TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES part 1

1800 WORDS

A teenage pregnancy is said to be any pregnancy experienced by a female in her teenage years below the age of 20 years (Teen Issues, 2009). Teenage pregnancy rates in the United Kingdom (UK) have been a public health concern and have come significantly into the limelight again because of the recent increase in rates. Among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) developed countries, Office National Statistics (ONS) recorded that United Kingdom and United States are now the highest in terms of teenage pregnancy, while Japan and South Korea have the lowest (ONS, 2009). Table 1 below shows that the number of births per 1000 women in the United Kingdom between 15 and 19.

This model is based on the theory that the behaviour of individuals determines their health status and also how behaviour or culture influences teenage pregnancy which ultimately leads to the equalities of health i.e. social differences in health-related behaviours due to ignorance and poorly informed choices/information. Income (Bartley, 2004) plays a big role for the choice of behavioural for teenage pregnancy. The question then arises on why unhealthy behaviour such as “early sex” or “unprotected sex” should be affected by low income? A cultural factor which was showed by Stronks et al (2007) plays a very important role in the contribution to unhealthy behaviour.

A multitude of studies suggests that teenage pregnancy is associated with disruption of schooling, social disadvantage and ongoing cycle of poverty, with many teenage mothers having themselves been the child of a teenage mother. Culture is increasingly been seen as a collection of behaviours that occur within defined domains in a community such as the family or institution (Bartley, 2004). In some societies, early marriages and traditional roles are also key factors that could cause teenage pregnancy. In some African countries such as Nigeria where i come from especially the Northern region of the country where teenage pregnancy is practised or as a tradition, it is a sign of fertility and a good thing or a blessing to the young girl and her family. It is also practised in India but it is more practised not only in the urban cities but more in the rural places of the country.

According to information available from the Guttmacher institute (2009) showed that in England, about 55% of women aged 20-24 had their first sexual encounter as teenagers in which teenage pregnancy is normative in some communities