MSI Foundation Continues the Fight Against Teenage Pregnancy NotiPress
go to original February 17, 2024

For more than 25 years, the Marie Stopes International (MSI) foundation has been established in Mexico with the objective of bringing sexual and reproductive health issues closer to vulnerable communities. The organization based in the United Kingdom is already present in more than 7 Mexican states with 11 clinics nationwide. This includes 5 clinics in Mexico City, one in Oaxaca, Baja California, Tijuana, Veracruz and those opening by the end of 2023 in Saltillo and Cancun.

In an interview for NotiPress, Araceli López-Nava, general director for Latin America of the foundation, assured that bringing sexual and reproductive education closer to women allows them to integrate into the labor market and reduces violence rates. Dr. Alfonso Carrera, medical director of MSI, shared with the agency some data on teenage pregnancy in Mexico, as well as the reason for the opening of the clinic in Saltillo, Coahuila and its projections.

Coahuila, among the first places in teenage pregnancies

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mexico is the number one country with teenage pregnancy globally. In turn, Coahuila ranks seventh in teenage pregnancies in reproductive age (15 to 19 years old) and first in women under 15 years old, women not considered within the reproductive age.

Carrera details that, during the pandemic, pregnancies in women under 15 years of age in Coahuila increased by 30%, which highlighted the urgency of taking measures in this regard.

"The increase in these figures is linked to the incidence of violence in the state; pregnancies in women under 15 years of age are, in the eyes of the law, cases of rape," said the medical director of the Foundation.

He pointed out that in 80% of rape cases, the perpetrator was a family member - stepfather, uncle, grandfather - which in turn is a reason for making such cases of violence invisible. According to information provided by Carrera, in Coahuila the pregnancy rate in women of reproductive age has decreased, but not in women under 15 years of age.

It is important to remember that caring for children and adolescents is an obligation that Mexico acquired when it signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child. "This is a relevant issue in Coahuila and surrounding areas, because we have identified that populations with less than 15,000 inhabitants have 4% more cases of teenage pregnancy."

Carrera, in turn, described the health risks of teenage pregnancy. "Adolescents have a maternal mortality rate of 35 per 100,000 inhabitants, whereas the maternal mortality rate is 26 per 100,000 inhabitants."

Thus, the medical director argued, in addition to slowing down development in adolescents, pregnancies under 15 years of age increase the risk of mortality.

"A woman between 15 and 19 years of age is twice as likely to die during pregnancy compared to a woman over 20 years of age. In the case of women under 15 years of age, the risk of mortality is amplified up to 5 times," says Carrera.

Faced with the panorama of teenage pregnancy in the region, Fundación MSI saw the need to curb this social problem, from the organization's possibilities. López-Nava pointed out that in 2023, the international organization in Mexico provided care to more than 77,500 women through its 11 clinics. In this way, more than 19,400 unwanted pregnancies were prevented and nearly 7,600 pregnancies were terminated.

In addition, MSI serves disadvantaged communities through the Infosex educational platform. This platform educates young people and their parents on topics such as sexuality, menstrual hygiene, pregnancy termination, sexually transmitted diseases and others. In addition, through its MSI clinics, it brings contraceptive and family planning methods to the communities.

"Better education leads to a better future, and allows women to integrate into the labor force and reduce the rates of violence," said López-Nava. In this way," the director of MSI describes, "disseminating information contributes more than 50% to the resolution of a problem, and reiterates the foundation's commitment to raise awareness about reproductive health issues in the country."

Read the rest at Meridiano.mx

Related: 74% of Adolescents in Mexico Use Condoms According to National Health and Nutrition Survey (Meridiano.mx)

This material was translated from Spanish using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

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