WHO Guidelines on Preventing Early Pregnancy and Poor Reproductive Outcomes Among Adolescents in Developing Countries

The guidelines describe evidence-based recommendations on actions that countries can take, targeting six key objectives:

1. Reducing marriage before the age of 18
2. Creating understanding and support to reduce pregnancy before the age of 20
3. Increasing the use of contraception by adolescents at risk of unintended pregnancy
4. Reducing coerced sex among adolescents
5. Reducing unsafe abortion among adolescents
6. Increasing the use of skilled antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care among adolescents

Key Facts:

•  About 16 million adolescent girls between 15 and 19 years of age give birth each year.

• Babies born to adolescent mothers account for roughly 11% of all births worldwide, with 95% occurring in developing countries.
• Childbirth at an early age is associated with greater health risks for the mother.  In low and middle-income countries, complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in young women aged 15-19 years.
• Adolescents who are 15–19 years of age are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth compared to women over 20 years of age; adolescents under 15 years of age are five times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth.
•  Perinatal deaths are 50% higher among babies born to mothers under 20 years of age than among those born to mothers aged 20-29.
•  Adolescent mothers are more likely to have low birth weight babies who are at risk of malnourishment and poor development. Infant and child mortality is also highest among children born to adolescent mothers.
• Key determinants of adolescent pregnancy include early marriage, sexual coercion and lack of access to and use of contraception.
• Over the past 15 years, fertility rate among the poorest adolescents in many countries has increased, and adolescent girls from the poorest fifth of the population are four times more likely to become pregnant than those in the richest fifth.
• Pregnant teenagers are less likely than adults to be able to obtain legal and safe abortions to terminate their pregnancies: there were an estimated 3 million unsafe abortions among 15-19 year olds in 2008, and an estimated 2.0–4.4 million adolescents in developing countries undergo unsafe abortions each year.

 More facts on adolescent pregnancy can be found on the WHO website.To read the guidelines, click here.World Health Organization. (2011). Preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in developing countries. Geneva: WHO.