Peer-reviewed article
Teenage pregnancy matters in refugee setup: early pregnancy among adolescent girls in Kule refugee camp, Gambella, Ethiopia.
Adhena G, Fikre A ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the prevalence and risk factors for teenage pregnancy among 422 adolescent girls in Kule refugee camp, Ethiopia. More than one-third of the girls (34.6%) had experienced pregnancy at least once. Key risk factors included not attending school, being married, and having a sister with a history of teenage pregnancy. The study recommends strengthening reproductive health education and family communication to reduce intergenerational patterns of teenage pregnancy in refugee settings.
Key points
- 34.6% of adolescent girls in the camp had experienced pregnancy at least once
- Not attending school increased pregnancy risk (AOR = 3.59)
- Girls with sisters who had teenage pregnancy were 2.22 times more likely to become pregnant themselves
- Being unmarried was associated with lower pregnancy risk (AOR = 0.21)
- The study combined quantitative data from 422 girls with qualitative data from focus group discussions
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and cannot establish causation. The findings are specific to one refugee camp in Ethiopia and may not be generalizable to other refugee or non-refugee settings.
Abstract
Background An estimated 21 million adolescent girls become pregnant with nearly half of these pregnancies being unintended, and more than half end in unsafe abortion in low and middle-income countries every year. Teenage pregnancy causes serious health, social, and economic consequences around the globe. Despite it is a common problem in the whole community it is more devastating when this occurs in a refugee setup. This study assessed the magnitude of teenage pregnancy in the Kule refugee camp, in Ethiopia. Methods A community-based mixed cross-sectional study was done among 422 adolescent girls. Participants were selected using a systematic sampling technique. A structured, pre-tested, and interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Binary and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify associated factors. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI was used to show the strength and direction of the association. For the qualitative part, four focused group discussion sessions were done, and participants were selected purposely. Thematic analysis was used to analyze, and the finding was triangulated with quantitative findings. Result A total of 146 adolescents (34.6%, 95% CI: (29.9, 38.9)) have experienced pregnancy at least one time. Age (≤ 16) [AOR = 0.48, 95% CI: (0.27, 0.85)], not attending school [AOR = 3.59, 95% CI: (1.2, 10.8)], having a mother with no history of teenage pregnancy [AOR = 0.45, 95% CI: (0.21, 0.98)], being unmarried [AOR = 0.21, 95% CI: (0.12, 0.36)], and having a sister/s with a history of teenage pregnancy [AOR = 2.22, 95% CI: (1.33, 3.7)] were significantly associated factors. Conclusion More than one-third of adolescents experience teenage pregnancy. The magnitude of teenage pregnancy was high which may lead to serious health consequences for both the mother and their fetus. Addressing cultural barriers and strengthening adolescent reproductive health education to decrease intergenerational transmission of teenage pregnancy through community awareness and strengthening reproductive parent-adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health communication are important measures to tackle the problem.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Study identifying risk factors to inform future interventions; recommendations include strengthening adolescent reproductive health education, community awareness, and parent-adolescent sexual and reproductive health communication
- Population
- 422 adolescent girls aged 13-19 in Kule refugee camp, Gambella, Ethiopia
Key finding
34.6% (95% CI: 29.9-38.9) of adolescent girls had experienced pregnancy at least once