Tackling Bolivia's Underage Pregnancies

Bolivia has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in South America. A staggering 70 percent of all pregnancies are unplanned and a quarter of those are born to women aged between 12 and 18 years of age.

For decades the topic was off-limits. It was not discussed in schools or in the home. “It was too uncomfortable to talk about,” says Ana Luisa Mamani, who works with teenage mothers. “Every hour three teenagers in Bolivia fall pregnant, it’s a very complicated issue,” Mamani told teleSUR. 

Two hundred and forty-six babies are also born to mothers under the age of 20 everyday in Bolivia. The new governmental approach will focus on access to information and more health friendly services.

According to the 2012 census 12 percent of the population are teenage mothers. Health professionals say the risks of having a baby at 13 or 14 years are there for both the mother and the child. 

“The most important thing is not to judge but to work with (the young mothers) to reduce these numbers. We need to work harder to give more information especially about contraception methods,” said Doctior Rosalinda Hernandez Munoz of the World Health Organisation

As well as dealing with the physical and emotional toll of an unplanned pregnancy, teenage mothers also face other problems once they give birth. “We see a lot of discrimination against young mothers, they often feel hopeless and that society ignores them and treats them differently,” says Stephanie Morales, one of the organisers of a conference on teen pregnancy in La Paz. “Many of them abandon their education and feel trapped because of this.”

As part of Bolivia’s new national plan to address teenage pregnancies, health centers will take a more sensitive and caring approach to help young parents deal with their pregnancy.

“Teenagers will no longer feel abandoned,” says Rosario de La Cruz, a youth leader. “We will work hard to help them deal with getting their lives back together,” she said.

Experts say the first step is getting parents and their children talking about contraception and the dangers of underage pregnancies.

The hope is that by having an honest conversation about sexual health the high rates of unplanned pregnancies will eventually start to drop.