Teen mothers face high death risk

Girls in Afghanistan risk death during pregnancy and childbirth

Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the main killers of teenage girls in the developing world, a new report by Save the Children says.

Some 70,000 girls aged up to 20 die each year, and one million babies born to child mothers do not live to their first birthday, the study found.

Mothers aged 10 to 14 in Bangladesh are up to five times more at risk than those a decade older.

The report calls for better education and tailor-made health care.

"For too many young girls, motherhood is a disabling tragedy or even worse a death sentence," said Mary-Beth Powers, a senior reproductive health adviser for Save the Children.

Isolation

The organisation - in its annual State of the World's Mothers report - said that globally more than 13 million adolescent girls give birth each year. Nine out of 10 of those births are in developing countries.

Girls in Africa and South Asia tend to be married off by their families at a young age, and are under great pressure to conceive immediately, said the report.

In Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States young mothers tend to be unmarried.

"But whether they are married or unmarried, living in rural areas or in cities, child mothers tend to be isolated," said the report.

"To a great extent their health and education needs are not met, and they are poorly prepared to deal with the challenges facing them and their children."

The report found that children in sub-Saharan Africa had the highest rates of early marriage and motherhood, and the highest mortality rates among mothers and babies.

Delaying births

Risks are also high for young mothers in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal in South Asia, Yemen in the Middle East and Guatemala, Haiti and Nicaragua in Latin America.

In the industrialised world, the United States has the highest rate of early motherhood followed by Russia and New Zealand.

South Korea has the lowest number of teenage mothers, followed by Japan and the Netherlands.

The report found that education was the single biggest factor in helping girls postpone pregnancy and have healthier children.

Health care is also key, and should be tailored to meet the needs of those girls who are newly married or first-time mothers.

"Young married girls need access to contraception so they can delay first births until they are 20 when their bodies are more mature," said Mary-Beth Powers.