OYO new issue of its magazine ‘OYO, young, latest and cool’ is now out. This issue deals with the theme ‘teenage pregnancy, abortion and adoption’.
Since the beginning of the year, OYO has been approached regularly by the Ministry of Education to address the issue of teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy is a concern in both the Kunene and the Erongo regions – areas where OYO operates. Despite all our efforts to promote abstinence and condom use, it seems that many teenagers do not care, and continue to have unprotected sex. While on the one hand it seems that the number of young people infected with HIV has decreased over the past years (refer to the results of the Ministry of Health and Social Services’ sentinel survey), firstly, the number of teenage pregnancies seems to be getting worse (according to the Regional HIV/AIDS Committees for Education in Kunene and Erongo regions), and secondly, both HIV infection and teenage pregnancy are the result of unprotected sex.; it therefore seems that our teenagers still do not practice safe sex.
Also, over the past few months, there has been news in the various newspapers of young mothers dumping their babies, often in toilet pits. This even happened in one of the schools OYO deals with in the Erongo region. Baby dumping seems to be becoming more common, and is a real source of concern. It is immoral and, to a large extent, inhumane, especially knowing there is an alternative that is safe and legal: adoption.
It was therefore important for OYO to allocate an issue of its magazine to discuss teenage pregnancy, abortion, adoption and baby dumping. In this issue, a new feature has been added, ‘the primary school corner’, a section for our younger reader to learn while having fun. The magazine is currently being distributed in schools in the Kunene, Erongo and Khomas regions.
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