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Summary: 8 May 2002 - Zimbabwe has the third
highest rate of prevalence of
HIV/AIDS in the world, and people
aged 15-24 are at extreme risk.
Nearly one-half of all new HIV
infections in the country, estimated
to be 7,000 new infections daily,
occur among this age group. Feminist Daily News Wire
May 8, 2002
Teens in Zimbabwe In Need of Reproductive Health Services
Zimbabwe has the third highest rate of prevalence of HIV/AIDS in
the world, and people aged 15-24 are at extreme risk. Nearly
one-half of all new HIV infections in the country, estimated to be
7,000 new infections daily, occur among this age group.
Reproductive health, therefore, should be a priority for this
country, in which 30 percent of girls aged 15-19 have already had
sex, many without using any methods to prevent HIV
transmission or pregnancy. According to a report being released
today by the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP) and
the Child and Law Foundation in Harare, Zimbabwe, however,
Zimbabwean teens do not have access to adequate reproductive
health services. By age 19, almost 40 percent of teens will have
had a child, and the majority of unsafe abortions, estimated to be
60,000 – 70,000 per year, are performed on teenage girls.
Releasing the report, State of Denial: Reproductive Health Crisis
for Zimbabwean Adolescents, to coincide with the United Nations
Special Session on Children, CRLP is calling on world leaders to
uphold reproductive rights for adolescents and strengthen
provisions that would help girls receive proper reproductive
healthcare. “If governments want to ensure that adolescents
survive into adulthood and avoid the risk of death, ill-health, and
abandoned life goals due to teenage pregnancy and HIV infection
they must act to reinforce the reproductive rights of adolescents
during the Special Session on Children,” said CRLP Director of
International Programs Kathy Hall Martinez.
Association: Feminist Daily News Wire