 1992.
“However, the situation is much worse in some districts, with Chasefu recording a child marriage rate of 46.1 percent, the highest figure highlighted in the presentation,” he said.
Nkole said poverty was strongly linked to teenage pregnancy, with girls in the poorest wealth group facing a six-fold higher risk than girls in the richest group.
He also said education was another major factor.
“The presentation showed a 71 percent reduction in the odds of teenage pregnancy between primary and secondary education, pointing to the importance of keeping girls in school,” he said.
Nkole said Zambia’s teenage childbearing rate was 27.6 percent, compared with 31.6 percent in 1992, while HIV prevalence had fallen to 8.7 percent in 2024 from 15.5 percent in 2001-02.
He said despite the gains, 19.3 percent of adolescents aged 15 to 19 still had an unmet need for modern contraception.
Nkole said most early childbearing takes place during a critical period of adolescence, with 80 percent occurring among girls aged 13 to 18, which he described as a peak vulnerability window.
“The Eastern, North-Western and Western crises need different interventions, not one national playbook,” Nkole said.
He said the challenges facing adolescents were not simply a result of individual choices, but were linked to poverty, social and cultural practices, lack of information and weaknesses in the health system.
Nkole cited judgmental attitudes by health workers, concerns about confidentiality, limited contraceptive choices and gaps in policies as some of the barriers preventing adolescents from accessing services.
He cited initiation rites such as Chinamwali in Eastern Province, community attitudes towards contraception, poverty and misinformation among young people to be contributors to early child pregnancies.
“In rural areas, long distances to health facilities, limited services and weak referral systems could further prevent adolescents from receiving care,” he said.
Nkole called for interventions that take into account differences between communities, focusing on social norms, economic conditions, stronger programmes, digital platforms, inclusion and geographical needs.
He challenged the media to look beyond culture when reporting on child marriage and teenage pregnancy and examine the economic, education and health-system factors that leave many girls vulnerable.
