Analysis of Factors Influencing Teenage Pregnancy in Namibia
Main Article Content
Abstract
Teenage pregnancy (TP) is a worldwide phenomenon affecting both developed and developing countries; it is a universal problem. Teenage pregnancy is the result of the fact that teenagers are sexually active. It has not only become a public health issue, but also a media focal point. It is one of the main issues in every health care system since early pregnancy can have harmful implications on girls’ physical, psychological, economic and social status. In 2014 the World Health Organization reported that 11% of all births were due to women aged 15-19 years and approximately 95% of teenage pregnancies occur in developing countries [12]. This paper aims to assess spatial differentials of factors influencing teenage pregnancy in Namibia to help policy makers, program managers and health care authorities make better targeted decisions in planning and problem solving. The study used secondary data from the 2013 NDHS. The units of analysis were teenage girls aged between 15 and 19 years. Univariate and bivariate analysis entailed description of all sampled teenagers followed by ever pregnant respondents by individual and household variables. Multilevel binary logistic regression established the association between independent variables and teenage pregnancy using backward stepwise regression at 5% significance level. The results show that a total of 1857 teenage girls were successfully sampled. Of these 378 (20.4%) had experienced teenage pregnancy. Spatial distribution of teenage pregnancy indicated that TP is more prevalent in Kavango region with 15.6% followed by Ohangwena region with 11.6%. The region with the least teen pregnancy prevalence was Oshana with 3.4%. The results also revealed significant spatial association with contraceptive use and age at first sexual debut. Ohangwena region recorded the lowest level of contraceptive use among teenage girls. There are also spatial variations with regard to type of contraceptive use. The majority of regions showed high proportion of teenage girls had their first sex before the age of 15. Overall, the study concluded that teenage pregnancy in Namibia is significantly influenced by use of contraceptives, age at which teenage girl had first sex, education level, and household wealth status. It is therefore important for the country to scale up and expand adolescent friendly health services especially in regions highly affected. Innovative and education programmes in the form of drama or movie series targeting teenagers should be used as advocacy and information sharing strategy.
Article Details
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