Almost 100 Girls, Ages Of 10 And 14, Turned Mothers In Eastern Cape, South Africa Since April – Health Department

Alarming figures released by the Eastern Cape Department of Health in South Africa suggest that 4,000 young girls have given birth in the area since April 2024.

Mkhululi Ndamase, Eastern Cape Health spokeswoman, reported that 4,055 women gave birth in public health institutions.

The majority of the girls (3,961) were between the ages of 15 and 19, with 94 falling between the ages of 10 and 14.

According to Ndamase, the girls claimed to have been impregnated by boys their own age.

“Whenever underage girls give birth at our facilities, they are asked who impregnated them. They always say it’s boys their age,” he said.

He stated that contributing factors to teenage pregnancies were revealed during a dialogue between the Department of Education and the Department of Social Development with parents, students, educators, and school governing bodies (SGB) in the Alfred Nzo District and Ingquza in the OR Tambo District.

He stated that several variables contributed to the high number of pregnancies, including: “Lack of adequate parental care, support and supervision, lack of factual education around sexual reproductive health, alcohol abuse, peer pressure and gender-based violence.”

Foster Mohale, national spokesperson for the Department of Health, stated that between April 2023 and March 2024, a total of 2,716 girls aged 10 to 14 and 119,586 girls aged 15 to 19 became mothers across the country.

Furthermore, he stated that 1,226 girls aged 10 to 14 had their pregnancies terminated, while another 19,246, aged 15 to 19, had abortions.

“These are young girls still attending primary and early in high school level.”

Mohale stated that these statistics only came from public health institutions, and that there could be more if figures from private health facilities were included.

The Department stated that they were creating Youth zones to make it easier for youth to access health facilities without having to wait in queue.

“The youth are seen in dedicated consulting rooms and are seen by younger nurses.”

According to national statistics from April 2023 to March 2024, KwaZulu-Natal had the most teen pregnancies, followed by Gauteng and Limpopo.

Province Ages 10-14 Ages 15-19

Eastern Cape 395 15,827

Free State 106 5,395

Gauteng 430 19,406

KwaZulu-Natal 610 30,478

Limpopo 375 16,262

Mpumalanga 293 11,534

Northern Cape 70 3,538

North West 151 7,525

Western Cape 286 9,622

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