Reproductive health in adolescence
Friedman, H.L.
World Health Statistics Quarterly. Rapport Trimestriel de Statistiques Sanitaires Mondiales 47(1): 31-35
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0379-8070 PMID: 8085368 Document Number: 287255
The health and social, psychological, and economic well-being of adolescent girls below the age of 17 are likely to be disadvantaged by pregnancy and childbirth. Although there is a worldwide trend toward higher age of marriage, there is also a worldwide trend toward an increase in adolescent sexual relations prior to marriage. Sexual relations in adolescence, particularly in developing countries, are likely to take place without the use of modern contraceptives or protection against sexually transmitted diseases, including the human immunodeficiency virus. By the year 2000 more than 85%, or over two billion, of the world's people below the age of 20 will live in developing countries. In addition, there are 40 million street children in Latin America, 25-30 million in Asia, and 10 million in Africa. For census or survey purposes unions can be considered to be a) legal marriage, whether civil, religious or customary; and b) common-law marriage, consensual union and cohabitation. The legal minimum age of marriage is often different for males and females. More than 50 countries allow marriage at 16 or below, with parental consent. A much higher proportion of adolescents marry in Sub-Saharan Africa and southern and western Asia; this is less true for eastern Asia, the Caribbean region, and many countries in Latin America. In 11 Sub-Saharan countries surveyed, rates of contraceptive use varied from 1% to 7% among unmarried sexually-active adolescents aged 15-19, and from 1% to 6% for those who were married. In 13 of 14 developing Asian countries surveyed, below 10% of adolescents under age 18 had ever used a modern contraceptive. In Latin America and the Caribbean, in 8 of the 11 countries surveyed the proportion was below 10%. In most of the developing world, abortion is highly restrictive, but even in countries where it is legal, screening procedures, parental consent, and its cost will deter adolescents from safe abortion.