‘Covid-19 increases unintended teenage pregnancies in rural Zim’

Every child marriage was a tragedy for the girl-child and the country’s development.

Covid-19 has revealed the unforeseen challenges that have impacted the adolescence in Zimbabwe by putting them away from access to sexual reproductive health and rights while increasing teenage pregnancies.

Cecilia Banda (17) who lives at Mdindo, a rural community in Guruve told this publication that she was impregnated during Covid-19 lockdown resulting in failure to complete her secondary school.

She added that access to health check ups is also a problem because of the seven kilometers distance she has to walk to get to the nearest clinic.

“My boyfriend (now husband) impregnated me during the lockdown while I was waiting to resume my form 3 studies. I then decided to marry him and l left my parents in May to stay with him,” Banda said.

“It is not easy here to get clinical check ups here because the nearest clinic is seven kilometers away. Sometimes I choose not to go there until the situation comes sour.”

Failure to access health services in Guruve also forced Vimbai Zuze (16) to deliver her child through traditional ways.

“I got pregnant last year in August and I only went to the hospital when I visited my sister in Guruve town. When I came back home, I wasn’t able to access the clinic due to distance and I was helped by Gogo Machina (a well known traditional doctor who helps women during emergency deliverances),” she said.

Sexual reproductive health rights have often been neglected in health emergency settings, young women living with disabilities, young women in vulnerable and low-income communities are failing to access sexual-reproductive health care services.

World Vision Zimbabwe’s National Director, Assan Golowa last week said: “In as much as the global community’s pledge to end child marriage by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, the progress remains decelerated in the face of Covid-19 which has since increased poverty levels and hunger. The pandemic has posed a threat to the education system whilst increasing the risk of girls becoming brides. Vulnerable children, especially girls will be forced to bear the brunt of yet another crisis as many will be forced out of school and some married off to men their fathers’ age.”

“Governments around the world, who are focussed on dealing with the fallout from the economic impacts of COVID-19, must also prioritise the protection of the world’s most vulnerable children who are at risk of suffering aftershocks of the pandemic,” said Golowa

Speaking at a women symposium  last week, Women Affairs, Community and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni said every child marriage was a tragedy for the girl-child and the country’s development.

“It is not only about changing laws, but about changing the attitudes of people and communities around the worth of girls and their contribution to society. We are all accountable for what is happening to these girls and unless we act, we are consciously forfeiting our responsibility,” she said.

In an interview, women rights activist and politician Linda Masarira said sexual reproductive health and rights must be taught in schools in order to reduce child marriages in Zimbabwe. She added that the laws must also be aligned to protect the girl child.

“82% of girls were married during the 2020 Covid 19 lockdown because of lack of progressive activity. A lot of girls lacked mentorship and guidance in general and were left idle, thus social media ended up influencing them. Young girls under normal circumstances used to focus on their education until the Pandemic ruled out education as a priority.

To the vulnerable who couldn’t access online education, they were left at the mercy of peer pressure. It was not clear  if there is ever going to be proper education. What was left for young girls was being wives which then led them into indulging in sexual activities. Due to the Pandemic many lost their jobs thus girls being forced to be tools for income generation through being married for money and having sexual activities in exchange for money.

“The surge in child marriages across the country needs to be addressed through awareness campaigns and SRHR being taught in schools. The fact that in this day and age some still consider it taboo is what is leading young girls into experimenting through it with less knowledge or ignorance of such. We currently have an ongoing legal constitutional court challenge where we are seeking alignment of laws to protect the girl child from child marriages and sexploitation. We will also petition the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to ensure that sexual reproductive health is prioritized in all schools in Zimbabwe,” she said.

One provincial doctor in Mashonaland Central, Dr Precious Madziwa said they have partners running programmes in the province advocating for the eradication of teenage pregnancies and marriages.

“We used to have DREAMS programme although it’s now called RISE. The DREAMS programme targets the girl child. We have more partners under DREAMS providing various programmes targeting the girl child e.g Family planning, Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) screening etc.

“We have a partner called Katswe doing various programmes like paChoto which targets these young girls. They also do dialogues with girls so as to know their challenges and see the key drivers to child marriages.

“We also do community dialogues with traditional leaders, Faith leaders so that they also play a crucial role in educating our girls and their parents since these  leaders are the ones who are mostly listened and followed

“We also do community engagements in Family planning activities so that these young girls can participate and spearhead the programme themselves.

“We also have what we call Family planning champions who are young girls living in the communities encouraging other girls to use these Family planning methods,” she said.