The Hindu : Front Page : Teenage pregnancies higher in State than national average

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Wednesday, Nov 05, 2008
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Teenage pregnancies higher in State than national average

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Despite spending crores of rupees on publicity of health schemes and making known the minimum age of marriage, teenage pregnancies among those aged between 15-17 years is higher in Karnataka (17 per cent) against the national average (16 per cent). Early marriage of women continued to be high in Karnataka, and 42 per cent of those in the age group of 20-24 were married before the legal minimum age (18 years), while 15 per cent of men in the age group of 25-29 got married before the minimum marriageable age (21).

Findings of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS- 3, 2005-06) released here at a workshop on Tuesday by Madan Gopal, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department of the State Government, stated that 21 per cent of young women in rural areas and 11 per cent in urban areas had begun child-bearing at an early age. “Young women with no education are six times (43 per cent) more likely to have had a live birth or to have been pregnant than women with 10 or more years of schooling (7 per cent).

In Karnataka, NFHS-3 interviewed 6,008 women in the age group of 15-49 and 5,528 men in the age group 15-54 to obtain information on population, health, and nutrition. It revealed that most men and women favoured inclusion of information on HIV/AIDS in the school curriculum. More than nine-tenths of men and almost three-fourths of women thought boys and girls should be taught about sexual behaviour in school. “Similarly, 82 per cent of men think that both boys and girls should be taught about condom use to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, compared with only 43 to 45 per cent of the women,” the survey said.

It indicated that 70 per cent of women and 87 per cent of men in Karnataka had never heard of HIV/AIDS. Awareness about the disease would be a critical step in curbing new cases , it said.

The 122-page report stated that 35 per cent of deliveries in Karnataka still took place at home, and only one-fifth of these home deliveries were assisted by trained health personnel. Although the performance of the State with regard to maternal health care was better than the national average, it lagged behind the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa. Referring to domestic violence, it stated that 20 per cent of married women reported that they had experienced spousal violence that was either physical or sexual. “Only 29 per cent of women who have ever experienced violence have sought help to end it,” the report said.

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