OUR STORY
Goodie Society is a foundation for raising awareness on teenage pregnancy in Sierra Leone. Teenage girls in Sierra Leone face struggles which lead to life changing actions or decisions. As we society we believe that life should go on despite all the negative consequences .
Organize Seminars
Planning Monthly Campaign
Visit Schools to Educate Teenage Girls on Pregnancy
AIM
Prevalence of Teenage Pregnancy In Sierra Leone
The main goal for this project is to appoint factors that result in Teenage Pregnancy on school going girls and to list the out-turn of teenage pregnancy in Sierra Leone.The target focus is the age range of girls between the ages of 13-19. Teenage pregnancy is defined as a pregnancy in girls within the ages of 13-19.Teenage pregnancy is one of the issues that every teenage girl faces on a daily basis. In Sierra Leone teenagers frequently pose health concerns to girls and hinder their growth in terms of Social, Economic and Political empowerment.
Teenage Pregnancy on School going Girls in Sierra Leone
Implementing existing laws protecting girl-child and women in general. It is suggested that the following existing legislation, which protect children's sexual and reproductive rights and were analyzed in this analysis, be enforced more strongly and efficiently.
Existing Laws Protecting Teenage Girls
This Act protects girls against early consensual sex, whether with or without their approval, before the age of 14. This law's effective enforcement will lower adolescent pregnancy and motherhood by 10.9 percent. This will protect hundreds of vulnerable girls in the population.
The Children's Cruelty Prevention Act ,Cap 31 of 1926
The Act protects girls from early marriage, forced marriage, and circumcision at a young age. The proper implementation of these regulations will offer immediate protection to the 78.3 percent of young girls who married while under the age of 18 and will fully eliminate the problem of underage marriage.Furthermore, effective enforcement will lower the prevalence of early age circumcision by 89.1%, safeguarding thousands of girls not just from early age circumcision, but also from early marriage, early sexual interactions with males, and early births.
The 2007 Child Rights Act
The 2007 Domestic Violence Act
This Act protects girls in three critical areas of sexual and reproductive health. Domestic violence is defined as "physical or sexual abuse of any age."The proper execution of its rules would guarantee that young girls are protected from sexual abuse and early age circumcision.Female circumcision can be considered as demeaning and dehumanizing, and therefore a major violation of their child rights, since it deprives girls of the ability to engage in sexual interactions with their partners as normal human beings, and because of the risk it causes to the health of young girls.In addition It is proposed that girls' early circumcision be viewed as a violation of their human rights. The need for this is heightened by the policy aims of certain international organizations, like the United Nations, to accelerate the abolition of female genital mutilation in countries where it is still practiced. This is because early age circumcision has been identified as a factor contributing to early sexual beginning and, if addressed, would have a significant influence on preventing teenage pregnancy.
The Customary Marriage and Divorce Registration Act of 2007
According to this Act, customary marriage is only recognized if "both spouses are at least 18 years old and consent to the marriage." The successful implementation of these regulations would put a stop to early and forced marriages, as well as assure marital stability and equity for adolescent mothers engaging in traditional marriage.
This Act deals with the disposition of the property of a deceased, who died without making a will. As a result, it offers social safety, economic stability, and demographic protections to the adolescent mother who marries an older spouse, has his children, and finally becomes a widow.
The Devolution of Estates Act of Estates Act 2007
Obstetric Fistula
It has been detected at the national level as one of the main causes of Obstetrics fistula in girls and as a crucial component in high mother and infant disease which in turn need more expenses on healthcare resources. Obstetric Fistula is one of the most severe and terrible birth complications girls face. It is a hole between the rectum and the birth canal and is brought on by prolonged obstructed labor without access to prompt effective medical care. It causes women to leak urine, feces or both, and frequently causes sadness, social isolation and increased poverty.
Detected Medical Conditions for Early Pregnancy
Hypertension
This syndrome develops when a woman just has high blood pressure during pregnancy, without any additional coronary or renal issues, protein in the urine, or any other abnormalities. Usually, it is discovered after 20 weeks of pregnancy or just before birth. After giving delivery, gestational hypertension normally diminishes.
Gestational diabetes mellitus
When your body can't create enough insulin while you're pregnant, you get gestational diabetes. Your pancreas produces the hormone insulin, which functions as a key to allow blood sugar to enter your body's cells for use as energy.
Preeclampsia
After 20 weeks of pregnancy, pre-eclampsia typically develops in a woman whose blood pressure had previously been normal. For both mother and child, it may lead to , even deadly, complications.
Postpartum weight retention
There are a variety of causes for postpartum weight gain, including exhaustion, lack of time for a regular exercise program, or an underlying medical problem that needs treatment, such as postpartum thyroid disease, diabetes, or PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome)
Cesarean birth
The surgical operation known as a cesarean section, sometimes referred to as a C-section or cesarean delivery, involves delivering one or more infants through an incision made in the mother's abdomen. This surgery is frequently used when vaginal birth might endanger the mother or the baby.
