New year, new lives... but more teen moms

FORTY-EIGHT babies – 17 girls and 31 boys – made their entry into this world in government hospitals across the province on New Year’s Day.

Their arrivals had their parents and other family members rejoicing. But Health MEC, Sibongiseni Dhlomo, was not in a celebratory mood.

Speaking at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi on Friday morning, he lashed out at the “bornfrees” for taking the struggle against unwanted teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease backwards.

He mentioned a 14-year-old from the AmaJuba district, whose baby had been delivered at Newcastle hospital. She was among numerous other mothers under the age of 18.

“I am at (my) wits’ end with the fact that a 14-year-old teenager is breastfeeding today. This means she got pregnant at the age of 13.

“I will pay her a visit because chances are that she may fall pregnant again before she goes back to school… That is not the way to go as a country,” said Dhlomo.

He said parents and community leaders should raise young people to make responsible choices.

“We have a campaign that encourages young girls to delay their pregnancies for as long as possible. We have billboards with messages to both young girls and young men to use condoms,” he said.

The campaign is aimed at preventing unwanted teenage pregnancies, as well as protecting young people against the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Dhlomo also said clinic staff should not scare off underage people who come to get contraceptives.

“We need to support them. We cannot say, ‘I am going to tell your parents or a priest that you are now using contraceptives’. We appeal to staff members not to be judgemental,” he said.

Dhlomo was accompanied by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba. Both officials handed over birth certificates and gifts, including disposable nappies, to mothers of the newborn babies in the maternity ward.

Gigaba said the aim was to encourage parents to register their children at birth or within thirty days of birth.

“This will help us in terms of national planning as to how many children have been born in our country. But it is also important to clean up our national population register.

“There are many people who have gained access to our national population register as a result of fraudulent affidavits that have been provided by unscrupulous traditional leaders, school principals and priests,” he said.