Teen pregnancy rates cause for concern

Santo Domingo.- The high number of teenagepregnancies in the Dominican Republic is alarming, according to research byProfamilia. The organization’s education coordinator, psychologist Fernando de la Rosa, saysthat 20% of teenage girls who drop out of school have done so because they arepregnant.

Also, out of every 1000teenage girls in the country, 90 are pregnant, “a figure that puts us among thefive countries in Latin America worst affected by this ill.”

He said that the key for tackling the problem issexual education in schools, the family, social groups and all social strata.

The research carried out in five countries inthe region shows that in the Dominican Republic, one out of every five girls betweenthe ages of 15 and 19 has had children or is pregnant. In addition, theresearch found that 54% of women and 73% of men had their first sexualrelationship before the age of 18.

According to the study, 36.5% of women betweenthe ages of 20 and 24 got married or cohabited before the age of 18.