Nairobi, July 13 -- The sexual health of young people is a major global concern. Adolescence is the period between 10 and 19 years with peculiar physical, social, psychological and reproductive health characteristics while teenage pregnancy refers to females becoming pregnant at or before the age of 19.
Every year, 21 million teenagers in developing countries become pregnant, with 10 million of these pregnancies being unintended. Twelve million girls aged 15-19 and 777,000 girls under 15 years give birth annually. The global adolescent fertility rate has declined by 11.6 percent over the past 20 years to 42 per 1,000 but there are geographical disparities, with the sub-Saharan region leading at 101 per 1,000.
An increase in teenage pregna...