Educating Teenage Girls
The government shall offer free and compulsory education to all females under the age of 18 until they complete senior secondary school, or similar levels in technical and vocational training institutes. Teenage moms who desire to continue their education at a formal educational institution or through adult education programs should be allowed to do so.This proposition for free and compulsory education for females is compatible with the aims of Sierra Leone's 1991 constitution education authorities should raise children's knowledge of the possible hazards of early marriage and adolescent pregnancy by providing suitable information on their origins, effects, and remedies in primary, junior, and senior secondary school curriculum.
Solutions to stop Teenage Pregnancy
Economic Liberty
The government must provide opportunities to girls who have dropped out of school to engage in income-generating activities by providing seed capital in the form of micro-finance loans and simple business management techniques with which they can start self-owned small or medium-sized business enterprises.
Sexual Abstinence
Although there are several methods for preventing a young girl from becoming pregnant, the only one that is 100% successful is sexual abstinence. This approach is the only one that ensures no danger of pregnancy and protects the youngster from STDs. Abstinence can also help teenage girls focus on other vital aspects of your life, such as friends, school, sports, activities, having fun, and planning for the future.
Firstly, their chances of pursuing higher education are destroyed if they leave the educational system, which hinders their future ability to exercise social, economic, and political influence.
Some Consequences of the Problem Girls Face Whilst Pregnant
Secondly, not finishing the basic or secondary education system carries significant consequences financial losses to the parents, guardians, and family members who funded these students' education girls. The ensuing disappointments, annoyances, and frustration affect more than just the girls, not just by themselves, but also by their parents and the society in which they live.
Thirdly, teenage moms do not significantly contribute to the growth of the country since they are primarily illiterate or semi-literate, unskilled, untrained, and so unemployed. Instead, they pose a serious risk to the country, their local communities, and their parents. They are legitimately a concern as a possible cause of societal disruption in the nation. Regardless of the outcome, adolescent pregnancies have negative effects on the girls, their parents and the community.
Contraceptive concept and application
Although 72.9 percent of adolescent mothers are aware of modern contraceptive options, only 10.0 percent use them presently, with "injections" and the "pill" being the two most prevalent methods. Only 12.3 percent of adolescent mothers used a modern contraceptive before the birth of their last child, and 4.4 percent used one thereafter. Condom use is far less widespread. This has serious health implications for adolescent mothers, many of whom are in polygamous relationships and have had several sex partners.Early marriage, cohabitation, and sexual intercourse, as well as a strong desire to have children, appear to have a significant influence on high rates of adolescent pregnancy and childbirth; variables that are incompatible with the use of modern contraception.
Alternative Causes
In addition, respondents cited "overcrowding housing conditions in which parents share a bed or room with children who watch and later imitate their parents' sexual behaviors," "pornographic films shown in public places, to which children have access," "foster mothers who send girls to do petty street trading," "female circumcision which is the excuse to start sexual intercourse," and "human rights/child rights/too much sex education in schools.
Inadequate parental supervision
Children who are raised in unsupervised environments usually lack self-confidence. These children struggle to establish friendships with their peers because they lack confidence, and they may be more open to being swayed and persuaded into engaging in illicit conduct.
Influence of peers
Approximately 24.0% of community members believe that peer group impacts on females are exerted through organized social contacts, stories shared by friends about the benefits of having sex with men, or girls' desire to get married and have children like their peers have done.
Parents' hardship and inability to fulfill daughter's desires
The poverty of the parents, particularly the mother, is one of the key reasons why girls start having sexual relations at a young age, according to community members. Mothers struggle to satisfy their daughters' "milleh factor" expectations, which include their need for an education and to behave like their peers. The most common form of coping that girls will then employ is having sex with a man.
Motives for Initiating Sexual Relations Early
Sensitization Campaigns for Teenage girls
The following sorts of sensitization and advocacy efforts are suggested to address the current problems of adolescent pregnancy and motherhood raised by this study.
Considering the effects of early pregnancy and parenthood.
The advantages of female education.
Changing women's attitudes toward having children.
On all current laws safeguarding children's and women's rights.
Sensitization Campaigns for Teenage Girls
Direct Government of Invention
Various Government MDAs could intervene more directly to terminate early marriage and minimize adolescent pregnancy in the country by requiring chiefs to report information on a variety of indicators on an annual basis as part of their civic responsibility. These include the number of girls under the age of 18 in and out of school, the number of initiation ceremonies, and the age distribution of the girls; the number of girls under the age of 18 who gave birth; the number of deaths of mothers under the age of 18; the number of customary marriages contracted, and the number of widows, as well as the distribution of the husband's estate, assets, and valuables.