HOLY SUNDAY.-Teenage pregnancies registered a drop of 6 percent in the first half of this year, according to statistics from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). Until that period, 24% of that population segment was pregnant and this dropped to 18%.
Among the cities that decreased the number of girls with early pregnancies are the province of Azua, San Pedro de Macorís and Santiago, territories that were prioritized with the pilot program of Comprehensive Sexual Education in a Community Context.
“In those places there was a high incidence of girls who got married before the age of 18 and who became pregnant before the age of 15, and this policy has given its results, the trend is downward, although we have many challenges; In 2020 the percentage was 22.46%, in 2024 it is 18.30,” said Pérez Peña.
The data is contained in the “Management Reports of the National Council for Children and Adolescents (Conani) 2024, which will be announced tomorrow by Ligia Jeannette Pérez Peña, executive president of that entity, and actions that they promote in favor of children.
The official highlighted that they will expand the PPA (Policies for the Prevention and Care of Pregnancies and Adolescents and Early Unions). He said that this institution is in charge of around 600 children in the eleven Step Homes, who enter and leave until their rights are restored for a period of regularly no more than six months.
Frequent cases
The majority of children and adolescents who are sheltered there are due to problems of violence and vulnerability of rights within the family, sexual abuse, abandonment and others who are homeless. These situations arise through complaints that are verified by investigations carried out by the Public Ministry.
certified NGOs
—Under monitoring
They have 11 Step Homes, which are not enough. However, he stated that they have plans to outsource this care through non-profit associations (ASFL), which today number about 56 and serve about 3,000 children.
About cases of rape of children in schools
Attention. Ligia Pérez said that they carry out support work with cases of sexual violations such as the one that recently occurred on a campus in San Pedro de Macorís.
“The protection system is made up of several institutions; Conani is the rector, he accompanies and requests a report in relation to why there was no timely prevention, the measures that are being taken, which although it is education, as a governing body it raises the alarm and offers them psychological support, which it also does. Minerd,” he commented after specifying that they have 38 service offices.
