Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

Abstract:
Teenage pregnancy is a very big issue globally, but its magnitude in South Africa poses a grave concern. Alarming figures released by the Gauteng provincial education department indicate that school pregnancies have doubled from 2005 to 2006, despite a decade of spending on sex education and AIDS awareness. The effects of unplanned pregnancy and HIV are a particular concern limiting girls? future possibilities. In 2001, the Limpopo province had the highest fertility level in the country with an average of 5 children per woman. But the fertility level in Vhembe which is a district in Limpopo is low at 2.5 children. The study aims to determine the level of teenage fertility in the district and to recommend strategies to curb early pregnancies which turn to destroy the future of many young girls. Using a survey conducted in some municipalities in the district in 2010, this paper reveals that teenage fertility in Vhembe is rather higher. The proportion of teenage births in the district is far above 56 percent.

Keywords: higher fertility, sex education, contraception, deep poverty, Vhembe district

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