Durban — The figure for New Year’s Day births in KwaZulu-Natal was triple the number of babies born on Christmas Day.
The KZN Department of Health said the province had a total of 341 New Year babies.
This figure was made up of 179 girls and 162 boys.
The department said the eThekwini district had the highest number of newborns at 109 babies, followed by uMgungundlovu (39), King Cetshwayo (36), Zululand (32), uThukela (27), uMzinyathi (25), Ugu (22), Amajuba (19), uMkhanyakude (18), Ilembe (9) and Harry Gwala (5).
On Sunday, KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane visited Harry Gwala Regional Hospital, formerly known as Edendale, to welcome newborn babies.
Dube-Ncube said: “We are very grateful to the MEC of health’s continued effort to ensure that labour wards are well structured and well-functioning. We thank the nurses’ effort in ensuring that all patients within the ward are given proper care.
“Once again, we have to register our concern that the trend of young girls falling pregnant, well below the age of 18, is clearly continuing. Worryingly, the province’s youngest mother is a 15-year-old girl, who gave birth to a baby girl, at Port Shepstone Hospital. The father of her baby is also 15 years old. We are very saddened by the fact that two teenage lives have been ruined. We encourage all young people to abstain from sex or to use condoms.”
“We call upon law enforcement officers in cases of statutory rape to move swiftly and arrest whoever the offender is. Under-age sexual activity remains unlawful and something we should not condone by all means,” Dube-Ncube said.
Health MEC Simelane said that Addington Hospital had the province’s first New Year’s baby, a boy weighing 3.4kg. He was born exactly at midnight, to a 17-year-old mother. The baby’s father is a 19-year-old.
She also touched on the youngest mother and father, both 15 years old.
“We also have two 16-year-old mothers, who gave birth at Queen Nandi and Nkandla hospitals respectively. The father of the baby born at Nkandla is 23 years old, while the age of the father of the baby born to the 16-year-old at Queen Nandi Memorial Hospital is unknown at this stage,” Simelane said.
Similar to Christmas Day births, Simelane said that once again, they have to register their concern that the trend of young girls falling pregnant, well below the age of 18, is clearly continuing.
“If it happens consistently every Christmas and New Year’s Day, as we have seen, it clearly means it’s probably happening every single day of the year. It means more and more girls are placing their own health, and that of their unborn babies in jeopardy by falling pregnant too early,” Simelane said.
She said the two 15-year-old school children were now saddled with the responsibility and related complications of raising a baby.
“What it means is that they had sex when they were both 14 years old. That is not normal, and we should never allow it to be,” Simelane said. “These are just children. They are nowhere near ready for the responsibilities that come with bringing a child into the world.”
“We therefore can never over-emphasise the risks that our girls are getting exposed to when they fall pregnant. Not only are they in danger of potentially fatal pregnancy-related ailments, but their prospects of fulfilling their potential as human beings are considerably compromised,” Simelane said.
The 16-year-old who was impregnated by the 23-year-old had been a child of 15 when she fell pregnant. That constituted statutory rape. At 22 years, he should have known that this was unacceptable.
“So, how much longer are we going to allow this kind of thing to happen? We shouldn’t. And something needs to change,” she said.
“While we will continue with our efforts to fight teenage pregnancy, we once again call upon parents, guardians, educators and community leaders to have open and frank conversations with their children about the benefits of abstinence and responsible sexual behaviour,” Simelane concluded.
Daily News