Health
Health
Samoas’ Teen Births Rise Sparks Worry
Teenage pregnancies in American Samoa increased 20 percent between 1996 and 1999. The Department of Health and the Criminal Justice Planning Agency indicated that "most teenage births are to unmarried mothers" and "...the proportion of births to teenagers that were to unmarried teens continued to increase in 1999."
In 1996, 119 cases of pregnant teens were reported. In 1997 it was 123, in 1998 128 and in 1999 142. Last year, neighboring Samoa reported over 200 cases of teen pregnancy. In most cases, teenagers wanted to avoid embarrassment so stayed home rather than going to the hospital for prenatal checkups, hoping to avoid village gossip. This is similar to the situation in the territory: the pregnant teens usually don’t show up for prenatal checkups until late in their pregnancy, when their families finally learn about it. Normally, pregnant teens are afraid of being seen at the hospital, especially by a relative who might report them to their parents.
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Department of Education director Dr. Sili K. Sataua said pregnant teens are still allowed to carry on their schooling. If a pregnant girl cannot make it to school, the education department can help her take independent classes to graduate. In October, the Health Department launched radio advertisements targeting teenagers for family planning.
—Fili SagapoluteleAIDS Menace Grows in Pacific Region
While the 800 new cases of HIV infection in the first nine months of 2000 in Papua New Guinea is a startling figure, it isn’t PNG alone that’s facing the threat of AIDS. The World Health Organization’s Pacific advisor on HIV/AIDS, Steven Vete, says that another 2,000 people have also contracted the deadly disease in the wider Pacific. But, he indicated, the actual number of people who have been infected is likely 10-20 times higher than official records show.
In the Northern Marianas, for example, where 38 cases of HIV and AIDS were confirmed through the end of 2000, health officials estimate there are at least 300 positive individuals, most of whom are not receiving treatment. The 800 new HIV infections in PNG brings the total reported cases to 3,145 since 1987. The WHO says PNG’s HIV/AIDS problem is "very serious" by world standards.
Females make up slightly more than half of the reported HIV/AIDS cases in PNG. In contrast, in the N. Marianas, nearly 70 percent of the individuals with the infection are men. Meanwhile, in Suva, a new booklet, Pacific Women Against AIDS, was launched by Adi Davila Toganivalu, an education officer for UNICEF, in a ceremony at the Fiji Women’s rights Movement office in Suva.
—Giff Johnson
