Johannesburg – The number of teenagers among mothers who gave birth on New Year’s Day was a reason for concern, the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department said on Sunday.
“There were six teenage mothers who gave birth which is a concern that the MEC (Sibongiseni Dhlomo) has been vocal against,” said departmental spokesperson Chris Maxon in a statement.
Maxon said that during a visit to Stanger Hospital on Sunday, Dhlomo said he would continue to warn teenage girls of the dangers of having sex with men much older than themselves.
“The MEC further announced that he would continue with a campaign to highlight the dangers of cross-generation sex which leads to high teenage pregnancies and the acquisition of HIV by girls as young as 13 years of age.
“The department has already put up billboards throughout the province warning against ‘sugar daddies’.”
The first New Year’s baby in KwaZulu-Natal, a girl, was born to a 19-year-old mother in Pietermaritzburg.
Thirty-three New Year’s Day babies had been born in the province by Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, SABC news reported more than 50 babies had been born in Limpopo.
The first child born was a girl at Mankweng Hospital four minutes after midnight.
She was followed a minute later by another baby girl born at Musina hospital.
Fifty-four babies had been born in Mpumalanga.
In the Free State a baby boy, who was born at 3am, was the first of 37 New Year’s Day babies in the province.
The news service reported that of 12 babies born in the North West on New Year’s Day, one was HIV-positive.
Eight babies were reportedly born in Port Elizabeth.
Twenty-four babies were born at Gauteng’s Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital. – Sapa
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